Florida Study - Bipartisan Policy Center

Study PurposeProjected Impacts of Proposed Federal Renewable Energy Portfolio Standardson the Florida EconomyThe purpose of this study is toproject how meeting proposed FederalRenewable Energy Portfolio Standardsmight impact the Florida economy. Thetwo proposals analyzed, which will bediscussed later in this document, are the25% RES and the 20% RES. To conductthe analysis, these two proposed FederalRenewable Energy Portfolio Standards arecompared with Florida’ existing andplanned renewable energy generation.Changes from projected renewableenergy generation to amounts requiredmeet the proposed Federal standards areestimated. Renewable energytechnologies are assessed todetermine their ability to contribute tomeeting the additional renewableFigure 1. Florida Modified Bureau of EconomicAnalysis Regionsenergy requirements given the resource base of Florida. The investment expenditures onconstruction of additional renewable energy facilities and recurring operating expenditures oninputs to renewable energy generation are then used to project the economic impacts of meetingthe additional renewable energy requirements. These impacts are projected for the state and forBureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) regions within the state (Figure 1).Methods of AnalysisIn this analysis, projections of renewable energy requirements for the state of Florida willbe made for two policy scenarios: 1) the 20% RES and 2) the 25% RES. Once projections ofrenewable energy requirements for the state are made, the type and number of facilities requiredto meet these energy needs must be determined. The number and type of facilities aredetermined not only at the state level, but also at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) regionlevel.The number and type of facilities in each BEA region are determined based upon plans forfacility construction or the potential for facilities based on resources in the region. For example,co-fire of dedicated energy crop conversion facilities are placed in BEA regions according tolocation of current crop production. Because in many cases, the sizes and technologies offacilities that might be placed in a region are unknown, representative technologies and sizes forfacilities that be placed in a region are assumed. These sizes and technologies are selectedbased upon previous literature and availability of engineering cost data.Costs, facility sizes, and input requirements for representative renewable energytechnologies are then used to project required facility expenditures. Descriptions of therepresentative technologies are in Appendix B of this document. The costs and prices presentedFederal Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard Impacts on Florida ___ 1