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Fla. lawmaker again files bill to enact 100% renewable target

A Florida state lawmaker is making another attempt to pass legislation establishing a 100% renewable energy target for the Sunshine State.

Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Democrat, filed Senate Bill 256 on Sept. 11. If passed, the bill would mandate that 100% of the state's electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2050, with an interim goal to have renewables generate at least 40% of the state's electricity by 2030. The Florida Public Service Commission would be tasked with developing a renewable portfolio standard with other state agencies that would need to be provided to state lawmakers by Feb. 1, 2021.

According to the bill, energy providers would need to supply renewables either through direct procurement or renewable energy credits. Utility regulators could give "added weight" to utilities that procure wind and solar energy through direct procurement or RECs over other forms of renewable energy. The commission could also consider including a provision to allow utilities to seek annual cost recovery or incentive-based adjustments to authorized rates of return on equity to incentivize renewable energy.

The bill, which could be considered during the Legislature's next session starting in January 2020, resembles legislation Rodriguez filed in 2019 that ultimately died in committee and echoes Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani's House Bill 97. A key difference between S.B. 256 and those two other bills is the emphasis on RECs, a market-based tool that represents 1 MWh of renewable electricity.