Do RECs Cut Carbon Emissions near Portland?
That's a very good question. We need to look closely. Q1: Has any existing fossil-fuel generation facility reduced its production in MWh as a direct result of the utility, say PGE, purchasing RECs? If it can be shown that an existing fossil fuel generator has reduced its production such that it's clear that it isn't (1) a scheduled outage, or (2) an unscheduled outage, or (3) due to any issue with the power system, then and only then can it be claimed that carbon emissions has declined as a direct result of replacing the output of a fossil fuel electricity generator with that of a renewable (wind, water, sum, etc) production. Then and only then can it be claimed that carbon emissions have actually declined. Q2: Could the purchase of RECs replace a new fossil fuel generator? Yes, it could. However, the electricity from the renewable generator must be bundled with the REC in order to claim the carbon reductions. If the electricity from the renew...