Renewable or Not? How States Count Hydropower

Midwest Energy News recently published an interesting article discussing how different states treat hydroelectric power when it comes to renewable electricity standards. As the article explains, although hydropower is a renewable energy, it does not always count toward a state’s renewable electricity standard.

In the Midwest, for example:

• Iowa and Minnesota allow utilities to count electricity from small hydropower facilities only. Iowa doesn’t define small, while Minnesota sets the upper limit at 100 megawatts.
• Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri don’t count hydroelectricity from facilities that require the construction of new dams or significant expansion of existing ones.
• Ohio will let utilities count hydroelectricity only from facilities that are not detrimental for fish, wildlife, water quality or “cultural resources.”
• North Dakota counts all hydropower in its renewable electricity standard.
• In July 2011, Wisconsin added new hydropower restrictions to its renewable standard. Utilities can only start counting hydroelectricity from large facilities after 2015.

The article discusses justifications for the varying standards, and includes a graphic that has information on how hydro counts in each state.

This post was authored by GLLF staff attorney Emily Kelchen.