REP Policy 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which U.S. executive order established the federal goal of achieving 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions government-wide by 2050?
- Executive Order 13990
- Executive Order 14008
- Executive Order 14057 (Correct answer)
- Executive Order 13783
Correct answer: Executive Order 14057
Executive Order 14057, signed in December 2021, directed federal agencies to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions government-wide by 2050.
Question 2: In offshore wind policy, a 'Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) lease area' grants a developer the right to:
- Permanently own the ocean floor within the lease boundary
- Conduct site assessments and, upon approval, construct and operate offshore wind facilities in federal waters (Correct answer)
- Export electricity generated offshore directly to foreign grids
- Bypass state coastal permitting requirements for project construction
Correct answer: Conduct site assessments and, upon approval, construct and operate offshore wind facilities in federal waters
BOEM offshore wind leases grant exclusive rights to assess, develop, and operate wind energy facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf, subject to further federal and state regulatory approvals.
Question 3: The 'Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance' (REBA) primarily serves which market segment?
- State utility commissions designing RPS programs
- Large corporate and institutional buyers seeking to procure renewable energy (Correct answer)
- Residential consumers aggregating rooftop solar installations
- Federal agencies meeting clean electricity mandates
Correct answer: Large corporate and institutional buyers seeking to procure renewable energy
REBA is an industry coalition that helps large commercial and institutional energy buyers navigate the market for clean energy procurement through PPAs and other instruments.
Question 4: Which policy tool requires electricity suppliers to retire a specified quantity of renewable energy certificates (RECs) corresponding to a percentage of their retail electricity sales?
- Carbon offset mandate
- Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) (Correct answer)
- Feed-in premium
- Integrated Resource Planning requirement
Correct answer: Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
An RPS obligates retail electricity suppliers to source or purchase RECs equal to a mandated percentage of their retail sales, driving demand for renewable electricity generation.
Question 5: The 'prevailing wage and apprenticeship' requirements in the Inflation Reduction Act affect the size of clean energy tax credits because:
- Projects paying prevailing wages receive a 5x multiplier on the base credit rate (Correct answer)
- Failure to meet wage and apprenticeship standards reduces the ITC/PTC to only 20% of the full bonus credit amount
- Projects using union labor receive additional REC multipliers from state programs
- DOE loan guarantees are unavailable to projects that do not certify prevailing wage compliance
Correct answer: Projects paying prevailing wages receive a 5x multiplier on the base credit rate
IRA clean energy credits include a base rate (e.g., 6% ITC) that increases by a 5x multiplier to the full bonus rate (30% ITC) only if projects meet prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements.
Question 6: A state's 'Integrated Resource Plan' (IRP) is best described as:
- A federally mandated blueprint for achieving the state's RPS targets
- A utility's long-term plan for meeting electricity demand through a portfolio of supply and demand-side resources (Correct answer)
- A regional transmission operator's schedule for expanding high-voltage transmission lines
- A state legislature's approved budget for renewable energy grant programs
Correct answer: A utility's long-term plan for meeting electricity demand through a portfolio of supply and demand-side resources
An IRP is a long-range planning document filed by a utility with its state regulator that evaluates supply- and demand-side options to reliably and cost-effectively meet projected customer load.
Question 7: Which trade policy action significantly disrupted U.S. solar supply chains beginning in 2012 by imposing antidumping and countervailing duties on imported solar cells?
- Section 301 tariffs on Chinese technology products
- Section 201 safeguard tariffs on crystalline silicon PV modules
- Antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on Chinese solar cells (Correct answer)
- Buy American provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act
Correct answer: Antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on Chinese solar cells
The U.S. Department of Commerce and ITC imposed AD/CVD duties on Chinese-manufactured crystalline silicon solar cells and modules starting in 2012, a decision that reshaped global solar supply chains.
REP Policy 5
Which U.S. executive order established the federal goal of achieving 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions government-wide by 2050?