Energy security concerns are increasingly driving countries to embrace renewable energy, says Rick Sellers, head of the Renewable Energy unit at the International Energy Agency (IEA) based in Paris. He says that approximately 250 national-level policies and measures now promote renewable energy, ranging from research and development to regulatory activities.

At a time when fossil fuel costs are erratic, a small amount of renewables in a country’s energy portfolio can mitigate market volatility, Sellers told attendees at the Seventh Green Power Marketing Conference held in late September. Many national-level policy makers have come to value renewable energy sources for this ability to provide energy security more than for their environmental benefits, he says. There are three general approaches to promulgating renewable energy policies. Almost every country addressing renewable energy is promoting research and development by its own domestic industries to bring down the technology costs, he says.

Additionally, Australia and many European nations are adopting “transition” policies that promote renewable energy based on the assumption that it is good even if it costs more. Finally, renewable energy policies in countries including the United States, New Zealand, and Japan rely on market mechanisms that give renewables a competitive advantage based on the environmental problems they avoid.

Sellers holds up the Renewables Portfolio Standard developed in Texas as a successful market-based mechanism. The American Wind Energy Association credits the standard for inspiring the state to construct a record 915 megawatts (MW) of wind energy in 2001.

However, although Excelon Corp., one of the world’s largest power producers and wholesale marketers, is one of the largest U.S. marketers of wind power, the company has some reservations about the current renewable portfolio standards, says Arlene Juracek, vice president of regulation and strategic services for ComEd, a utility that is part of Excelon. “We believe they will artificially limit the green power market,” she says, explaining that she believes it is preferable for companies to be able to target renewable energy to customers willing to pay a premium for it. Portfolio standards “socialize” green power by lumping it together with all other power sources, she adds.

If all of the countries with renewable policies were to reach their goals, renewable costs could be competitive with conventional technologies within the next 10 years, Sellers says. —KELLYN BETTS