ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005

• Date: March 01, 2011
• Source: Admin

General Provisions of the Act

The general areas covered by the various provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 may be enumerated as follows:
 

• The act authorizes loan guarantee for innovative technologies which avoid greenhouse gasses, including advanced nuclear reactor designs such as Pebble Bed Modular Reactors (PBMR) as well as clean coal and renewable energy.
• The act seeks to increase the quantum of biofuel (usually ethanol) that is to be mixed with gasoline sold in the U.S. from 4 billion gallons in 2006 to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.
• Seeks to increase coal as an energy source while also reducing air pollution, through the authorization of $200 million annually for clean coal initiatives, removing cap on coal leases, allowing the advanced payment of royalties from coal mines and assessing coal resources on federal lands that are not national parks.
• Allowing subsidies for wind and alternative energy producers.
• Ocean energy sources like wave and tidal power separately identified for the first time as renewable technologies.
• Authorizes $50 million annually over the life of the law for biomass grants
• Making geothermal energy more competitive with fossil fuels for the purpose of generating electricity.
• Requires the Department of Energy to:
  
  
  • Study and report on existing natural energy resources including wind, solar, waves and tides;
  • Study and report on national benefits of demand response and make a recommendation on achieving specific levels of benefits and encourages time-based pricing and other forms of demand response as a policy decision;
  • Designate Nation Interest Electric Transmission Corridors where there are significant transmission limitations adversely affecting the public.
  • Report in one year on how to dispose of high-level nuclear waste.

• Authorizes the Department of Interior to grant leases for activity that involves the production, transportation or transmission of energy on the outer continental shelf lands from the sources, excluding gas and oil.
• Requires all Public electric utilities to offer net metering on request to their customers.