Yesterday Louisiana put out the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) final recommendation of a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for the state. About one half of the 50 states have RPS. Louisiana is a little behind.

The LPSC has introduced the Renewable Energy Pilot Program (The Pilot). The Pilot is divided into two components: 1) a Research component; and 2) an RFP component.

Basically the Research component is to conduct research and perform evaluations of renewable energy projects specifically sited in Louisiana. Projects are sized to be no larger than 300 kW per project.

Component two is the RFP. This component will allow utilities to evaluate characteristics of larger renewable projects. Larger projects could come on-line in the 2012-2013 time frame. A total of 350 MWs will be the maximum amount of capacity that all of the utilities will request in their RFPs.

More to come after my meeting with the Staff Attorney for LPSC.