91视频

The draft rules governing the programs that replace Oregon’s drew ire of some stakeholders in the renewable energy sector, but now they are cautiously optimistic.

The Oregon Department of Energy posted the draft rules on Sept. 19, but after several groups lobbied for more time and more openness in the rulemaking process, the agency extended the deadline for public comment from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4.

The ODOE met with industry members on Monday to discuss the draft rules for the renewable energy grant program known as 鈥淕ennie.鈥� The small group of developers, lobbyists and trade association heads argued that the draft rules impose too many stipulations for new projects. And ODOE representatives on Monday indicated they would take steps to tweak the draft rules.

鈥淭he initial rules they issued were awful,鈥� said Alan Hickenbottom, president and founder of and one of approximately 10 attendees at Monday’s meeting. 鈥淏ut I thought we had an open dialogue and I’m cautiously optimistic that we will see decent improvements to the program.鈥�

The executive director of the , Glenn Montgomery, said the initial draft rules put the cart before the horse. Monday’s meeting was an attempt to turn it around.

Gennie, which is capped at $3 million for the 2011-2013 biennium and limits awards to $250,000 per project, targets smaller (capped at 35 megawatts) commercial projects. But the initial draft rules established criteria for grant applications that Hickenbottom and others said would have discouraged smaller businesses from applying altogether.

鈥淲e (various stakeholders) are all consistently in agreement that they’ve gone above and beyond what we believe are appropriate eligibility and prioritization criteria,鈥� Montgomery said of the initial draft rules.

The ODOE laid out a system to assess grant applications based on factors including strength of the applicant’s business plan, experience of the project team and community support.

In comments he submitted to the ODOE on Oct. 21, Montgomery called these and other grant criteria 鈥渋ll-suited for the evaluation of grant applications and overly burdensome for the applicant to complete.鈥�

Hickenbottom, who cited his own experience, also said the business plan criterion is 鈥渞idiculous.鈥�

鈥淰irtually no one has an up-to-date business plan that’s ready to print,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut they (ODOE rule-makers), not being business people, didn’t understand that asking for a business plan wouldn’t give them what they wanted anyway.鈥�

And the ODOE now seems to be taking its rule-making cues from the industry.

鈥淭he lesson is that it really should have been a more open process,鈥� said Robert Grott, executive director of the . 鈥淲e’re hoping the next draft takes into account the changes we recommended that would make the program more effective.鈥�

After Friday’s extended deadline passes, the ODOE will review all comments, and then produce another set of draft rules 鈥� probably in the next couple of weeks.

鈥淲hat we have to do now is basically create three new programs from the 32-year-old BETC program,鈥� said Diana Enright, a spokeswoman for the agency. 鈥淎fter a program sunsets after that long, of course, we had a lot of public interest.鈥�