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Renewable Energy Standard

Missouri Biomass site

The State of Missouri overwhelmingly passed the Renewable Energy Standard in November 2008 with over 66 percent of voters and all but one of Missouri’s 114 counties supporting the ballot proposition. The proposition, Proposition C, applied only to Missouri’s three investor owned electric utilities (Ameren, KCPL, and Empire.) These utilities were required to increase their generation of and/or purchases of renewable energy through 2021. Benchmarks were set for 2% of all electricity sales by 2011, 5% by 2014, 10% by 2018 and 15% by 2021.

The proposition defined “renewable energy” sources as coming from such things as wind, solar, crops, agricultural residues, landfill methane, hydrogen fuel cells and certain hydroelectric dams. [1] Further, the proposition gave the Department of Natural Resources authority to certify energy sources that might become available after the RES rule was put into effect.

Missouri has several renewable energy resources: hydroelectric, wind, biomass, landfill gas and solar, being the most prominent.

• Hydroelectric: Currently conventional hydroelectric plants lead the production of electricity by renewable means in Missouri with the three major dams contributing 640 MW of electric capacity.

• Wind: Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy producer in the State, with considerable sections of northwest Missouri suitable for utility scale wind projects.  Much of the area has annual mean wind speeds greater than 15 mph at a height of 70 meters.  At a height of 100 meters, nearly all of northwest Missouri has annual mean wind speeds greater than 15 mph, with sections reaching annual mean wind speeds of greater than 18 mph.  Also at 100 meters, much of the Kansas border counties have mean annual wind speeds greater than 15 mph. The public can access wind maps on DNR Web pages.  Wind Potential: Current Missouri wind farms have a combined electric generation capacity of greater than 450 MW and produced an estimated 1.1 million MWh of electricity.  There are also sections of the state that are marginally suitable for residential wind turbines.  Residential wind turbines are at much lower hub heights of 30 meters and the wind speeds are considerably slower.

• Biomass: Missouri also has numerous biomass options available.  Missouri’s biomass renewable energy is quite varied. Missouri has 6 ethanol plants in northern Missouri producing over 200 million gallons of corn ethanol annually, 3 operating biodiesel plants producing 50 million gallons of biodiesel annually from soy and animal fats, numerous industrial applications using waste wood for direct heating, and several proposed biomass fed power plants.

• Landfill: Missouri has several existing landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE) projects, several under development, and over a dozen landfill sites considered good candidates for LFGTE projects by EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program.  Currently, Missouri has 11.5 MW of electric generation capacity and several direct heating applications from LFG.  Missouri also has nearly 20 MW of electric generation capacity under development.

• Solar:Missouri also has potential for solar photovoltaics (PV) across the State, with annual mean solar insolation values from 4.5-5.0 kWh/m2/day across the State.  Solar installations have increased across the State from an estimated70kW capacity in 2008 to over 500 kW capacity in 2010.