Signed in 1978, it requires utilities to purchase electricity generated by qualifying non-utility producers.
Signed into law on November 8, 1978 as the National Energy Act. PURPA is a broad statute aimed at expanding the use of co-generation and renewable energy resources. PURPA created a new class of power producers called "qualifying facilities" (QFs). PURPA requires utilities to buy power from non-utility generators who qualify under PURPA's criteria. QF generators include those power producers that use renewable and alternative energy sources such as hydro, wind, solar, geothermal energy, biomass, municipal solid waste or landfill gas fuel to generate power. Other QF producers include co-generators.
In the USA only: this is part of the National Energy Act. PURPA is intended to encourage the conservation of energy, more efficient use of resources, and equitable energy rates. Some important measures relevant to The Solar Guide include sections on net metering and incentives for renewable energy.
A 1978 federal law that requires electric utilities to purchase electricity produced from certain efficient power producers (frequently using renewable energy or natural gas). Utilities purchase power at a rate equal to the costs they avoid by not generating the power themselves. State regulatory agencies establish the rate based on local conditions.
(PURPA) A federal law requiring a utility to buy the power produced by a qualifying facility at a price equal to that which the utility would otherwise pay if it were to build its own power plant or buy power from another source.
US federal act passed in 1978 that requires electricity utilities to buy wholesale power from certain types of independent power producers that produce electricity with renewable resources.
A 1978 federal law that requires utilities to buy power from eligible cogeneration sources, small hydro, or waste fueled facilities under contracts at an avoided cost rate. The utilities also must provide a back-up supply of electricity to customers that choose self-generation.
The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (or PURPA) was a law passed in 1978 by the United States Congress as part of the National Energy Act. It was meant to promote greater use of renewable energy. This law created a market for non-utility electric power producers forcing utilities to buy power from these producers at the "avoided cost" rate which the cost the electric utility would incur were it to generate or purchase from another source.
