On May 28, 2015, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed into law Senate Bill No. 91, which, among other things, materially changes the state's renewable portfolio standards (RPS). Under the new law, as of January 1, 2016, utilities will no longer be required to obtain 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but can do so if they choose.

The Kansas law follows similar legislation in other states. In June 2014, Ohio froze its RPS requirements until 2017. More recently, in February 2015, West Virginia enacted legislation (House Bill No. 2001) repealing the state's RPS, which would have required utilities to secure at least 25% of their electricity from renewable resources by 2025. However, a similar bill that would have repealed Texas' RPS program failed and may be reconsidered at the earliest in January 2017 when the Texas legislature is back in session.

Generally, RPS programs require load-serving entities (typically, utilities and competitive suppliers) to purchase a percentage of their electricity from clean energy sources (including wind, solar and geothermal) or make a penalty payment, an alternative compliance payment (ACP), into a state clean energy fund. As of June 1, 2015:

Mandatory RPS programs are one of the main reasons for the growth of renewable energy in the US in the last 10 years. By requiring utilities to source a percentage of their electricity from renewable sources, owners of wind, solar and other renewable energy projects were assured of a market for the electricity their projects generate. If more states repeal or weaken these standards, some utilities may not be as incentivized to enter into power purchase agreements to acquire electricity or capacity from these projects. Combined with the growth of natural gas as an energy source and the instability in federal tax credits for renewable energy projects (another key driver of renewable energy development), a weakening of RPS programs may further impact the number of renewable energy projects that come online each year.

For more information on RPS and renewable energy generally, see the following Practice Notes: