WHEREAS, the citizens and businesses of the State of New Jersey and the nation rely heavily on traditional energy generation sources, which can negatively impact our environment, health, economy and security; and

WHEREAS, those traditional energy generation sources can cause pollution of our air and water; emit "greenhouse gases" that contribute to global warming and sea level rise; encourage reliance on large centralized power plants, making our energy resources more vulnerable to potential disruption; create dependency on foreign energy resources; and leave us vulnerable to potentially volatile energy prices; and

WHEREAS, renewable energy sources offer an energy alternative that would lead to improved air and water environmental quality; decrease our dependence on foreign energy sources and susceptibility to potentially volatile traditional energy markets; decrease our reliance on centralized power plants; ease the strain on our energy infrastructure; offer opportunity for job creation and economic development by attracting these emerging industries to the State of New Jersey; and, when considering all costs to society, are less costly than traditional energy sources; and

WHEREAS, this Administration recognizes these benefits, and is dedicated to promoting the use and production of renewable energy; and

WHEREAS, leaders in business, labor, academia, the energy industry, and environmental and consumer advocates voiced shared support for the promotion of renewable energy

in New Jersey at the Governor's Energy Summit, which convened on December 11, 2002; and

WHEREAS, the "Electricity Discount and Energy Competition Act" ("EDECA"), specifically requires the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities ("BPU") to adopt renewable energy portfolio standards ("RPS") to ensure each electric power supplier and basic generation service provider supplies electricity from renewable energy sources in the electricity sold to retail customers; and

WHEREAS, the RPS play a significant role in helping the State achieve its goal of promoting renewable energy and must be examined closely to ensure that these requirements impact our State's energy market and consumption in an efficient and environmentally sound manner;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JAMES E. MCGREEVEY, Governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the Statutes of this State, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT:

1. There is hereby created the Renewable Energy Task Force ("Task Force") to examine the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) for Class I energy sources, which includes electric energy produced from solar technologies, photovoltaic technologies, wind energy, fuel cells, geothermal technologies, wave or tidal action, and methane gas from landfills or a biomass facility, provided that the biomass is cultivated and harvested in a sustainable manner.

2. The Task Force shall review the current regulatory framework that governs the RPS and recommend changes to that framework to better

   enable the BPU to implement RPS that reflect the changing goals and needs of the State.

3. The Task Force shall be chaired by the President of the BPU and composed of 16 members, appointed by the Governor, as follows:
   1. The Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection ("DEP"), or his designee(s);
   2. The Ratepayer Advocate, or her designee;
   3. Two representatives from public interest organizations;
   4. Two representatives from the utility industry;
   5. Three representatives from the renewable energy industry;
   6. Two representatives of wholesale energy providers; and
   7. Four national experts or academics in renewable energy sources or implementation of these technologies.

4. The Task Force shall:
   1. Examine whether the total annual percentages of Class I renewable energy that each electric power supplier and basic generation service provider must sell to retail customers in New Jersey, and included in the existing RPS, should be increased;
   2. Recommend the specific time period over which any incremental increase in the Class I renewable energy percentage requirements should take place and the phase-in schedule of any recommended increases;
   3. Recommend whether a required percentage of Class I renewable energy should come from specific technologies or fuels and, if so, identify amounts that should be required;
   4. Recommend whether any portion of the required percentage of Class I renewable energy should be required to come from generation sources located within the State of New Jersey;
   5. Recommend whether any portion of the required percentage of Class I renewable energy should come from new generation sources that have become available after a specific date and, if so, identify that date;
   6. Propose improvements in the measurement, tracking and verification systems for Class I renewable energy sources, including those for small distributed generation sources not connected to the transmission grid;
   7. Consider measures to assist electric power suppliers and basic generation service providers with compliance with RPS requirements;
   8. Provide a preliminary estimate of the possible cost and other impacts on the
   9. state's electricity consumers that may result from the Task Force's recommendations and proposals; and
   10. examine other related issues.

5. The Task Force shall issue a report to the Governor by March 31, 2003, identifying specific recommendations on the aforementioned issues.

6. The Task Force is authorized to call upon any department, office, division and agency of State government to provide such data, information, material, personnel and assistance as deemed necessary to discharge its responsibilities under this Order. Each department, office, division and agency of this State is hereby required, to the extent not inconsistent with law, to cooperate with the Task Force and to furnish it with such information, personnel and assistance as is necessary to accomplish the purpose of this Order.

7. This Order shall take effect immediately.

GIVEN, under my hand and seal this 27th day
of January in the Year of Our Lord, Two Thousand
and Three, and of the Independence of the United
States, the Two Hundred Twenty-Seventh.

/s/ James E. McGreevey
Governor

[seal]

Attest:

/s/ Paul P. Josephson
Chief Counsel to the Governor