Hi Scott,
I found two articles which may be of interest to your readers. I would like to know if the smog from the proposed Metcalf Power Plant in our neighborhood is going to be incentivised as "green power" by our state government! I excerpted some salient lines.

http://www.otn.net/btb/agribiz/onion.htm

..."They may soon learn more about Calpine, the bold energy company that Credit Suisse built into a market leader using loans from banks in Paris, Canada and Japan to buy natural gas plants in places like Yuba City and Gilroy and buy up steam fields from the Mojave desert to the Oregon border. "...

..."A review of Calpine's records shows that the company was able to grow by tailoring its efforts to U.S. alternative energy laws,allowing it to escape the most stringent and expensive regulations that tax other utilities. For example, in Aug. 1996, when Calpine purchased the Gilroy Power Plant for $125 million using a $120 million loan from the Banque Nationale de Paris, Calpine got international conglomerate Con Agra to buy Gilroy foods, the leading producer of dried onions and garlic. Keeping the food plant open allowed Calpine to gain special tax and regulation exemptions. Calpine is able to keep the exemptions intact for its operation on Walton Rd. in Yuba City, because it sells low cost power to Sunsweet, valued as "beneficial" by the federal government for its dried fruit production, the annual report states. "

..."Calpine has dabbled in just the right amount of steam power and other alternative energy sources, to allow its gas plants to escape from the most pricey and difficult of regulations. But the annual report admits those regulations will be tougher to dodge when competition is greater and says if those exemptions are lost at one plant, they could be lost to all of them. "

A recent example of this strategy:

http://news.excite.com:80/news/bw/990804/ca-abag-power-calpine

" OAKLAND, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE) - ABAG POWER today announced an agreement with Calpine Corporation to provide "green power" to ABAG POWER members. This renewable energy will light up government properties for 59 participating agencies, representing 6,000 meters, in Northern California beginning September 1999. ABAG POWER is a member service program administered by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). " ... " ABAG POWER registered as a "Renewable Provider" with the Energy Commission, allowing the program to take advantage of state-mandated incentives for adding renewable power to California's electrical grid system. ABAG POWER will participate in the Energy Commission's Customer-Side Renewable Purchase program, which has $48.6 million allocated for green power incentives."

-Jeff Wade