BURLINGTON, Vt. — The New England Governors’ Conference has passed a resolution to launch a coordinated regional procurement program for renewable energy. The governors of six states — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont — have agreed to release a request for proposal (RFP) in 2013 for a “significant amount of renewable energy.”

The resolution charges The New England States Committee on Electricity (NESCOE) with developing and implementing a work plan on behalf of the New England Governors that will result in the release of a renewable energy RFP. NESCOE will convene a procurement team from each state that will finalize the details of the competitive regional procurement over the course of the next year.

This concept has been successfully used on the state level. For example, Massachusetts has its own version of a competitive procurement for renewable energy in The Green Communities Act, which requires utilities to enter into long-term contracts with the developers of renewable energy projects in order to help them obtain financing.