The economic stimulus bill under development by the incoming Obama administraton and congressional leaders includes provisions for a national renewable electricity standard, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

The bill, which is expected to pass Congress next month, could be for as much as $800 billion and is expected to contain at least some clean technology provisions. But it was widely believed that a national renewable electricity standard, also called a renewable portfolio standard, wouldn’t be tackled in legislation until later in 2009 possibly as part of a new energy bill.

Now it appears that the Obama team wants such a standard attached to the economic stimulus bill, according to outlines of the proposal seen by Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes renewable energy.

The Obama-Biden stimulus plan calls for a nationwide renewable electricity standard requiring 25 percent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2025, said Mr. Eckhart.

It also has provisions for investments in schools relating to energy efficiency and an extension of the production tax credit, which currently expires at the end of the year and provides tax relief for energy sources such as wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower.

Congressional Democrats and the Obama team are also considering designating money for advanced vehicles and battery technology as part of the stimulus bill, according to a report from The Detroit News.

President-elect Barack Obama expressed his desire for a national renewable electricity standard in his New Energy for America plan, which calls for getting 10 percent of the country’s electricity from renewable sources by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025.

More than half of U.S. states currently have renewable mandates, including California, Texas, and New York, but there is no federal requirement on how much electricity must be generated from renewable sources like wind and solar. Renewable energy advocates say a national standard would create a large and growing market for clean and homegrown energy sources.

But the stimulus bill will focus on tax relief, unemployment benefits and health care subsidies, not renewable energy. That’s why Carol Werner, director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute in Washington, D.C., said it’s not certain the renewable electricity standard provision will remain.

But it’s inclusion so far “says that there is a lot of support for it in both the House and Senate and leadership on both sides want to see a renewable electricity standard move forward,” Ms. Werner said. “Now the issue really is, what is the appropriate legislative vehicle.”

If the renewable electricity standard isn't included in the stimulus bill, Ms. Werner expects it to be part of a new energy bill in 2009.