Easy Like Sunday Morning
This one's for you,
Scottk.
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Three of the world’s largest tech companies have called on the N.C. General Assembly to avoid making changes to the state’s renewable-energy policies.
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"Apple, Facebook, Google warn N.C. General Assembly not to change renewable-energy requirements"
May 28, 2015 by
Jeff Jeffrey, Triangle Business Journal
North Carolina has taken a right turn. So what were these onerous standards?
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The letter comes as the Senate prepares to take up H. 332, which would freeze the state's mandate that energy utilities obtain a portion of their electricity from renewable resources at the current 6 percent level. It would also lower the size threshold at which renewable-energy projects require contracts to be negotiated with the utilities.
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So what does the letter say?
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“The undersigned companies have chosen to locate in North Carolina in part because the state’s existing energy policies enable us to operate and grow our businesses in furtherance of the goals mentioned above,” the letter says. “Any change should therefore consider not just protecting, but expanding these benefits, and any changes should include a comprehensive review of energy policies through established, inclusive stakeholder processes.”
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For those who may be unfamiliar with Colorado's "environment" there was this:
"Rollback of renewable-energy standards dies in Colorado Legislature"
Mar 2, 2015 by
Ed Sealover Denver Business Journal
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The bill, which passed the Republican-majority Senate last month, would have cut the minimum portfolio of energy the state's investor-owned utilities would have to obtain from renewable sources from 30 percent back to 15 percent by 2020, and it would have reduced the same standards for cooperative electric associations from 20 percent to 15 percent.
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This was one of those "check the box" measures by Republicans to show certain parts of the base that "they're trying."
Piggybacking on the ARRA, raising Colorado's renewable standard to 30% was a signature effort by Governor Bill Ritter back in 2010. As far as I'm aware Excel Energy is virtually there already. In fact the cost now for wind energy has dropped so much that Excel recently added another project to their growing portfolio.
Utilities in the SE are big political contributors; no clarification necessary. Things change radically once you get to the Mississippi River. Texas far and away leads the nation in wind energy. Iowa comes in second. Oklahoma and Kansas compete with each other by offering
state incentives for wind energy.
Comment: Since Chinese laborers laid the first rail for trains the Federal Government has subsidized infrastructure. It has created whole new industries by doing so; it's why this country has led the world in new industry. Think planes, trains and automobiles; think computers; most new industries have their seeds somewhere in Federal subsidies.
The push into renewable energy was no different. There were many nascent types of solar tech and in a few years we sorted out the wheat from the chaff. The cost of solar energy has since dropped in half as has wind energy. BTW, the ARRA is in the green on the loans that were made with interest payments more than offsetting any defaults.
With respect to Colorado:
Colorado has been an egregious user of coal. It was in their historical DNA, what with all the coal in Colorado and Wyoming. In fact, just a few year's ago they completed a $1.3 billion investment in new coal burners at their Pueblo cluster.
It did however come with all the new clean tech.
A few years ago Colorado sourced over 60% of their electricity from coal. Also a few years ago the legislature passed with a large bipartisan majority a mandate that Excel change over all the metro area (Boulder/Denver) coal burners to NatGas. That along with lots of new wind energy should make a big difference.
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