logo
Article

Green energy standards hitting blockades; Kansas is now resistant

EnergyBiz|Ken Silverstein|February 19, 2013
KansasUSAEnergy Policy

Renewable Portfolio Standards are coming under attack. The latest locale is Kansas, where the Republican-led legislature says that green energy mandates are distorting markets. ...It's all part of the national discussion over whether requiring utilities to either procure or to produce a percentage of their offerings from sustainable sources is a good thing.


Renewable Portfolio Standards are coming under attack. The latest locale is Kansas, where the Republican-led legislature says that green energy mandates are distorting markets. Policymakers are also threatening repeal, noting that the environmental community is blocking an advanced coal project there.

It's all part of the national discussion over whether requiring utilities to either procure or to produce a percentage of their offerings from sustainable sources is a good thing. Free market thinkers are inclined to say that if wind and solar energy can be economically provided and if they are reliable, then they will be faithfully produce and consumed.

Others say that the state mandates are giving producers the certainty they need to …

... more [truncated due to possible copyright]

Renewable Portfolio Standards are coming under attack. The latest locale is Kansas, where the Republican-led legislature says that green energy mandates are distorting markets. Policymakers are also threatening repeal, noting that the environmental community is blocking an advanced coal project there.

It's all part of the national discussion over whether requiring utilities to either procure or to produce a percentage of their offerings from sustainable sources is a good thing. Free market thinkers are inclined to say that if wind and solar energy can be economically provided and if they are reliable, then they will be faithfully produce and consumed.

Others say that the state mandates are giving producers the certainty they need to make expensive investments by providing ready-made markets for their products. As the technologies mature and as more players enter the market, those windmills and solar panels will get better and cheaper. That's the basic idea in which President Obama has twice campaigned, and won.

In the case of Kansas, it's Republican governor, Sam Brownback, has long fought for public investments in wind energy, saying that they are responsible for billions in economic development in his state. Kansas adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard in 2009, which requires utilities to provide 15 percent of their power from green energy by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020.

The state is set to hit its goals, primarily by adding wind energy -- without burdening consumers. So, what's going on? Lawsuits have delayed the construction of an 895-megawatt "supercritical pulverized" coal plant there. But the local Capital-Journal says that newly-erected hurdles are causing conservative policymakers there to respond by trying to either dump or to delay the current portfolio standards.

Nationally, about 30 states have enacted some variation of those green standards. Those rules, in fact, are given credit for the installation of roughly 60,000 megawatts of renewable energy generation, says IHS Emerging Energy Research. It says that a few utilities in Washington, Maine, Colorado and New Hampshire are in good shape to meet short-term goals. Others, though, will need to hustle.

"With increasing challenges including low power pricing and uncertain federal policies, escalating RPS demand will define the timing and location of renewables growth across the U.S. over the next few years," says IHS Renewable Power Research Director Alex Klein. He adds that the signing of power purchase agreements is the main way that utilities are complying.

Expect Resistance

Recently, two critics of the portfolio requirements have begun nationwide efforts to roll them back: The Heartland Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council, which say that those mandates are tilting the scales sing consumers to pay more. But their critics are are also pointing out that the two groups are getting their funding from oil and coal interests.

Regardless, enacting green energy mandates and actually applying those standards are a challenge. Wind and solar, for example, are intermittent resources that must be firmed up by a resource that can juice up on short notice. Critics say that the ramping up and down of generation is both inefficient and dirty. 



At the same time, the electric grid must be expanded to accommodate the additional electrons. The North American Electric Reliability Corp. is saying that about 32,000 miles of transmission wires are projected over 10 years. Getting all that up and running, it adds, is critical to green energy's fate.

California, for example, aspires to get a third of its generation from green energy by 2020. The latest 2012 data indicates that sustainable fuels now comprise 20 percent: Wind is at 63 percent while geothermal and solar photovoltaic are at 17 and 11 percent, respectively. By the time the mandates are fully enacted, wind and solar PV will make up 35 percent and 37 percent of that 33 percent target.

"Projects face a number of hurdles," says Sara Kamins, energy advisor to the California Public Utilities Commission, in a phone conversation. "But our forecasts show we can achieve 33 percent with projects under development - and we have 7 more years to get there." Sempra, Southern California Edison and PG&E are all on schedule.

Public policy is supporting the development of green energy resources. But environmental groups should expect resistance to their cause given their own opposition to competing generation, which may also use the latest technologies. That's what happening in Kansas, and it may also be factoring into the motivation of fossil fuel-backed organizations.


Source:http://www.energybiz.com/arti…

Share this post
Follow Us
RSS:XMLAtomJSON
Donate
Donate
Stay Updated

We respect your privacy and never share your contact information. | LEGAL NOTICES

Contact Us

WindAction.org
Lisa Linowes, Executive Director
phone: 603.838.6588

Email contact

General Copyright Statement: Most of the sourced material posted to WindAction.org is posted according to the Fair Use doctrine of copyright law for non-commercial news reporting, education and discussion purposes. Some articles we only show excerpts, and provide links to the original published material. Any article will be removed by request from copyright owner, please send takedown requests to: info@windaction.org

© 2024 INDUSTRIAL WIND ACTION GROUP CORP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WEBSITE GENEROUSLY DONATED BY PARKERHILL TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION