CAN GEORGIA MEET RENEWABLE ENERGY MANDATES? Two views

Yes: Now’s the time to invest in solar, wind, future

By STEPHEN A. SMITH

We have important decisions to make about how we produce and consume energy. Instead of clinging to the same dirty energy resources, we should embrace a clean energy future that prioritizes energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Our reliance on coal and nuclear power means we import energy resources from out of state. We pay more than $2 billion annually to import coal alone, and most of that money benefits other states and countries.

Instead, energy efficiency and renewable energy offer homegrown solutions that provide local economic benefits, improve energy security and reduce our global warming pollution.

A national renewable electricity standard (RES) will expand markets in Georgia’s clean technology industry.

Georgia and the rest of the Southeast have more than enough renewable energy resources to meet a modest RES requiring utilities to produce 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Renewable sources like bioenergy and wind energy are already cost-competitive with coal and nuclear, and the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration confirms that an RES can reduce energy prices.

Our research shows that Georgia has abundant and diverse renewable energy resources, including bioenergy, offshore wind and solar. Georgia’s bioenergy and solar resources could meet nearly 30 percent of current electricity needs, and offshore wind will provide even more energy for Georgia.

Georgia’s abundant renewable energy resources are an important component of our economic recovery. Bioenergy in Georgia already supplies 20,000 jobs and generates economic output worth $1.4 billion, according to a recent report from the Southeast Agricultural and Forestry Energy Resources Alliance.

Oglethorpe Power and Georgia Power are expanding the state’s bioenergy production with plans for a few large bioenergy facilities, but demand for Georgia’s forest and agriculture products is slipping.

Expanding bioenergy markets to tap into our abundant forest and agriculture resources will help close the gap between supply and demand, and we must ensure that we develop the state’s bioenergy resources sustainably.

Georgia’s tremendous offshore wind potential offers another source of clean, renewable energy. The U.S. wind industry grew by 50 percent last year and injected $20 billion into the economy, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

The Department of Energy estimates that developing just one-tenth of Georgia’s wind potential, the vast majority of which lies offshore, would create more than $2.1 billion in economic activity. Our research shows that Georgia has enough offshore wind to power more than 300,000 homes.

Finally, Georgia’s solar energy resources are not to be ignored. Solar resources in Georgia are 60 percent greater than in Germany, the world leader in solar energy generation, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

With committed leadership, we can unleash a clean technology revolution built around energy efficiency and homegrown renewable energy, which will create local economic opportunities, put Georgians back to work and improve energy security.

Stephen A. Smith heads the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

No: Costly mandates hurt ratepayers

By STAN WISE

The carbon cap and trade system and mandated renewable portfolio standards (RPS) will disproportionately hurt ratepayers in Georgia, especially-low income households.

Hopefully Americans have come to realize they will pay higher taxes under this administration; unless of course they do not work in a small business, have a mortgage, health benefits, use gasoline or electricity, contribute to charities or buy goods and services.

The campaign rhetoric sounded righteous to the uninformed: Let’s tax polluters and use the revenue to develop renewable sources. But the “polluters” President Obama speaks of include your local electric company. And when utilities get hit with a carbon tax, they are legally permitted to recover it from customers. As businesses buy credits for the emissions they produce, consumers will get pinched again when they purchase goods.

Lower-income earners will be impacted more because utility bills and other necessities, such as groceries, represent a higher percentage of their income. A 15 percent cut in emissions would cost the average low-income family $680 a year, the Congressional Budget Office says. The CBO estimates $50 billion to $300 billion a year would be collected; an unspecified amount of this pledged to offset the higher energy bills of lower-income families.

Here in the Southeast the inequities of a one size fits all energy standard will be felt even more. Like 25 other states, Georgia gets 50 percent or more of its energy generation from coal. If RPS legislation includes only wind, solar, biomass or geothermal, Georgia’s electricity costs will go up, reliability will be jeopardized, and capital will be diverted from achieving other objectives, like meeting aggressive carbon targets.

While we can grow our use of renewables in Georgia, we cannot come close to meeting the mandates considered by Congress. Georgia does not have abundant solar energy like that in the desert Southwest, the wind turbine generation available in the Great Plains, nor abundant geothermal, DOE finds.

While I support expansion of solar energy at the micro level, Georgia’s humidity and low cloud cover make it a very unlikely and high-cost source for production in Georgia, even if considering federal tax credits.

Limited potential does exist for wind generation off the coast, which Georgia Power is exploring in consultation with Georgia Tech. Landfill methane gas is being used to generate energy across the state. Our pine forests are being used for biomass generation. Georgia Power is converting a 155-megawatt coal plant to biomass. Oglethorpe Power has announced three 100-megawatt biomass plants.

Though these plants will be among the largest in the country, they will not put a dent in the proposed requirement that 25 percent of new electric generation come from renewables by 2025.

Regional considerations should be included in any federal standard. Existing hydro-generation should be given the same credit as wind and solar. Emission-free nuclear generation and use of coal with carbon capture and sequestration should also count. The definition of biomass should include whole trees.

Without this flexibility, a huge transfer of wealth will flow from Georgia to developers or utilities in other parts of the country or to Washington.

Stan Wise is on the Georgia Public Service Commission.