Bill seeks to expand renewable energy standard

Voters approved Amendment 37 five years ago requiring Colorado's top utility companies to acquire 10 percent of its retail electricity from “clean” sources like wind or solar.

A couple of years later, the renewable energy standard was boosted to 20 percent by 2020 — a goal already reached.

Last week the Colorado House of Representatives passed on second reading House Bill 10-1001, legislation that would again expand the state's renewable energy standard to 30 percent by 2020. The measure's sponsors include Rep. Max Tyler, D-Lakewood, Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, and Sens. Bruce Whitehead, D-Hesperus, and Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass.

Utilities were able to reach their previous mandate before the target date of 2020 by buying excess electricity produced on homes, farms and businesses of owners who installed their own solar panels. Distributed Generation, or “on-site” electricity, as it's called, does not require additional transmission facilities to connect to the grid.

Residential renewable businesses have tripled in Colorado since voters first approved the Renewable Energy Standard (Amendment 37) in 2004, according to Environment Colorado. The environmental organization also maintains that photovoltaic installation creates more jobs per megawatt than any other electricity source.

Xcel spokesman Tom Henley said the utility company would “support the bill as long as we can keep it under the 2 percent cap for bill impacts for our customers.”

A 2 percent surcharge for the renewable energy adjustment was born out of Amendment 37, Henley said.

Alan Deslongchamp of Simplicity Solar said he expects utilities like Xcel and Black Ridge to extend rebates making it more feasible for people to install solar on their homes and businesses and provide a source of renewable power for the utilities to purchase.

“The other thing in the bill that is valuable, it requires certification to do solar (installation),” said Heidi Ihrke of High Noon Solar, a company with national certification.

The bill will be voted on the floor of the House once more, before moving to the Senate.

Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Collbran, said in an e-mail that she will not vote for the bill.

“HB 10-1001 is one more strike against the already struggling oil and gas industry in Western Colorado. A mandated increase in renewable energy correlates to a decrease in the use of fossil fuels and natural gas, killing jobs right here in Mesa County,” wrote Bradford.

An Environment Colorado press release quotes Colorado AFL-CIO president Mike Cerbo as saying the bill would bring “good, green jobs to the state.”

A spokeswoman for Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said he was in the process of reviewing the legislation.

Article from GJ Free Press 17 Feb 2010

Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.