Onward and Upward
There seems to be two tales going on simultaneously in the renewable energy resources world in the United States. Go to a conference and or talk to professionals in the field, and there's inevitably talk about cost, resource availability or transmission access, and a whole host of challenges that could derail renewable energy growth and acceptance. Look at what's going on in state governments, and it's full speed ahead.
At least that's what happening in Colorado this week, as the state legislature just sent a bill to Governor Bill Ritter increasing the renewable energy mandate from 20 percent to 30 percent by 2020. That requirement puts Colorado just behind California's 33 percent by 2020. New York is working through the regulatory regime for a combined 40 percent mandate for renewable and energy efficiency.
I caught up with Craig Cox, the executive director of the Interwest Energy Alliance, on Monday, barely an hour after the Colorado House passed the mandate, following Senate action last week. Interwest is a Colorado-based organization of industry and nongovernmental organizations that seeks to build consensus for project and transmission development.
"This has support because it offered cost stability, in addition to its environmental benefits," Cox said. He noted that the state's dominant utility supported the measure. "Xcel Energy was well on its way of meeting the 20-percent mandate anyway and was in support of this increase," Cox said. Interesting here, considering that the utility was opposed to the original mandate six years ago.
One interesting feature is the requirement for 3 percent to come from smaller, distributed systems.
Colorado in 2004 became the first state in the Union to pass a renewable mandate via a ballot initiative, a course that has since been followed by Washington State and Missouri. The initial drive was so successful, the state doubled its mandate to 20 percent in 2007. "It had broad bi-partisan support before but it seems to have taken a very partisan turn," Cox said. Democrats have passed the recent increase without Republican votes. Republicans have complained that the new mandate would drive up costs.
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