Yesterday, I spoke to a group of manufacturers in Arkansas. Throughout the conference there was a fair amount of pride in the successful squashing of Bingaman's RPS bill -- and for reasons that are not entirely unreasonable.
Among the speakers was the chair of the Arkansas Energy Commission, who said that he personally objected to the bill because it was unfair. Specifically, it would not allow Arkansas to count their existing hydro-electric capacity in the RPS targets, but would allow existing wind to count. From his perspective, this looked like a sop to Bingaman's wind-rich home district, and while we might personally dispute this interpretation, it is easy to see how it could happen.
It is further proof for my earlier point that a path-based RPS is bound to fail, for the simple reason that you will never get a majority of states to agree that a wind/solar dominated RPS is in their interests. Change the structure so that it provides incentives for the goal rather than the path and you could break the southern opposition. There are more low-zero carbon fuels out there than are dreamt of in current RPS philosophies. If your state is long on biomass, bagasse, waste heat or wind, those should all be eligible -- not because we redefine our eligibility targets, but because we define the goal in terms of carbon reduction and then open up the door to any path that can get there.
Until then, we're not going to get an RPS. Note that the southern utilities are boasting about their success in killing this last one -- let's not give them more to crow about.
From Greenwire (sub. rqd.):
Southern utilities led effort to squash Senate RPS proposal
ATLANTA -- Southern utilities played key roles in the effort to undermine plans in the Senate last week to require power companies to generate at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable energy. The fingerprints of the Tennessee Valley Authority and those of the Tennessee Valley Power Providers Association, whose members distribute TVA power to nearly 9 million customers in the South, were all over the successful effort to keep the so-called renewable portfolio standard (RPS) out of the sweeping Senate energy bill.
Senate panel to kick off climate hearings on Tuesday
Rep. Massa explains his ‘no’ vote
Counting Senate votes on climate and energy
Comments View as Flat
sunflower Posted 7:33 am
27 Jun 2007
Politicians are not engineers
Last week I had a long conversation with our local public utility about RPS. Turns out we get 85% hydro, 10% nuclear, about 4% from mix biomass sources, and less than 1% coal. They could not make sense of 15% RPS.
Why not have the power utilities involved in displacing gas used for other applications, then use that gas to displace coal power? The low hanging fruit is lying on the ground.
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Charles Barton Posted 9:46 pm
27 Jun 2007
TVA and renewable energy
TVA long ago maxed out the hydroelectric potential of the Tennessee River Valley. There are limited renewable energy resources in the Tennessee Valley. The Valley along with the entire Southeastern United States, is very unsuited for Wind generated electricity. The Tennessee Valley lacks geothermal resources. TVA's Wind generating farm is located on Buffalo Mountain, one of the windiest spots in Tennessee. During August, there is enough wind on Buffalo Mountain to generate electricity 7% of the time. Some months there is more wind, but at most Buffalo Mountain generates electricity less than a quarter of the time. This is by the way, tipical of the south east. Solar may some day provide cheap electricity, but that day is not now. TVA does generate 36 percent of its power from green sources, and plans to bring 3 new reactors online in the next 12 years, replacing more coal fired generating plants.
So why beat up TVA simply because the Southeast lacks Renewable power generating resources?
Charles Barton
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