Bill requires power companies to plan for large-scale solar plants in the state.
DENVER - Sen. Gail Schwartz hopes to avoid some of the same headaches her House counterpart went through when she debates a measure Monday she hopes will lead to more solar energy plants in the San Luis Valley.
The Snowmass Village Democrat said a bill that has already won House approval is designed to promote more utility-sized solar power plants like the SunEdison solar power plant being built near Mosca.
A recent study on renewable energy expansion in the state, which Schwartz called for in a bill she sponsored last year, pinpointed the Valley as having the most potential for solar power.
"We have a region in our state, in Southern Colorado and particularly in the San Luis Valley, that is the key place where we can mine this resource," said Schwartz, who hopes her HB1164 gets out of the Legislature this week. "Just as we've seen a thousand megawatts come off of wind power on the Eastern Plains, it's our turn to put in a clean energy source that can benefit that region and that Colorado can start to be a world leader in."
Schwartz's measure, which she introduced with Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, directs the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to require power companies to add large-scale solar plants in their long-range power resource plans.
While the measure, which cleared the Colorado House on a 43-21 vote last month, doesn't require public utilities to build solar power plants, it does open the door to more of them coming to the state, said Keith Hay, energy advocate for Environment Colorado.
Hay said that the day will soon come when the nation will require companies - all companies - to lower their carbon output, which is the amount of CO2 pollution they emit.
Along with that will come more emphasis on carbon credits, the ability for companies and others to compensate for their carbon pollution by purchasing credits from others who are emitting less greenhouse gases than governmental maximums. (One carbon credit represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases, according to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The long-term objective is to get everyone, businesses and individuals alike, to emit less greenhouse gases, said Hay.
He said several utilities are already going down that road, and are assuming the government will charge them something like $20 a ton on their carbon emissions. This bill just brings the PUC into the mix, he said.
"The utilities are already assuming a charge for carbon, and this is giving the Public Utilities Commission the authority to go ahead and make that part of their resource plans," he said. "A number of major American corporations, including Bank of America, have started planning for this. I'm not reading tea leaves here, I'm reading the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. There's going to be a change where we are going to pay for (emitting) carbon pollution."
Hay and Schwartz said that if Colorado doesn't plan ahead, its citizens are going to end up paying far more later than it would cost now to lower its carbon footprint.
But why solar, which is one of the more expensive renewable energy sources to mine?
"Solar and wind blend really well together," he said. "When wind is at its peak, solar is at a lower point. When solar is at its peak, the wind isn't so good. So by blending the two, you smooth out the sharp curve and get a stable energy source."
Hay said that if solar power plants were fully developed, the San Luis Valley alone could produce half of the state's power needs for an entire year.
Opponents to the measure, however, said its cost is enormous, adding that the technology just doesn't yet exist.
They also said the measure is based on too many "what ifs." What if the price of fossil fuels escalate? What if the federal government assesses a carbon tax? What if utilities cannot afford to build expensive solar plants?
This measure is the same one that Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, said on the House floor last month would increase power costs to the state's businesses, an increase coming at a time when many of them can ill afford it.
Despite that argument, however, Butcher voted for the measure, though she still claimed she opposed it.
Rep. Rafael Gallegos, D-Antonito, who did support the bill, said promoting solar power in Colorado is just the kick in the pants that the valley needs to improve its economic condition.
He said that not only would using more renewable energy save people money years from now, but it also would bring needed jobs and infrastructure development to the valley and parts of Colorado south of Pueblo, which ranked second in having the best solar power potential in the state.
"Local officials, local organizations, along with lawmakers here in Denver, need to work closely on this to encourage solar power companies to come here," he said. "I think we can start moving forward with solar energy in the San Luis Valley."
