Energy Measure Backers Show Off Sun's Power

Energy Measure Backers Show Off Sun's Power

Nov 06 - Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

Proponents of an amendment that would mandate more renewable energy in the state brought a visual aid Tuesday to Colorado Springs -- a solar-powered tent.

The tent, with possible military and humanitarian applications, is powered by flexible solar photovoltaic sheets capable of generating enough electricity to power lighting, 10 laptops, a couple of evaporative coolers and a small refrigerator.

Proponents say the demonstration of solar's capability is one more reason to back Amendment 37, which would require Colorado's largest utilities to generate 10 percent of their power through renewable energy sources by 2015. Of that 10 percent, 4 percent would have to be derived from solar.

Chuck Varney of Solar Integrated Technologies said the solar tent is a recent development and is scheduled to be tried out by the Marines during a war exercise next month in California.

He said the flexible photovoltaic panels affixed to the tent roof are a proven technology and are becoming increasingly popular in industrial applications in California.

His company has developed a way to attach the panels to a flexible roofing membrane with a 25-year guarantee. That has led companies such as Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay to begin reroofing some buildings with the material.

He said rebates and tax incentives from the state of California and the federal government allow companies to pay off the roof in five to seven years and generate free electricity for at least another 20 years.

Still, solar proponents acknowledge the technology is not yet cost competitive with fossil fuels -- or even wind power. The 20- foot by 20-foot tent with 12 solar panels, for example, is sold for $60,000.

Some utilities in the state, including Colorado Springs Utilities, say solar power is too expensive and mandating its use by approving Amendment 37 would increase costs to consumers, particularly business and industrial customers.

Adam Browning of the California-based advocacy group Vote Solar said the key to lowering the cost of solar power is to create demand for the technology. Approving Amendment 37, he said, would spur innovations and economies of scale that eventually would make the technology cost-competitive, as it has begun to do in Japan and Germany.

He said solar has two big advantages: It can be generated where it's needed -- at a manufacturing plant, for example. And it produces power during hot, sunny days, exactly when many utilities experience the greatest demand on power plants.

Justin Dawe of the nonprofit advocacy group Environment Colorado said technologies such as solar and wind have other advantages: They are nonpolluting, unlike coal; the fuel is free; they can offer a hedge against the rising cost of natural gas; and they reduce this country's dependency on fossil fuels from the Middle East.

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