U.S. groups want government to double support for renewables

WASHINGTON, DC, US, 2004-10-13 (Refocus Weekly)

A coalition of energy groups in the United States has recommended that federal support for renewables and energy efficiency double over the next five years.

Twenty-seven members of the Sustainable Energy Coalition have urged the Office of Management & Budget, Department of Energy and other federal agencies to allocate US$1.7 billion for renewables in the 2006 fiscal year. Their document suggests budget levels and program priorities for solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, geothermal and the Renewable Energy Production Incentive, and includes recommendations for efficiency and weatherization programs as well as fuel cells, hydrogen, and the Energy Star and U.S. AID's Clean Energy programs.

Programs for renewables and energy efficiency “have been chronically under-funded for several years,” and the United States “cannot afford to under-develop its fastest, most cost-effective, and cleanest energy resources” during a time of natural gas shortages, homeland security challenges, growing dependence on foreign energy resources, air quality and climate change problems, and increased demands on the power grid, they argue. Renewables can provide “both immediate action and long-term solutions” to balance energy supply and demand, stimulate the economy, provide jobs, keep consumer energy bills affordable, and improve air quality.

Energy research in the U.S. is the lowest of any major industry and has declined dramatically since the 1980's, they claim, and “for the federal government to continue to heavily fund and emphasize non-renewable energy options over renewable energy and energy efficiency is putting American ingenuity and resources at a global disadvantage.” Lack of support for renewables will cede “the leadership for which Americans have already paid” since the OPEC crisis, and they say additional funding will ensure the U.S. “regains its share of world commerce that is increasingly focusing on energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.”

In their specific recommendations on DOE’s renewable energy programs, the groups call for $55 million to be allocated this year to wind power technologies, with a focus on developing a next-generation large turbine capable of operating in areas with low wind speeds that would expand the potential for wind by 20 times and allow placement of turbines closer to existing grids. It also wants support for small turbines that can be located near homes, farms and small businesses.

They want $100 million for solar PV to reduce costs and increase performance, noting the U.S. is “losing share to Japan and the EU in this rapidly growing market,” and $25 million for Concentrated Solar Power that “deserves serious consideration and support” to reflect the support of southwestern governors for a 1,000 MW initiative. Research on advanced troughs for generation, absorption cooling and process heating “have shown immense promise and should be aggressively continued,” and work on the 1 MW concentrated dish / Stirling engine in Nevada “deserves high priority to increase market knowledge and acceptance.”

Solar heating and lighting should receive $7.5 million to reduce the lifecycle cost of heating below $0.04/kWh, while biomass and biofuels should receive $105 million to test a variety of feedstocks for cleaner combustion, gasification and digestion technologies for electric generation. Geothermal should receive $53 million to develop the technology to tap extensive geothermal resources of 95,000 MW, but “because of the high risk and cost of production, the U.S. tapping only 2% of this potential.” The DOE geothermal research program is “severely under funded” compared to the former research budget of $150 million, which now is $25 million and “simply below critical mass.”

Hydropower should receive $10 million to fund DOE’s Advanced Hydropower Turbine System program and to study environmental issues related to hydropower production, including the potential integration of hydro with other renewable energy technologies. Hydrogen should receive $120 million to focus on using renewables for production and “to de-emphasize the use of coal or nuclear energy, traditional energy resources, for this purpose,” and distributed generation should receive $25 million to focus on new interconnection and storage applications for DG technologies, including renewables, hybrid renewables and other clean energy technologies, as well as development of ‘smart interconnection’ equipment and an analysis on the impacts of DG in preventing blackouts and reducing pollution.

DOE created the Renewable Energy Production Incentive program in 1992 to provide public utilities and rural electric cooperatives with a counterpart to the tax incentives available to private utilities for green power generation, and provides 1.8¢/kWh for new solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and landfill gas projects for a ten-year period. REPI is “invaluable to not-for profit utilities in helping them to make investments in these costly but critical resources,” and funding should be increased over the historical $4 million budget “to reflect the funding needed to make the program a viable incentive to consumer-owned utilities.”

The Sustainable Energy Coalition was founded in 1992 as a coalition of 80 national and state business, consumer, environmental and energy policy groups to promote increased use of renewables and energy efficient technologies. The submission was signed by 27 of the members, including the Alliance to Save Energy, American Bioenergy Association, American Public Power Association, American Solar Energy Society, American Wind Energy Association, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, California Wind Energy Association, National Hydropower Association, Renewable Fuels Association, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Sierra Club, Solar Energy Industries Association, Union of Concerned Scientists and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

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