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Jan 11 - The Palm Beach Post
If Florida hopes to wean itself off of pricey natural gas, the legislature will have to create an energy policy that both encourages conservation and provides incentives for alternatives such as solar roof panels, utilities industry and regulatory officials told a Senate panel Tuesday. The state ranks third in the nation when it comes to total energy consumption, yet less than 2 percent of its fuel comes from a renewable source, according to the Florida Public Service Commission. In fact, a recent PSC study shows that, if Florida's utilities continue to build natural gas plants, 80 percent of the state's fuel supply will come from natural gas by 2014, and about 19 percent will come from coal. That scenario, against the backdrop of rising oil and natural gas prices, led a representative from one of the state's largest electric utilities to concede to the Senate Committee on Communications and Public Utilities Tuesday that Florida is developing a dependence on natural gas. "The decisions we make today will set the stage for 10 years," said Jeff Lyash, senior vice president of energy development for Progress Energy-Florida. "Will we see a dependence on natural gas, or will we see a shift to solid fuels?" Utilities like using natural gas because gas-fired power plants can be built fairly quickly. They are less expensive than coal and nuclear plants, which have more regulatory hurdles because of environmental and safety concerns, and require more upfront dollars. What's more, natural gas is considered a clean-burning fossil fuel. But it's also an expensive one. Customers of Florida Power & Light Co., a unit of Juno Beach-based FPL Group Inc., will see an average 19 percent increase in their bills starting this month largely because of soaring natural gas prices. In 2002, the state legislature charged the PSC and Florida Department of Energy to inventory the state's renewable energy resources and determine how realistic it would be to start tapping into alternative sources such as wind and solar power, said Mark Futrell, an economic analyst with the PSC. The agencies discovered that the state has a little over 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy that can be used, he said. Some counties, including Palm Beach and Broward, are participating in a landfill project in which methane gas is converted into energy, Futrell said. He also suggested that the state could be rich in biomass energy because of its yearlong agriculture season. James Fenton, director of the Florida Solar Energy Center, urged the committee to include tax breaks and other incentives for residents who place solar panels on their roofs, a project that can cost a homeowner thousands of dollars. "If you want to bet on the future and bet on natural gas, fine, but the sun is free," he said. The state's energy department will release its own energy proposal Tuesday. State Sen. Lee Constantine, chairman of the utilities committee, said he will look at the study and continue to work with committee members to develop an energy policy for the legislative session, which starts March 7. "We're starting with a clean slate," said Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs. "You've seen the charts, the energy breakdown that we have today. Our job is to change that chart." ----- To see more of The Palm Beach Post -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.palmbeachpost.com. Copyright (c) 2006, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. |