Nov 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Russell Ray Tampa Tribune, Fla.

How will Florida be judged in the battle against climate change?

For many, it will hinge on what state regulators and legislators do with a proposal to generate more electricity from renewable resources.

In the next few months, after intense study and debate, state officials will decide just how much wind, sunlight and biofuels Florida should use to produce power, and how fast the state should move toward that goal.

Move too slow, and dependence on nuclear, oil and natural gas-fired power could grow, environmentalists warn. Move too fast, and the cost of electricity could surge to unreasonable levels as ratepayers are forced to pay for more expensive renewable technologies, utilities and consumer groups say.

Whatever the state decides, the decision will dictate the cost of electricity and the volume of renewable power consumed in Florida for decades. What's more, it will be a factor in just how fast or slow the renewable energy market grows in Florida.

Environmental groups, electric utilities and consumer advocates are grappling over the issue.

But most agree that establishing a fair standard will be difficult without first knowing how much renewable power is available in Florida and how much it will cost.

One thing is certain: Electric bills will rise.

"We are past the days of cheap electricity," said Suzanne Brownless, a lawyer for the Florida Solar Energy Coalition. "If you want clean electricity, you have to cut your consumption or you have to use cleaner alternatives, and all cleaner alternatives are going to be more expensive than dirty coal."

With the election over, the focus nationally will be on renewable fuels. The Obama-Biden energy plan is to ensure that 10 percent of the country's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

The goal in Florida is to encourage the development of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without creating unreasonable costs for customers.

"It's imperative that they do it in the most cost-effective manner possible," said Mike Twomey, a consumer advocate for AARP.

In these tough economic times, consumers can't afford to pay much more for electricity, Twomey said. Already, electric bills for Tampa Electric and Progress Energy customers will rise substantially next year as both utilities raise fuel prices and pass on higher costs.

Also at stake are hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for a growing number of renewable energy companies in the state.

So far, a couple of options have been pitched to regulators.

2020 Or 2041?

The most aggressive plan would require electric utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020, a standard recommended by the Governor's Action Team on Energy and Climate Change and supported by environmental groups.

"It decreases the likelihood you will have to build more nuclear power plants," Brownless said. "When you have these kinds of incentives for renewable energy, you can develop a green energy market. You're also creating small businesses in a time of recession."

Last month, staff for the Public Service Commission recommended the commission adopt a less aggressive plan that would have required 20 percent of Florida's power come from renewable sources by 2041. The plan also capped the cost to customers at about $2.40 a month, or 2 percent of a utility's annual revenue.

Environmental groups blasted the staff proposal, saying it was too weak.

The proposal, though, was based on several factors, including the potential cost to utilities and their customers.

The commission postponed action on the proposal, telling staff members to reconsider its recommendation.

"The rule they had developed was a placeholder," commission Chairman Matthew Carter II said. "I believe we can get 20 percent by '20."

The delay will give commissioners and staff a chance to review a study on the cost and availability of renewable energy in Florida. The study will be released in late November. The commission will discuss the proposal again at a public hearing Dec. 3, and a vote is scheduled for January.

Barry Moline, executive director of the Florida Municipal Electric Association, said the government-funded study will be crucial in determining a standard that can be achieved at a reasonable cost to consumers.

The recommendations made thus far aren't backed by any hard information, Moline said.

"They're not based on any analysis," he said. "We don't have a position because we don't know how much renewables are available."

To shield consumers from skyrocketing electric bills, the amount a utility spends on renewable power should be capped at 1 percent of its annual revenues, Moline said.

The state should adopt a renewable standard "that recognizes the potential of Florida's renewable energy resources," Tampa Electric spokesman Rick Morera said.

St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy Florida said any mandate for renewable power should not favor one renewable resource over others. Such a provision could drive up consumer costs to unaffordable levels, the utility said.

"We recommend a design that is achievable, affordable and spreads the costs equitably among all consumers in the state," Progress Energy spokeswoman Suzanne Grant said.

Debate May Be Contentious

Utilities in other states have fought efforts to establish standards for renewable energy, arguing the free market should determine how much power is made from renewable resources. Anything beyond that could lead to unreasonable costs for utilities and their customers, executives argued.

"The utilities would prefer the state of Florida not to tell them how to run their business," Brownless said. "They would like to be able to maximize their own generation in exactly the way they would like to do it."

Tampa Electric and Progress Energy Florida each generate about 3 percent of their power from renewable resources. Statewide, utilities use renewable resources to produce 3.6 percent of their power.

The debate over a mandate for renewable power will likely be one of the most contentious issues of next year's legislative session. Lawmakers under pressure to bolster the economy are counting on the development of renewable energy as a way to bring more jobs to Florida.

But job creation should not be one of the goals of a mandate for renewable power, Twomey said. "We don't think that in the hard times we're facing now and electric rates going up substantially that any customer money should be spent directly on job creation," he said. "Those are tax issues."

Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870.

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