Austin Energy: Renewable energy push is 'too much of a good thing'Aug 27 - Lilly Rockwell Austin American-Statesman
In a quest to make Austin Energy the greenest utility in the nation, the Austin City Council will consider a proposal Thursday that would require the utility to more aggressively invest in renewable energy, with an ambitious goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030. The plan, whose prime sponsor is Council Member Chris Riley, includes shutting down the Decker Creek Power Plant and replacing it with 600 megawatts of solar by 2017. It is largely embraced by a broad coalition of environmental groups, clean energy advocates and consumer watchdog groups. There's just one problem: Austin Energy isn't on board. The municipal-owned utility issued a stern statement Tuesday warning that shutting down the Decker natural gas-powered plant could be an "economic disaster for ratepayers" and urged the council to not rush to adopt Riley's resolution, which comes on the heels of a controversial citizen task force report on Austin Energy's renewable energy goals. "Solar is a good thing," Austin Energy General Manager Larry Weis said. "The task force wants too much of a good thing." The report, issued last month by the Generation Resource Planning Task Force, offered recommendations for how the utility could reduce its reliance on its gas- and coal-powered plants and use more renewable energy while still staying within the city's mandate of not raising rates more than 2 percent per year. It suggested pushing up the existing City Council-set goal of going carbon-dioxide emission free by 2050 to 2030. Before the ink was dry on the report, the utility had detailed its objections to the American-Statesman, saying too much reliance on renewable energy would make the utility more vulnerable to rate increases. That's because on windless, cloudy days the utility will have to rely more on purchased power from the statewide grid, forcing the utility to pay whatever prices the market dictates rather than having an opportunity make money by selling utility-generated power. The utility wants the freedom to use what it calls "dispatchable" power that can be used at any time. According to records provided by the task force, Austin Energy's current power generation plan mentions the possibility of adding 1,000 megawatts of natural gas by 2019. But the assumption that more renewable energy means higher rates is hotly disputed by the authors of the report and renewable energy proponents. In fact, they believe data and information gleaned from Austin Energy shows that renewable energy is the cheaper option and will help push rates down. Clay Butler, a member of the Electric Utility Commission and the Generation Resource task force, said an Austin Energy simulation of what solar energy coming from a West Texas farm would have cost, versus the cost of gas-powered plants, proved that solar was cheaper. The solar farm "would have performed better financially in 2012 compared to the entire gas fleet of Decker and Sand Hill," said Butler, an attorney for a clean energy consulting firm. Riley said the utility's fuel charge had risen recently due to price increases in natural gas, and that the expectation is that a recently secured large solar contract at an indisputably low price would bring the cost of renewables down. Besides, Riley said, the 2030 goal can be changed if rates are impacted. "If we need to revisit the goals for renewables and solar in order to maintain our affordability goals, then we'll have ample opportunity to do that in future years," he said. Council Members Mike Martinez and Sheryl Cole, who are both running for mayor, joined Riley in supporting the plan. "It is OK for staff to raise questions and concerns. That is their job," Martinez said. "But it is also OK for us to challenge our staff to do more, to do better, and to be the leader in the country that we all want Austin Energy to be." ------ Austin Energy solar production Currently: 30 megawatts from Webberville solar farm, 22 megawatts from "distributed" solar collected from rooftop units and other sources. Planned: 150 megawatt power plant in West Texas, 3.6 megawatts of "community" solar. Riley's proposal: 600 megawatts of large-scale solar by 2017, 200 megawatts of distributed solar by 2020. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=33496003& |