Press Mention The Tampa Tribune / TBO.com April 21, 2009
SACE Quoted
Renewable energy projects in jeopardy without new law
In this mention
Florida renewable energy projects face delays or cancellation without new state legislation requiring utilities to source 20 percent of power from clean energy by 2020. Susan Glickman, a lobbyist for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, warns that without a renewable energy target, utilities lack incentive to pursue clean energy projects and cannot recover costs. The Senate approved a bill but the House has not yet taken action as the legislative session nears its end.
If there is not a renewable target for the utilities to meet, it is less likely that they will do some of these clean energy projects. They won't have the ability to recover the cost.
Susan Glickman
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Full transcript
Renewable energy projects in jeopardy without new law
By RUSSELL RAY | The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 22, 2009
Updated: 04/22/2009 01:17 pm
Several renewable energy projects in Florida may be scuttled or delayed if the Legislature fails to pass legislation requiring utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable or clean energy sources by 2020.
"If there is not a renewable target for the utilities to meet, it is less likely that they will do some of these clean energy projects," said Susan Glickman, a lobbyist for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "They won't have the ability to recover the cost."
On Tuesday, the Senate Policy Committee on Ways and Means approved a bill that would require electric utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from "clean" energy by 2020 and sent it to the Senate floor for consideration.
Under the bill, utilities would be allowed to meet the 20 percent goal with new generation from nuclear plants and coal-gasification plants that can capture and store carbon dioxide.
But the bill's author, Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said the proposal may die in the Senate.
What's more, the House, with less than two weeks until the session's end, has not held a meeting on the plan.
But renewable energy advocates remain confident that both chambers will agree to some form of renewable energy standard before the end of next week. The House has been wrangling with budget issues but is expected to take up the matter soon, Glickman said.
"There have been a lot of distractions in the House," she said. "But we are hearing that they're going to move something."
Last month, Tampa Electric Co. announced plans to build a 25-megawatt solar panel power plant near Mulberry in Polk County in anticipation of a new state law requiring them to use more renewable power.
But Tampa Electric spokesman Rick Morera said the utility will proceed with the project even if the state fails to mandate the use of renewable power.
"We think the project is appropriate for us to pursue, given the likelihood of federal legislation," Morera said.
A 75-megawatt solar project for Babcock Ranch, a development in South Florida, may be put on hold if lawmakers fail to pass a mandate for renewable energy, Glickman said.
"They need a renewable portfolio standard to do that project," she said.