Today is a very good day
Today at 12:15 p.m. Governor Bill Ritter will kickstart the New Energy Economy when he signs HB-1281 and SB-100. I'd fully intended to make the trek out to NREL to watch the signing ceremony. But it appears life is going to get in the way. So instead I'm just going to be happy.
UPDATE: Done. A paragraph from the press release from the governor's office, for posterity:
"These new laws will improve our economic security, our environmental security and our national security," the governor added. "They will breathe new economic life into rural Colorado. They will create new jobs, and they will say to the rest of the world, 'Colorado is open for business in what will be one of the most important industries of the 21st Century.'"
Some facts about the two bills, again provided by the governor's office:
House Bill 1281
• Sponsors: Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village; Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder; and Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genesee.
• Doubles the renewable energy standard established by voters with the 2004 passage of Amendment 37.
• Large investor-owned utilities like Xcel must now provide 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2020.
• Requires municipal utilities and rural electric providers to achieve a renewable energy goal of 10 percent by 2020 (they had been excluded from the requirements of Amendment 37).
• Provides a 3-to-1 credit to rural electric associations for investment in solar energy.
• A recent study found HB 1281 would provide significant economic benefits, particularly to rural Colorado, by:
1. Increasing Colorado's share of the GDP by $1.9 billion through 2020.
2. Increasing total wages paid to workers by $570 million.
3. Increasing the workforce by 4,100 person-years of employment.
4. Providing farmers, ranchers and other landowners with $50 million in lease payments for wind farms, crops and solar parks.
5. Generating $400 million in property tax revenue through 2020 to fund education and other services, particularly in rural Colorado.
Senate Bill 100
• Sponsors: Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, and Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West.
• Requires electric utilities subject to rate regulation to identify high-potential wind-energy locations by undertaking biennial reviews to designate "Energy Resource Zones" where transmission constraints hinder the delivery of electricity
• These utilities are then required to develop construction plans to improve transmission capacity.
• The bill allows utilities to recover costs during construction.
• Allows us to break the "chicken and the egg" cycle whereby wind companies don't build turbines until there is adequate transmission capacity, and utilities don't build transmission capacity until there are turbines.
Anytime you can get "the chicken and the egg cycle" into a press release, you should.
UPDATE: Done. A paragraph from the press release from the governor's office, for posterity:
"These new laws will improve our economic security, our environmental security and our national security," the governor added. "They will breathe new economic life into rural Colorado. They will create new jobs, and they will say to the rest of the world, 'Colorado is open for business in what will be one of the most important industries of the 21st Century.'"
Some facts about the two bills, again provided by the governor's office:
House Bill 1281
• Sponsors: Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village; Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder; and Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genesee.
• Doubles the renewable energy standard established by voters with the 2004 passage of Amendment 37.
• Large investor-owned utilities like Xcel must now provide 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2020.
• Requires municipal utilities and rural electric providers to achieve a renewable energy goal of 10 percent by 2020 (they had been excluded from the requirements of Amendment 37).
• Provides a 3-to-1 credit to rural electric associations for investment in solar energy.
• A recent study found HB 1281 would provide significant economic benefits, particularly to rural Colorado, by:
1. Increasing Colorado's share of the GDP by $1.9 billion through 2020.
2. Increasing total wages paid to workers by $570 million.
3. Increasing the workforce by 4,100 person-years of employment.
4. Providing farmers, ranchers and other landowners with $50 million in lease payments for wind farms, crops and solar parks.
5. Generating $400 million in property tax revenue through 2020 to fund education and other services, particularly in rural Colorado.
Senate Bill 100
• Sponsors: Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, and Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West.
• Requires electric utilities subject to rate regulation to identify high-potential wind-energy locations by undertaking biennial reviews to designate "Energy Resource Zones" where transmission constraints hinder the delivery of electricity
• These utilities are then required to develop construction plans to improve transmission capacity.
• The bill allows utilities to recover costs during construction.
• Allows us to break the "chicken and the egg" cycle whereby wind companies don't build turbines until there is adequate transmission capacity, and utilities don't build transmission capacity until there are turbines.
Anytime you can get "the chicken and the egg cycle" into a press release, you should.
Labels: Bill Ritter, HB-1281, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, New Energy Economy, SB-100
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