I read with interest the debate surrounding Rep. Pricey Harrison’s bill requiring power companies to get 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources. It all sounds great, but you have to wonder if it’s a realistic goal. An article in last week’s Journal on the renewable energy debate in Ashe County makes it clear that Harrison’s idea is easier said than done:
In response to the General Assembly, the N.C. Utilities Commission hired consultants to prepare an analysis, which was finished in December.
The study indicated that North Carolina will be able to meet 5 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources. Wind energy makes up nearly half of the state’s potential renewal energy. Meeting 10 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources would require large hydroelectric systems and wind farms – in the mountains and off the coast.
Renewable energy is also expensive. For instance, the TVA’s cost is about three cents to generate a kilowatt-hour from a coal-fired plant. The cost for the same amount of power from a wind farm is between four and six cents. A federal subsidy helps pay the added cost. For consumers the added cost of clean energy can run as much as $10 a month.
So if hydroelectric systems and wind farms will provide only 10 percent of the state’s renewable energy, then how are power companies supposed to provide 20 percent in a mere 13 years? Since wind farms are facing opposition in Ashe County, is it not logical to assume the construction of industrial-size hydroelectic systems would face similar opposition on the coast? The controversy surrounding the Alcoa plant and High Rock Lake certainly shows that environmentalists and hydroelectric plants aren’t always on the same page.
I’m not saying Harrison’s bill is necessarily a bad idea. But its requirements, at least for now, are way too stringent.
