American Gas - July 2013 - (Page 8)
issues
Non-Renewable Standards
d ig e s t
Glacial energy reports that it has
begun offering hotel vouchers
as an incentive to residential
consumers who choose it as their
electric or natural gas supplier.
Through the company’s “Heads
in Beds” promotion, potential
customers receive information
about Glacial’s offerings through
participating hotels, and can then
earn a free night at the hotel if they
switch to Glacial. The company is
a licensed natural gas supplier in
Ohio, california, and michigan.
The UGi natural gas companies
recently submitted a proposal to
the Pennsylvania Public Utility commission for a $15 million, five-year
pilot program designed to provide
service to underserved communities. The proposal spreads
the cost of new infrastructure across
new customers, while the savings
from converting to gas is expected
to help those customers offset some
or all of those costs.
Under its modernization program,
Duke energy—the country’s
largest electric power holding
company—has been replacing older coal plants with
cleaner-burning natural gas-fueled
units. The company reports that
one-fourth of its generation is now
gas-powered. As part of this effort, Duke recently opened a stateof-the-art gas generation facility
in eden, n.c., that is capable of
powering half a million homes.
Continued on page 10
8
AmericAn GAs JULY 2013
Low gas prices spur states to reconsider
renewable energy mandates
s
tate mandates requiring the use of renewable wind and solar energy by electric
utilities were hot topics during legislative
sessions across the country this year, with falling
natural gas prices causing policymakers to reconsider the merits of renewables.
This year, 16 of the 29 states with renewable energy standards considered legislation that
would reduce or reform the mandated use of
wind and solar power, according to the American
Legislative Exchange Council, a nonpartisan
public-private partnership of America’s state
legislators. Six states considered full repeals, while
the remaining states looked at ways to reduce
or reform mandates to include other forms of
energy such as hydroelectric and biomass power.
Two states—Maryland and Pennsylvania—
considered bills that would have expanded the
definition of renewable energy for power to
include natural gas.
While most measures were not acted upon
in this year’s legislative sessions, Montana did
pass several reforms. Its legislature expanded the
sources of eligible renewable energy to include
hydroelectric and biomass and called for a study
on the impact of the renewable energy mandate.
“States across the country are taking a closer
look at these mandates, which place significant
cost burdens on the backs of ordinary citizens,”
Todd Wynn, director of the energy, environment, and agriculture task force for ALEC, told
American Gas. “A growing number of legislators
are concerned that renewable energy sources are
more expensive and less reliable. If they weren’t,
states wouldn’t need a mandate.”
The increased availability of clean, affordable
natural gas has been one factor motivating legislatures to act, Wynn added. Hydraulic fracturing
technology has opened aging reservoirs for natural
gas drilling, driving down prices about 72 percent
from their 2005 high, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That makes more
expensive wind and solar power projects harder for
With clean, affordable natural gas increasingly available, more expensive wind and
solar power projects will be harder for utility regulators to justify.
utility regulators to justify, Wynn said.
When legislatures reconvene in 2014, momentum for reform measures is likely to grow.
“We saw more action in 2013 than 2012, and
2012 was busier than 2011,” Wynn said. “North
Carolina and Kansas are likely to be the first
states to act, since they got further along the road
in this year’s legislative sessions.”
Under current North Carolina law—typical
of many state requirements—non-hydro renewable energy must account for 6 percent of electricity by 2016, 10 percent by 2018, and 12.5
percent by 2021. Most states’ laws went on the
books in the early- to mid-2000s. —Gary James
issues
Forging a Path to CHP
Policy changes are needed for utilities to
embrace distributed generation
W
hen Thomas Edison established
the first commercial power plant in
1882, he captured waste heat from
the generation of electricity and sold it to nearby
buildings. Proponents of such cogeneration have
been touting the benefits of combined heat and
power applications ever since. As power generation
becomes more distributed, CHP will become more
mainstream. Still, many power generators and energy consumers will likely wait for policy changes
enabling a more decentralized model for power
generation and delivery before they invest in CHP.
Most CHP today occurs at large industrial,
commercial, and institutional sites such as metals
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - July 2013
American Gas - July 2013
Contents
President’s Message
Subject Index
Shining a Light for Gas Efficiency
Digest
Issues
Issues
Update
Need to Know
By the Numbers
Places
Scratch, Sniff—Evacuate?
Capitol Hill
Cape Canaveral
The Corner Office
AGA Ops Conference
Elm Street
Work in Progress
Profile
For Good Measure
Law
Jobs
Marketplace
Buyer’s Guide
Headway
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