Penn Future hosted a breakfast forum on "Clean Energy and Green Jobs Legislation" on Jan. 14 in downtown Allentown. President and CEO Jan Jarrett welcomed the gathering of solar and energy providers, activists and local politicians.
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Hosted at the Brew Works in downtown Allentown, the presenters included State Representative Bob Freeman (D) Easton, Brain Evans from B&B Alternative Energy, Inc., Mark J. Connolly from Atlantic Energy Concepts and Wilfred Muskens, Deputy Secretary for International Business Development at the PA Department of Economic Development.
Jan Jarrett explained that The Clean Energy and Green Jobs Bills, currently House Bill 80 and Senate Bill 92 are two vital pieces of legislation that are bi-partisan and will bolster Pennsylvania's position as a national leader in renewable energy production, spur ivestment, and great great green and good paying jobs. The legislation, oroginally proposed in Jan. of 2009 by State Represenatives Chris Ross (R) Chester and Greg Vitali (D) Delaware and State Senator Ted Erickson (R) Delaware seeks to:
- Increase the amount of electricity from solar photovoltaic panels that electricity companies must purchase and use to 3 percent by 2026;
- Require that 3 percent of energy purchased by electric distribution companies must come from coal fired power plants that use the latest technology to reduce emissions and can connect to carbon sequestration facilities;
- Increase Tier I requirements by 20 percent from 2021 through 2026. Tier I requirements are the amount of electricity that electric distribution companies must purchase from renewable sources;
- Require Pennsylvania to develop, own and operate a carbon dioxide sequestration network to store captured carbon.
Bob Freeman (D), State Representative from Easton spoke about his reasons for supporting this legislation, " jobs, new business opportunities, reducing our carbon footprint and reducing our dependence on foreign oil."
Penn Future is promoting this legislation. What will the Clean Energy and Green Jobs Legislation do?
- Extend the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS) through 2024, which will bolster the Commonwealths competitive position and send a strong, long-term market signal that this is a place where new investments can thrive;
- It will raise the amount of solar power sold in Pennsylvania six fold from 0.5 percent to 3.0 percent of electricity by 2024. This equals approximately 438,000 homes.
- Multiply the amount of electricitysold in Pennsylvania from clean energy sources, such as wind, from 8 percent in the current statute to 15 percent by 2024.
- It will generate enough clean energy to power 2.1 million homes by 2024.
Brain Evans from B&B Alternative Energy Inc. spoke about how this legislation will help small solar installations to be affordable. Fifty (50%) percent of the ROI (after rebates and tax credits) on small solar projects comes from the sale of SREC's, or Solar Renewable Energy Certificates. These credits are purchased by energy utilities, such as PECO, which currently purchases SREC's in 300 unit minimums per facility, excluding homeowners and small businesses from the market. "To get a handle on this, a normal residential installation is worth 5-15 SREC's," Evans said.
B&B Diversified and B&B Alternative Energy. B&B Alternative Energy Inc. are divisions of B&B Diversified Enterprises Inc.
For more information on SREC's in Pennsylvania go to the PA Utility Commission.
"There is an emerging market for SREC's through aggregators which purhcase and bundle these smaller units," Jan Jarret added. In New Jersey, there is a growing and robust market for these.
She also noted that to use SREC aggregators to meet the utilities minimum purchase requirements has been done in the past. However, PECO’s latest request for proposal specifically indicates the 300 SREC minimum is per facility thereby precluding the use of aggregators with SRECS from residential and small commercial solar arrays in Pennsylvania.
Mark Connolly, from Atlantic Energy Concepts spoke about the Sunshine Rebate Porgram and the SBA 504 Loan Program for PV) and solar hot water (solar thermal) projects for homeowners and small businesses in Pennsylvania.
Sunshine Rebate Program Overview:
Funding is available through qualified contractors as in the form of rebates for residential and small business projects. Rebates will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis to approved applicants.
"Approximately $60 million of the $100 million has been reserved and will be completed in 2010." Connolly commented. "Normalizing financing of alternative energy installations, insuring the SREC market is available to small systems, and standardizing installation standards are the next steps needed to sustain the solar industry’s growth in PA. The Department of Energy's conversion of the 30% tax credit to a grant and the SBA’s 504 Loan Program has helped lending institutions participate in financing commercial solar projects.
He also spoke about PACE Bonds or Property Assessed Clean Energy Bonds.
A PACE bond is a bond where the proceeds are lent to commercial and residential property owners to finance energy retrofits (efficiency measures and small renewable energy systems) and who then repay their loans over 20 years via an annual assessment on their property tax bill. PACE bonds can be issued by municipal financing districts or finance companies and the proceeds can be typically used to retrofit both commercial and residential properties.
The PACE bond market, in combination with federal loan guarantees, has the potential to dramatically accelerate the energy retrofitting of America's building stock due to the below advantages. It is estimated that the potential for PACE bonds could exceed $500 billion.
PACE Impact: Property tax lien oriented financing that dramatically improves the economics of energy retrofits (efficiency measures and micro renewable energy.
