Renewable energy is the future

Words by Ashton Vogelhuber

 

Ohio has always been a coal state, but year after year it’s becoming apparent that renewable energy is shifting into focus for most Ohio power plants.

 

In 2008, the Ohio General Assembly established the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for Ohio’s investor-owned utilities. It requires them to have 12.5 percent of their portfolio be sourced from renewable resources. In 2014, the RPS was temporarily put on hold until 2017 when it resumed functionality.

 

Renewable resources come in many different forms defined as energy sources that are constantly and sustainably replenished. Solar, wind, hydro-power, biomass, bio-methane gas, fuel cells, geothermal, nuclear and ocean wave hydro-power are just some of those forms.

 

The two powerhouse giants in Ohio, American Electric Power (AEP) and FirstEnergy, have been making big changes to keep up with the focus shift and new policies.

 

In September, AEP filed a forecast plan with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) that demonstrated the need for at least 900 Megawatts of new renewable energy. This would more than double clean energy in Ohio according to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The plan concentrates on wind power, but they also filed for approval of a 400 Megawatt solar power plant.

 

After the plan was proposed, Daniel Sawmiller, Ohio energy policy director at the NRDC, said in a statement that Ohio had never seen this amount of clean energy proposed at once.

 

“It’s clearly the start of a path toward renewable energy that Ohioans have been demanding for years,” Sawmiller said. “If approved, this proposal will significantly expand the state’s underdeveloped clean energy economy and bring with is significant economic and health benefits.”

 

FirstEnergy’s Environment section of their website states that “the future of power is changing and FirstEnergy is changing with it.” It even includes a link to their Sustainability Report, which is inserted below, for consumers to read through.

 

 

In a press release in October, FirstEnergy announced a Request for Proposal to purchase Ohio-compliant Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) for its Ohio utilities. These purchases would help meet the 2018 renewable energy targets.

 

The press release explains that one SREC represents the environmental attributes of one megawatt hour of generation from a solar renewable generating facility qualified by the PUCO and one REC represents the environmental attributes of one megawatt hour of generation from a PUCO-qualified renewable generating facility.

 

Acronym soup aside, the proposal would let FirstEnergy purchase renewable energy from outside sources to meet the renewable energy targets that PUCO places on investor-owned distribution utilities.

 

Large, investor-owned utilities have policies and laws placed upon them to help reduce carbon emissions and boost renewable energy output, but what about smaller, municipality-owned corporations? For some, like Orrville Utilities, alternative and renewable energy resources play a major role in yearly energy output.

 

In 2012, Orrville’s power plant was supplying 85 percent of its energy from its coal-run power plant. By 2018, just six years later, only 15 percent of its energy comes from the plant.

 

Jeff Brediger, director of utilities, said they’ve had a huge pullback in generation from the power plant.

 

“We went from a base-load 24 hour, seven day a week operation to only operating roughly 10 percent of the time over the course of the entire year,” he said. “Only for a couple handfuls of days each month in the summer months and in the winter months.”

Where’s the rest of the energy coming from? Natural gas, market purchases and other renewable energy sources.

 

Most recently, in January 2018, Orrville invested in two solar energy fields. Both sites are found locally in Orrville.

 

“It’s only roughly about a percent, maybe a percent and a half of the total energy that we’ll be providing that goes out to the customers,” Brediger said. “But it’s a huge story just in itself.”

 

Most of the renewable energy Orrville’s invested in resides along the Ohio River in several hydroelectric plants. They have joint ownership with other municipalities.

“Roughly 98 percent of the cost of our hydro project is just the capital investment we made,” Brediger said. “But they’re long term investments for us that are going to be around for 80 to 100 years.”

 

The plant is focused on looking ahead rather than receiving a payoff in the present.

 

 

“Our goal is to provide a stability in our rates for long periods of time and to do that economically and responsibly,” Brediger said. “Our goal isn’t to see how quick we can get our return on the investment, but to engage in those types of projects that will look good in the long term.”

Other sources of renewable energy for Orrville are found in wind energy, natural gas, and clean coal projects. The rest of the energy is purchased from the market.

 

“Prairie State is one of the last advanced clean coal burning power plants built in the United States before the new regulations went into place,” Brediger said. “We own a portion of it along with several other Ohio municipalities.”

 

Brediger doesn’t think there will be many new coal plants being built any time soon due to costly regulations.

 

“The next level in advancement is try to deal with the capture of carbon and the technology is not ready for full scale commercial deployment, let alone the cost,” he said. “With all the other advancements being made in renewables, especially solar and natural gas, it’ll be tough.”

 

The Blue Creek Wind Project and Freemont Gas Project are the other two renewable energy producers that Orrville is a part of.

 

While Orrville is doing its best to produce energy from renewable sources, 100 percent renewable resource energy is still a long way away. For other areas, it could be closer than you’d think.

 

“We have some communities in our state association, Oberlin, Ohio being one of them, that if they aren’t there yet it’s their goal to be there within a year or two,” Brediger said. “Their customers have told them that that’s what they want.”

 

Could 100 percent renewable energy be coming to a city near you? Probably not for a while until the cost of investing and maintaining them go down, but one thing’s for sure: renewable energy sources are the future.

 

 

 

See what a local power plant is doing to incorporate renewable energy sources into their energy output in my latest story! https://t.co/3ELH3fzXTc

— ashton vogelhuber (@ashtonvogel) November 13, 2018