Lettuce growing next to a set of solar panels. (Photo courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.)
This story was originally published by Canary Media.
Last year, Ohio lawmakers almost unanimously passed a sweeping bill aimed at generating power online faster and meeting growing demand for electricity.
Law, Ohio House Bill 15is intended to be applied evenly to all types of energy when it comes to adding new generation, according to some top state lawmakers.
“We said we would have equal opportunities. Let the free market work,” said Republican Senator Brian Chavez, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee HB 15 during a legislative panel at the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Services Commissioners in Columbus last week.
But now state lawmakers are proposing a bill that would expand preferences for natural gas and nuclear power generation while adding even more obstacles to solar and wind power – energy sources the state already has complex over the last decade.
In June 10Ohio’s Republican-dominated Senate voted to pass along party lines Senate bill 294which is based on sample bill from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALECand calls for electricity generation to“use affordable, reliable and clean energy sources.” Louisiana and Utah have passed similar legislation, and bills are also under consideration in Arizona, New Hampshire, New Jersey and West Virginia, according to an April report released in April. ALEC.
But current definition of the Act With“reliable” could cause the Ohio Power Siting Board to block many public facilities photovoltaic and wind projectseven after multiple groups testified against it original versionintroduced at the General Meeting in October last year.
“We need more supply, not less,” said Democratic Sen. Kent Smith, minority member of the Senate Energy Committee, who also spoke at the conference. He cited talks between the two grid operators PJM Interconnection and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce for their comprehensive approach to next-generation addition. “We must be generational agnostic. We have to let the market do its thing.”
Chavez said the current version SB 294 could allow solar and wind energy to be considered reliable if combined with batteries. Developers would not have to meet the Act’s criteria for projects below the threshold required for a condition rating: below 50 megawatts for solar and smaller 5 MW for the wind.
“If the matter goes to the Power Plant Siting Authority, we have just said that it must be done 50% reliability,” said Chavez, who worked and worked many acquaintances down oil and gas industry. However, he continued“flat terrain is worth its weight in gold. … So we would say that if you are going to put your larger power supplies in Ohio, you should consider whether they can be shipped more than 50% of the time.”
It’s still unclear how many wind and solar projects could qualify. SB 294 mandates that any“reliable source of energy” have“total minimum capacity factor for the facility” amounting to 50%. The capacity factor describes the ratio of the generator’s actual electricity production during the year to the maximum power that the source can theoretically produce.
The average capacity factor of solar farms in the United States was just 24.4% last year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. If solar projects require the installation of enough batteries to achieve approx 50%, the project costs would raise significantly.
“Performance factors are not measures of reliability and should not be the focus,” said Andrew Linhares, Midwest state director for the Solar Energy Industries Association. ““Ohio will not solve its energy challenges by sidelining solar and storage, which are the fastest-growing and cheapest sources of new energy on the grid.”
Next, SB 294 requires power to be readily available and disposable“throughout” intensive use and“in need.” Facilities often drain battery power during periods of high usage to take advantage of higher prices, but does this qualify as?“all the time” is also unclear.
According to Democrat Tristan Rader, the minority member of the House Energy Committee who also spoke at the conference, the bill’s focus on the reliability of any single resource is misguided because of how the grid operates. “That’s why we have top plants.”
Although states issue permits for various facilities and state policies influence what types of manufacturing investments they attract, PJM is responsible for ensuring reliable operation of the regional network in Ohio and all or parts of more than a dozen other states and the District of Columbia.
“PJM “does not favor or favor any resource class at this time when we need every megawatt of energy generated to manage the supply and demand imbalance resulting from data center growth,” said spokesman Jeffrey Shields.
The grid operator already takes into account variability in energy production and the likelihood that resources will be able to deliver electricity when needed, noted Evan Vaughan, executive director of MARCH Action, who also attended last week’s conference and listened to comments from Ohio lawmakers. The tool for this is a metric called effective carrying capacity, which is intended to reflect the reliability of a given resource for purposes PJMcapacity market.
“Ultimately, a network is reliable because it is a diverse mix of resources,” Vaughan said“It cannot be relied upon for one particular resource.”
No facility is immune to problems. PJM improved its methodology to calculate effective carrying capacity following the failure of multiple gas-fired power plants during December’s winter storm Elliott 2022. Strong winds from this storm also caused water levels to drop near the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio. According to Grid Strategies, during Winter Storm Fern in January this year, many gas-fired power plants failed and wind farms performed above expected capacity. report for the Niskanen Center, which was published in March.
Affordability also remains an vital issue. Prices reflect energy markets, the capacity market and the system services market, which helps maintain balance in the power grid and minimize power outages.
““If you look at the wholesale price in each of these markets, actually the biggest driver of the consumer’s bill, not power, is energy,” Vaughan said. And while there are roles in the system for different types of generation, “energy is best provided by affordable electrons, and that is what wind and solar provide.”
Supporters With SB 294 during hearings in the Senate, including ALEC and Heartland Institutewhich have many ties to fossil fuel interests and history undermining climate science AND lobbying against renewable energy sources. Oil & The bill was also supported by the Gas Workers’ Association.
Opponents include the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum, American Clean Power, the Utility Scale Solar Coalition, numerous environmental organizations and dozens of individuals.
The bill is currently in the Ohio House of Representatives, where it was introduced in June 16 and will likely be decided when lawmakers return from their summer recess.
Although the Act no longer states that its requirements apply“in all cases”, as in the original version, retains a different location criteria under Ohio law – including the requirement that projects serve“public interest, convenience and necessity.”
Serving the broad public interest is a good thing. However, power plant siting board officials have taken a narrow stance in some cases where local municipalities have opposed solar and wind projects, treating such opposition as:“controlling” on a matter of public interest, even with regard to environmental, economic and other considerations SB 294 becomes law, there is a risk that regulators could similarly rely on it to rule against renewable energy projects – in contrast to the state’s lax stance on allowing fossil fuel infrastructure.
“If you create a policy, it will drive investment,” said Maureen Willis, an Ohio consumer advocate. And when and if it is passed by the General Assembly, “it’s there. This is politics.”
