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This is dumb. If you look at the bill itself [1], it explicitly states 11 (a) In compliance year 2018, each electric utility 12 shall procure a minimum of
by gragas 10y ago
This is dumb. If you look at the bill itself [1], it explicitly states
11 (a) In compliance year 2018, each electric utility
12 shall procure a minimum of ninety-five percent (95%) of its
13 sales of electricity in Wyoming from eligible generating
14 resources.
15
16 (b) In compliance year 2019, each electric utility
17 shall procure a minimum of one hundred percent (100%) of
18 its sales of electricity in Wyoming from eligible
19 generating resources.
The key part here is that by 2019, each electric utility shall procure all of its sales of electricity in Wyoming from "eligible generating resources."
Now, let's see how "eligible generating resources" is defined:
6 (v) "Eligible generating resource" means an
7 electricity generating resource either located within
8 Wyoming or delivering electricity into Wyoming from another
9 state that produces electricity from one (1) or more of the
10 following sources or system:
11
12 (A) Coal;
13
14 (B) Hydroelectric;
15
16 (C) Natural gas;
17
18 (D) Net metering system, as defined by W.S.
19 37-16-101(a)(viii);
20
21 (E) Nuclear;
22
23 (F) Oil.
Oh no! It looks like "solar" and "wind" aren't on the list of eligible energy resources! Aye, take a closer look: both solar and wind energy fall under "net metering system," so in reality, climate activists are bashing their heads against the wall. They have the right sentiment, but they're only fighting against the bill because they didn't read it. :-(
1. http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2017/Introduced/SF0071.pdf http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2017/Introduced/SF0071.pdf
- matt_wulfeck 10y agoIt must be hard to be a politician on either side of the aisle. There's a group of people who are looking for ways to attack you, regardless of whether it's for a good reason.
- woofyman 10y agoIt prevents utilities from selling power generated by solar and wind farms in Wyoming.
- ghouse 10y agoNatural gas, hydro, and coal may fall under "net metering system" too. The law plainly says that beginning in 2020, electric utilities in WY may not procure any power from solar and wind (unless they're located behind their customer's retail meter). Why name technologies at all unless you're trying to pick winners (or select losers)?
- muro 10y agoI found dumb that a $10 fine is made look as if it's on top of the $0.12 per kWh, but it's actually per MWh. It's $10 on top of $120 - while still silly, is not as bad.
- Kronopath 10y agoThis is addressed by the article: Those "eligible resources" are defined solely as coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, nuclear, oil, and individual net metering. The latter includes home solar or wind installations in which the owner feeds excess electricity back into the grid, and is paid a predetermined, fixed fee for the power. But these small-scale sources of renewable energy are meant for private use. They just happen to produce extra power that can be utilized by the grid. Utility-scale wind and solar farms are not included in the bill's list of "eligible resources," making it illegal for Wyoming utilities to use them in any way if the legislation passes. And if you go back to the primary source[1], that is, W.S. 37-16-101(a)(viii), you can corroborate this, as "Net metering system" has restrictions such as: 7 (B) Has a generating capacity of not more 8 than: 9 10 (I) Twenty-five (25) kilowatts for a 11 residential facility; 12 13 (II) One (1) megawatt for a 14 nonresidential facility, if allowed by the electric 15 utility, but an electric utility may not disallow 16 nonresidential use equal to or less than twenty-five (25) 17 kilowatts. And: 2 (E) Is intended primarily to offset part or 3 all of the customer-generator's requirements for 4 electricity So the activists are right: this is effectively making it illegal to set up any large-scale wind or solar farm. If any of you reading this live in Wyoming, please bring this up with your representatives. It's deliberately interfering with the free market in order to artificially inflate the value of coal by making it illegal to sell large-scale alternative energy sources, sponsored by representatives of coal-producing counties. [1]: http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2016/bills/SF0093.pdf http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2016/bills/SF0093.pdf
- gragas 10y agoI suppose you're right.
- Kronopath 10y agoAnd thank you for accepting that gracefully. It means a lot in the current political climate.
- masonic 10y agomaking it illegal to set up any large-scale wind or solar farm... when that electricity is then sold to Wyoming consumers. Export to out-of-state consumers (the vast majority of consumption) is unaffected.
- philipkglass 10y agoIf you don't think that this bill imposes taxes on wind or solar generation (or coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, nuclear or oil) what do you think it is intended to tax? Geothermal power? The net metering system is only for small distributed generating sources, like rooftop solar, kilowatt-scale generation. This bill is aimed at preventing large scale renewable projects, megawatt-scale generation.