Pennsylvania: Rebuilding the economy around clean energy

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Pennsylvania is taking the first small steps toward transforming the way we make and use energy and in the process we are getting glimpses of a new emerging economy based on clean energy. Hastening this transformation must be a core strategy in the effort to rebuild our economy, revitalize our cities and towns, create a new manufacturing base and new family-sustaining jobs.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly working with the Rendell Administration has put into place policies that are helping to get us to this new clean energy future. The core policy for our clean energy future is the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act. Passed in 2004, the act requires that 8 percent of all electricity to come from the cleanest renewable resources like the sun and wind. And just last year, the General Assembly and the Governor built on that foundation by passing the $650 million Alternative Energy Investment Act and Act 129, the energy savings bill. The Alternative Energy Investment Act is providing incentives for development of renewable energy projects, including the $100 million Pennsylvania Sunshine program which will pay up to 35 percent of the cost of installing solar power on homes and businesses.

Act 129 requires Pennsylvania utilities to reduce the overall demand for electricity by 1 percent by 2011 and 3 percent by 2013 and reduce peak demand by 4.5 percent by 2013 by providing energy conservation programs to all customers. These programs will help customers install energy efficient lighting, upgrade heating and air conditioning systems and install other energy savings technologies.

When the federal government provided even more incentives for renewable energy and energy conservation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Pennsylvania already had programs in place to take immediate advantage of the extra funding. Now, Pennsylvania families and businesses can use a combination of tax credits, rebates, loans and grants to generate more renewable energy and invest in energy conservation.

We can already see the results of these policies in cities, towns and our rural areas. Pennsylvania now has 11 operating wind farms with two more under construction including the largest one to date in Tioga County. Right now, there are 150 workers erecting the 125 wind turbines at the site in Armenia Township. Once the project goes online in December it will generate enough power for 47,000 homes. By the end of this year, wind power will be producing enough energy to keep the lights on in more than 200,000 homes.

Wind project construction in Pennsylvania has also spurred the creation of a manufacturing base to supply the turbines and other components of a wind tower. There are two manufacturing plants making wind turbines and turbine blades in Pennsylvania in Ebensburg in Cambria County and Fairless Hills in Bucks County and a host of other factories churning out smaller components like gear boxes. These operations employ thousands of people around the state and boost local economies.

And installations of solar power are on the rise. The largest solar array at a sports facility anywhere in the world is being installed at the Pocono Raceway in Monroe County. Consisting of 40,000 solar photovoltaic panels, the array will cover a 25-acre former parking lot next to the track. The solar panels will generate three megawatts of electricity for the raceway and the facility will sell the excess onto the electricity grid. There are two more large solar arrays planned for Pennsylvania of a similar size and homeowners and small businesses across the state are taking advantage of federal tax credits and the Pennsylvania Sunshine Program to put small solar power projects on their roofs.

As with wind energy, manufacturers of solar components have located in the Commonwealth. AES Polysilicon in Bucks County makes high tech films and Solar Power Industries is taking over a former Sony television manufacturing plant in Westmoreland for an expansion it is undertaking to meet the demand for solar components.

An innovative project in mid-town Harrisburg is demonstrating how a development using state of the art renewable energy technologies and energy efficient building design and construction can revitalize a neighborhood bringing in new jobs, new businesses and new residents to a once blighted area. The Campus Square building, being constructed by GreenWorks Development, is a 75,000 square foot LEED-certified building that incorporates solar and geothermal systems in its design. It will house commercial operations, an educational center that will train students in new renewable and energy conservation technologies and provide space for the Harrisburg Area Community College and other higher learning institutions. The project is part of the Midtown Redevelopment Initiative which will eventually renonvate and construct more than a million square feet of commercial, residential, professional and educational space. Not only will the buildings be green, but the project is a showcase of smart growth community design that can create a place where people can work, live and play.

A new economy that will put people to work, help clean the air, reduce global warming pollution is within our grasp. But we need to ensure that we continue to nurture this new economy with additional policies to ensure its growth. House Bill 80, sponsored by Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) that is currently being considered by the Pennsylvania General Assembly would do just that by doubling our renewable energy requirements and increasing the amount of solar energy required by more than six fold. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Ted Erickson (R-Delaware). We've already seen that farsighted policies like this work. We need to continue raising the bar to get to the new economy that will produce new, permanent jobs in Pennsylvania.

Jan Jarrett

President and CEO

Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future

http://www.flyrodreel.com/node/12702