Senate passes new Renewable Energy Standard

DENVER— HB 1001 will bring thousands of new jobs to Colorado and add 100,000 solar rooftops over the next decade without raising energy costs for Colorado consumers. Sponsored by Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) and Senator Bruce Whitehead (D-Hesperus) and Rep. Max Tyler (D-Golden), HB 1001 will increase Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard to 30% by 2020. That means that nearly a third of the power generated from large utility companies like Xcel and Black Hills must come from renewable sources, like solar and wind, in the next 10 years. Today the Senate voted to pass HB 1001 on final reading by a vote of 21-13.

“I’m proud to sponsor HB 1001 and continue making progress towards a greener Colorado,” said Sen. Schwartz. “Throughout my career I have worked tirelessly to bring renewable energy to our great state. I have sponsored legislation to provide training for new energy workers, to make renewable energy in our state affordable for companies, and to make it accessible for the average citizens. Encouraging green energy creates jobs, brings investment, and helps our state remain a national leader in renewable energy. It just makes sense.”

“HB 1001 is our boldest step yet in moving Colorado towards renewable energy,” said Sen. Whitehead. “Increasing our renewable energy standards to 30% is not only going to create a healthier environment, but also a healthier economy. This bill will bring businesses and jobs to Colorado at no expense to tax payers.”

An increased RES will give Colorado the highest clean-energy requirement in the Rocky Mountain West. Colorado has created 17,000 jobs in renewable energy and energy research since it began investing in the New Energy Economy, the fourth-highest concentration in the nation. With more than 300 sunny days a year in Colorado and some of the best wind resources in the country, HB 1001 will recharge the economy by incentivizing more residential, commercial and community solar projects. Some estimates predict that an increased RES could create thousands of jobs.

HB 1001 also sets the requirement that 3 percent of total electricity sales come from “distributed generation” (DG) systems such as solar. These DG systems help drive local market activity, allow energy consumers lower their electricity bills by going solar, and enable utilities to avoid costly investment in new transmission systems.

A new report, “Investing in the Sun,” models the economic and environmental benefits of developing solar electricity on homes and businesses across Colorado. The report analyzed the benefits of building 1,000 megawatts (MW) of smaller, distributed solar energy systems in Colorado.

With a requirement that half of all solar projects developed by IOUs be located on rooftops or within the distribution network, HB 10-1001 is expected to deploy 700 MW of this type of solar generation. “Investing in the Sun” indicates that 1,000 megawatts of distributed solar energy in Colorado would deliver the following benefits over the lifetime of the systems:

* Create more than 33,500 jobs in Colorado's New Energy Economy
* Generate enough reliable, homegrown electricity to power 146,000 Colorado homes
* Produce $4.3 billion in total economic output (direct, indirect and induced economic activity generated through the construction and maintenance of the solar projects)
* Save 6.8 billion gallons of water, a limited resource in Colorado
* Avoid emitting 30 million tons of the global warming pollutant carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking nearly 670,000 cars off the road

Full text of the study can be found at: www.votesolar.org/coloradoreport

“This report proves what we already know: the New Energy Economy is creating jobs in Colorado for Coloradans,” said Sen. Gail Schwartz. “By raising our Renewable Energy Standard, we will see thousands of new jobs and prove that Colorado is leading the nation when it comes to innovation.”

Colorado became the first state with a voter-approved Renewable Energy Standard in 2004 with the passage of Amendment 37, which set a 10 percent by 2015 goal. Gov. Ritter, Sen. Gail Schwartz and othr lawmakers doubled the RES to 20 percent by 2020 in 2007.