House Bill 298 could deter renewable energy use

Legislators at the N.C. General Assembly will discuss a bill today that opponents say could derail the state’s renewable energy industry.

House Bill 298, currently in a commerce and job development subcommittee, would lift a requirement on the types of energy public electric utilities use.

Current law, enacted in 2007, requires utilities to derive 12.5 percent of their retail sales from renewable energy sources by 2021.

“North Carolina has the most efficient policies in the Southeast to promote renewable energy,” said Michael Shore, CEO of the Asheville-based solar energy company FLS Energy. “It has been widely successful in growing this industry from scratch.”

According to a Solar Market Insight report released last month, the average retail price of electricity in the U.S. increased by 35 percent from 2001 to 2012.

The average installed price of a photovoltaic system dropped nearly 70 percent during that time period.

In the report, the Solar Energy Industries Association projected that North Carolina will rank fourth in solar energy installations in 2013.

Jon Sanders, director of regulatory studies at the right-leaning John Locke Foundation, said the issue should be viewed through a long-term economic lens.

He said the 2007 mandate is a crutch to the state’s renewable energy industry and altering the law would be best in the long run.

Sanders said subsidies artificially prop up the industry — rather than allowing entrepreneurs and competition to make the market independently viable.

“The effect of the mandate is higher electricity prices,” he said. “It’s a tax on rate payers.”

But opponents of the bill argue it would hurt the economy and not help utility customers.

John Morrison, chief operating officer of Strata Solar, a Chapel Hill developer, said there’s no reason to change current policy.

He said the bill would send a discouraging signal to the investor community.

If the legislature indicates that renewable energy is not a priority, investors will pull out hundreds of millions of dollars from the state economy, Morrison said.

“North Carolina has some very effective policies,” he said. “Why in the world would the legislature want to do away with the benefits that solar energy is bringing to North Carolina?”

Morrison said new solar farms provide an additional and much-needed tax base to rural counties.

A report issued in February by RTI International concluded that N.C.’s clean energy and energy efficiency programs created and retained 21,163 job years — the number of jobs multiplied by years held — from 2007 to 2012.

Sanders said this number is deceptive.

“Statistically, it’s just noise,” he said. “It’s not saying anything concrete.”

Shore said the incentives provided by the 2007 law are necessary.

“We need to have a level playing field between renewable and conventional energy sources,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.