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Utah Officials Address State's Efforts to Promote Clean Energy

From the explosion in rooftop solar to big efforts in retrofitting inefficient buildings, state energy programs and incentives appear to be rippling up and down the Wasatch Front and beyond.

(TNS) -- When it comes to energy production, Utah occasionally gets a bad rap. But at Weber State’s Intermountain Sustainability Summit this week, state officials were on hand to explain what, exactly, is being done to promote renewables.

From the explosion in rooftop solar to big efforts in retrofitting inefficient buildings, state energy programs and incentives appear to be rippling up and down the Wasatch Front and beyond.

Small-time solar incentives

“(There’s a) boom in solar energy development in the state right now, and it really can only be described that way,” said Jeff Barrett with the Governor’s Office of Energy Development.

That boom largely comes from state tax incentives, and Barrett has numbers to make his case.

When he first started working for the governor in 2011, his office received 250 to 400 applications a year from people applying for renewable energy system tax credits. By 2013, his office received around 1,000 applications. By the 2015 tax year, his office saw more tax credit applications in six weeks than they had the entire year of 2014.

“We’ve seen exponential growth in the last 18 months, and we’ll continue to see see that growth in the next 18 months,” Barrett said.

For residential homes, the state’s tax credit returns 25 percent of the installation costs of renewable energy systems, up to $2,000. It also offers a 10 percent credit for commercial installations, up to $50,000. The credit applies to solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass projects, but Barrett said the vast majority of credits go to rooftop solar.

Along with the state tax credits, federal tax incentives and drastically reduced costs of panels have boosted solar’s popularity on the residential scale.

Utah’s tax credit incentive, however, it set to expire at the end of 2016.

Large-scale solar

On a utility scale, solar is also booming throughout southern parts of the state. And like residential rooftop panels, it’s largely being driven by state tax incentives.

“At the end of 2014 … we had zero megawatts of utility-scale solar in the state,” Barrett said. “At the end of 2015, we had about 200 megawatts of utility-scale solar in the state, and at the end of this year, we’ll have 850 megawatts.”

Those solar plants are popping up in sunny Millard, Beaver and Carbon counties. They mostly sell energy back to Rocky Mountain Power, the state’s main electricity provider.

Combined with the state’s existing 400 megawatts of wind and geothermal renewable energy production, the new solar facilities will represent around 15 percent of Utah’s energy generation capacity.

There are a couple caveats, however. The first catch is that because wind and solar source are intermittent, renewables actually only end up generating around five percent of the state’s total megawatt hours. The second catch is that, unlike a lot of Western states, Utah doesn’t have a mandate for renewables in its energy portfolio. It only has a “voluntary” goal of 20 percent renewable generation by 2025.

Taking care of businesses and state buildings

The state is also working with businesses to install clean energy systems. The Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program, or C-PACE, helps commercial properties clean up by financing renewable energy, energy efficiency and water conservation. The loan can be rolled into the property’s tax assessment and sold with the property, and has a fixed interest rate over 20 years. In come cases, the cost savings on utility bills outweigh the loan payments.

The state is trying to improve its own buildings by installing renewable energy systems. But it also has an obligation to taxpayers to balance the costs with the benefits.

“While there are a lot of benefits to renewables, cost is really what drives our program,” said Bianca Shama, director of the state’s Energy Program. “So we have to make sure the numbers work.”

Shama has made those numbers work by tapping $12 million in grants for solar, mostly through federal programs and Rocky Mountain Power. Her office also found a good solar resource in power purchase agreements. Those agreements mean a third party installs solar panels on a property, like a state-owned building, and sells the power back to the property owner. The third party retains ownership and responsibility over the solar system.

“For the state, directly owning our solar doesn’t always make sense,” Shama said. “When you own a system, you’re responsible for maintaining it, and we don’t necessarily have the expertise on our staff to do so.”

To date, 28 photovoltaic systems have been installed on state-owned buildings around Utah, Sharma said. They’ve eliminated around 24,000 pounds of emissions a year.

Another five solar systems are in the works, including one at Weber State University, Sharma said.

Too little, too late?

With all the clean energy progress in Utah, particularly with solar, environmental groups say there’s still a lot to do.

Utah’s renewable portfolio goal remains lower than many renewable goals and requirements in other states. And when the U.S. Supreme Court put a stay on the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, Gov. Gary Herbert announced he’d suspend efforts to comply with the rule.

“The unfortunate part, that doesn’t look good for Utah, is some neighboring states are continuing to move forward ... to plan for what were, ultimately, fairly modest reductions in carbon,” said Matt Pacenza of HEAL Utah. “So for the state of Utah to walk away suggests we’re really not all that committed to clean energy.”

Pacenza also worried about Utah lawmakers’ support of Rocky Mountain Power — which still overwhelmingly relies on coal burning to produce power — particularly after the last-minute approval of the utility’s controversial STEP legislation.

“(It’s) a utility that fought to burn coal for power and failed to embrace renewables as much as it could — the proof is in the data ... where Utah ranks in the percentage of energy that comes from renewables,” Pacenza said. “There are a few programs that are doing some good ... but it’s not as quick or ambitious as it could or should be.”

©2016 the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.