Report: state could go more green

5 percent of the state's electrical power could be produced from renewable energy, a new study says. Wind and agricultural waste are the richest sources. Here are the state's most abundant resources and their potential power

North Carolina has significant potential to develop wind and other alternative energy without drastically increasing customer bills, a study prepared for the N.C. Utilities Commission says.

The report, presented Wednesday to state lawmakers, concluded that untapped renewable energy could provide enough electricity to offset the need to build 1,800 megawatts of power generation, the equivalent of two power plants the size of Progress Energy's 900-megawatt Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County.

The study comes as Progress Energy is planning to build a nuclear reactor near Raleigh and up to two in Florida, and Duke Energy planning to build two coal-fired power plants near Charlotte, as well as nuclear reactors in South Carolina. Environmentalists said the report vindicates their view that state officials should consider alternatives to the proposed construction of multibillion-dollar power plants that are fueled by uranium and coal.

Requiring utilities to use renewable energy would offset the need to build some power plants, the study concludes, reducing pollutants, greenhouse gases and radioactive nuclear waste.

But even if the General Assembly adopted a requirement for renewable energy next year, the coal and nuclear plants that are being planned now would likely still be needed, said Jonathan Winer, the lead consultant on the study. Instead, building a future generation of power plants might be avoided.

The four-month study was prepared by La Capra Associates, a Boston consulting firm that has advised other states on energy alternatives. It was prepared for the state utilities commission and requested by the Environmental Review Commission, a legislative study group that will review the report and could recommend legislation or policy changes. The report is likely to spur legislation, said Rep. Pryor Gibson, an Anson County Democrat and a member of the Environmental Review Commission.

In the past five years, about two dozen states have started requiring electric utilities to produce or buy a portion of their energy from renewables, Winer said. Those states have had much higher electricity costs than North Carolina, making alternatives more cost-effective.

Utilities in North Carolina have resisted past efforts to require the use of alternative energy, most recently lobbying against a bill proposed in 2005 that would have required utilities to make renewables 10 percent of their energy mix. Utility officials contended that renewable energy is not sufficiently available here.

Renewable energy "comes at a higher cost than traditional resources," said Mitch Williams, Progress Energy's manager for regulatory affairs. "What assurance is there that those resources will be there when needed? Will the public accept the siting of ... [hundreds] of windmills in the state?"

Stephen Kalland, director of the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University, said the report's conclusions will make it harder for utilities to oppose a renewable standard, especially while they are seeking political good will to build multibillion-dollar nuclear and coal plants.

Utilities are not averse to renewable energy when they're convinced it can be profitable. This year, Progress Energy announced a long-term contract to buy electricity from a biomass plant in Florida that will generate 130 megawatts of electricity from burning a crop known as E-Grass.

The study issued Tuesday says that electric utilities in the state could generate 5 percent of their electricity from renewables and as much as 10 percent if they expanded their energy efficiency programs. Now, almost all of the state's electricity comes from nuclear power plants and coal-fired plants, with less than 2 percent coming from renewable resources.

A requirement for 5 percent renewable energy would double use of renewables in the state and result in rate increases of less than 1 percent, the study says. A 10 percent requirement, implemented over 10 years, would raise rates by 3.6 percent at most in the 10th year.

If energy efficiency were included as part of the program, rates would go up by less than 1 percent, but actual bills would be lowered because energy use would decrease, according to the study.

The study considered renewable resources that have not yet been tapped and would be potentially available for commercial electricity generation. North Carolina's most abundant renewable resources are wind power, as well as wood waste and agricultural crop waste that can be burned as fuel. The consultants acknowledged that wind power, which would have to be developed in the mountains or along coastlines, could meet opposition on environmental and aesthetic grounds.

Solar energy didn't figure prominently in the study because the technology is expensive and not considered feasible on a commercial scale without substantial subsidies.