Exelon Defends PTC Position
Wind Group Defends Expulsion
An Exelon (NYSE: EXC) official used a Sept. 18 appearance at a renewable energy conference to defend his company’s opposition to renewing the production tax credit (PTC), a move that annoyed the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), which has kicked Exelon out of the trade group.
The PTC “has fulfilled its purpose by getting started the wind industry,” Exelon Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer Bill Von Hoene told the Maryland Clean Energy Summit near Baltimore. Von Hoene said that wind power generation will continue to grow even without the PTC.
Currently, about 30 states and the District of Columbia have some type of renewable portfolio standard (RPS), Von Hoene said.
The Exelon official also said his company still supports tax credits for other renewable energy sources that have yet to experience the commercial success of wind.
The U.S. wind industry now totals 49,802 MW of cumulative wind capacity through the end of the first half of 2012. There are over 10,300 MW currently under construction spanning 30 states plus Puerto Rico, according to the AWEA website.
Von Hoene also cited various figures to show Exelon has credibility as a serious developer of clean energy, including wind. Chicago-based Exelon, which recently merged with Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, has 922 MW of wind and is developing one of the world’s largest solar facilities, the Exelon official said.
Nevertheless, AWEA “has ended our membership” following Exelon’s public position on the tax credit, Von Hoene said.
AWEA: Exelon is publicly leading opposition
As for AWEA, it acknowledges that it ended Exelon’s membership. “Please note that it's not over a difference of opinion, but rather for publicly leading an organized campaign against the industry's number one priority,” said an AWEA representative Peter Kelley.
AWEA said that Exelon is leading “an organized campaign to kill the Production Tax Credit” and renewing PTC “is our industry’s number one priority,” AWEA said.
AWEA’s decision to expel Exelon was revealed to the company Sept. 7.
Exelon has called it unfortunate that AWEA voted Exelon out of the association. “Exelon has been an active member of AWEA but disagreed with other AWEA members on the extension of the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC) which is scheduled to expire this year. The PTC is no longer needed and distorts competitive wholesale energy markets causing financial harm to other, more reliable clean energy sources,” according to Exelon.
The PTC provides a tax credit of 2.2 cents per KWH of renewable power generated. AWEA said Sept. 18 that 19 companies, including many major consumer brands, have endorsed extension of the tax credit. The tax credit was first signed into law by President H.W. Bush.
Speaker touts clean energy growth
As for Exelon, Von Hoene also used the speech to tout success of the merger with Constellation and the combined company’s relatively light carbon footprint. Exelon gets 55% of its energy from nuclear; 28% natural gas and 9% from “other clean generation,” the official said.
Exelon is building 404 MW of wind generation in 2012. It also might develop or buy another 500-to-1,000-MW over the next five years, Von Hoene said.
Through Constellation, Exelon has a strong history of providing renewable energy in Maryland, Von Hoene said. This includes a 16-MW solar project in Emmitsburg, and the 70-MW Criterion wind project in Garrett County.
The company is also pumping $32m into offshore wind research, including $2m earmarked for a Maryland university, Von Hoene said.
Exelon is also well on its way toward a goal, announced in 2008, of eliminating its carbon footprint.
Von Hoene delivered a keynote address to the conference that drew about 300 people at a hotel near the airport.
Wayne Barber is chief of power generation for Generation Hub, a unit of Energy Central.
Comments
The PTC supports a NET job loser
The fact of the matter is Wind is a NET jobs loser. What legislator, what taxpayer would support this absurdity at a time like this??? We all support jobs. But wind does not create a "value" for taxpayers. There are other better energy solutions. That's where the money should go, and the jobs will follow. Natural gas is five times cleaner than coal, and wind reduces it's efficiency to the point of raising emissions higher, the higher the percentage of wind. If cleaner air is the goal, adding wind has proven to be a loser on emissions reductions as well. Wind causes natural gas plants to ramp up and down more. Wind cannot stand alone and does not "replace" anything. Wind tends to produce the most electricity at the times when demand is the least! What kind of stupid investment pours billions of our taxpayer dollars into something that cannot deliver needed power when it is needed?? How long do you think ratepayers will put up with this deception? STOP PTC's. Energy solutions must MAKE SENSE. http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1847956031001/wind-energy-tax-credit-a-help-or-distorting-the-market/
Nuclear Power is NOT Clean
Apparently Exelon would have us believe that nuclear power is a clean energy technology. Due to the incredible risk posed by a nuke to the public safety, this is deeply deceptive.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Nukes combine huge amounts of radioactive isotopes, some of which are long-lived mutagens, with highly energetic utility scale power systems, which under upset conditions can become unstable and uncontrollable, resulting in emissions of vast amounts of radioactive material. This combination poses a risk to the surrounding areas and population on a scale and significance which is unlike that presented by any other power technology.
The amount of risk to the surrounding population is reflected in the existence of the Price Anderson indemnification, which recognizes that no private insurance company could cover the potential damages of a serious (see Japan) nuclear power disaster.
There are so many other options to choose from with which to generate truly clean power. Given this, it is irresponsible for Exelon and Energy Biz to continue to maintain and promote the fiction that nuclear power is on the same level of environmental “cleanliness” as other technologies such as solar and windWake-up for AWEA
AWEA resting on its laurels, again. The fact that wind industry expansion in the USA has been below the curve is not signal enough for AWEA. Yes Virginia, below the curve. Need/ benefit of renewable source of energy, as well as ease of manufacture, installation, and integration of wind energy demonstrated doubling capacity yearly in every OTHER nation that has embraced it. AWEA's elitist mentality is the problem. Time to recognize that AWEA’s economic model is self-serving and flawed, in the direction of raising energy cost to the consumer, instead of lowering it.
PTC has outlived its usefulness to the taxpayer and consumer. AWEA has failed to understand that we need a Model-T of wind energy, not the Deusenberg. Interest must be in turning the economy around, not best methods to milk it. The impressive list of AWEA members miss the win-win point that we in the USA require. Lower energy costs for consumers, jobs (design, assessment, mfg., construction, servicing), clean energy for our children, homegrown energy solution for fueling expansion, and self-sufficiency are questions that need answering by AWEA.
Where is the Model-T of wind energy? That is the question they need to answer.
Here's what's unacceptable:
Burning coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air toxics. In an average year, a typical coal plant generates:
It is unacceptable to ask humans to breathe these emissions.
... And even more unacceptable
Each and every one of the GHGs and pollutants listed could be reduced within a year or so by 30% or better. We have the technology here. No special materials required and, most importantly, no R&D needed to launch the first stage. Ready to go, right now!
Problem? Finding institutional lenders, venture capitalists (if they still exist), "white angels", and private investors willing and able, and having the guts to fund just a few initial projects.
And that, my friend, is equally unacceptable, if not even more so here in the U.S.A.
PTC a permanent drag on the economy
It's no wonder that extending the PTC "is the wind industry's number one priority," without it $22 per megawatt hour of wind energy generated (not even always used because of lack of demand at that time) would be lost! The provisions that this industry receives can cover as much as 50% of the cost of a renewable project! see Wall Street Journal "shedding Light on Subsidies" and "Puff, the Magic Drag on the Economy" 9/18/12, 9/19/12. What company wouldn't fight for a 50% handout? What other industry in the US demands this? and gets it!!! This is incredible. If the wind industry cannot compete on its own after 20 years, without these costly special priveleges, it never will. This is unacceptable. Our country uses 20-25% of all the electricity in the world, and we cannot operate on generators that turn only when the wind blows. There must be sensible solutions to energy needs. It makes no sense for disproportionately LARGE subsidies to be given to an energy source that cannot provide needed on-demand power.