State brainstorms renewable energy proposals

NEW YORK STATE - A state task force on renewable energy is recommending an eightfold increase in solar-energy development, offering incentives to attract green-energy businesses to the state and suggesting changes in the law to encourage companies to produce renewable energy on-site.

All of the recommendations are aimed at increasing renewable energy sources to make up 25 percent of the state's energy demand by 2013. At a recent meeting to announce the initiatives, Lt. Gov. David Paterson said the recommendations would put New York "on a path to become part of the global solution" to global warming and emissions-belching traditional power sources.

Increasing sources of solar energy eightfold would push energy levels derived from photovoltaic cells in the state to more than 100 megawatts, the renewable energy task force said in a statement. The recommendations also include development and support of a "green-collar" workforce to nurture and maintain renewable energy sources.

That element of the plan includes coordination and expansion of green-energy training programs, including in disadvantaged communities. The task force, whose members include Long Island Power Authority chief executive Kevin Law, said 43,000 new jobs could be created in the state if New York follows through on a proposal to require 25 percent of the state's energy to come from renewable resources by 2013.

Incentives to attract renewable energy companies would be aimed at building "clusters" of solar, wind, biomass and other green-energy industries around the state. Changes in the law to encourage on-site installation of renewable energy sources at companies would include extending the net-metering law to corporations, not just residences.

Net metering allows a home to sell energy back to the grid when it exceeds a home's requirements. "Our challenge is not a lack of renewable energy potential," Gov. Eliot Spitzer said in a statement, "it is finding ways to effectively develop it and create economic opportunities in our own backyard."

Related News

indonesia coal

Energy Ministry may lower coal production target as Chinese demand falls

JAKARTA - The Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry is considering lowering the coal production target this year as demand from China has shown a significant decline since the start of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country late last year, a senior ministry official has said.

The ministry’s coal and mineral director general Bambang Gatot Ariyono said in Jakarta on March 12 that the decline in the demand had also caused a sharp drop in coal prices on the world market, which could cause the country’s miners to reduce their production.

The 2020 minerals and coal mining program and…

READ MORE
chester-county-landfill-converts-methane-to-renewable-gas

Chester County Landfill Converts Methane to Renewable Gas

READ MORE

canada-extends-net-zero-target-to-2050

Canada Extends Net-Zero Target to 2050

READ MORE

power lines

France hopes to keep Brussels sweet with new electricity pricing scheme

READ MORE

powerlines

How utilities are using AI to adapt to electricity demands

READ MORE