A herd of 20 sheep keep the grass down in ToyotaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 5-acre solar array on property behind the manufacturing facility in Buffalo. Companies such as Toyota install their own solar panels when they can, but they also prefer to buy renewable power from the regional grid, too.
A herd of 20 sheep keep the grass down in ToyotaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 5-acre solar array on property behind the manufacturing facility in Buffalo. Companies such as Toyota install their own solar panels when they can, but they also prefer to buy renewable power from the regional grid, too.
The Huntington City Mission and the Cabell County Public Library had better watch out. Gov. Jim Justice might be coming for their solar panels because using the sun to make electricity is a danger to the coal industry that provided his family with its fortune.
Yes, thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s stretching things, but this week the governor let it be known how far he will go to protect coal, even at the expense of making West Virginia an unwelcome place for industries that want to use renewable electricity.
This year the Legislature passed House Bill 5528, which allows power companies to build solar or wind projects of up to 100 megawatts. Current law allows projects of 50 megawatts. The bill also removed a sunset date on a state program to promote utility-scale renewable power.
HB 5528 passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 61-36. The Senate approved it 31-1. But Justice vetoed it. In his veto message, the governor said he took the action because ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œit is very important that we are careful not to cripple our great coal-fired energy industry.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
Facepalm time.
As noted by HD ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ reporter Mike Tony, Appalachian Power supported HB 5528. Its spokesman told two legislative committees that companies looking to locate in West Virginia want renewable sources of energy.
Modern industries embrace the principles of ESG (environment, social justice, governance). Whether that is wise can be debated, but itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a fact. In this region, Toyota and Nucor have made it known that they want as much of their electricity as possible to come from renewable sources. The demand for electricity grows as new industries rise to replace old ones. The data centers that power our online world consume huge amounts of electricity. So do new factories that make computer chips or electric vehicle batteries. Now more than ever, the nation needs an all-of-the-above strategy when it comes to producing electricity.
It so happens that last week FirstEnergy Corp., which provides electricity to the northern part of the state, said it had begun construction on its second utility-grade solar site in West Virginia ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œto help meet the stateÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s energy needs and further encourage economic growth.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
FirstEnergy will use the site of the former coal-burning Rivesville Power Station, which was deactivated in 2012, in Marion County to install solar panels that will produce up to 5.5 megawatts of power. One megawatt will power about 173 homes. In the announcement, Jim Myers, president of FirstEnergyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s West Virginia operations, said, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe believe the energy generated by our West Virginia solar sites will continue to encourage economic development in the state because a growing number of companies require a portion of the electricity they purchase to be generated by renewable sources.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
Great job, governor, telling companies like Toyota and Nucor that when they expand, they might want to look elsewhere because the coal industry is so weak it canÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t withstand a few more solar panels in the state. ItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s the same thinking that kept nuclear power ot of the state for decades and inhibited the growth of gas-fired power plants.
Maybe ESG is a business fad. Maybe manufacturers and others someday will decide to embrace fossil fuels because of their reliability, because of their life-cycle cost or for some other reason most of us donÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t expect now.
In any case, does the veto of a bill to allow expansion of solar power in West Virginia really do enough to help the coal industry that it outweighs the cost it brings in limiting a power source that is in demand?
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