Arkansas Electric Energy Law : Arkansas Electric Energy Lawyer & Attorney : Eric Hughes Law Firm : Wind & Solar Power, Distributed Generation : Arkadelphia, Little Rock, Pine Bluff

A new Natural Resources Defense Council report, A Clean Energy Economy for Arkansas, argues that clean energy is a key factor for rural economic development in the state.  Some key facts underlying the analysis are:

• Each year Arkansans spend $10.1 billion for fossil fossil fuels.
• Which translates to $3,500 in energy costs for every person (not household) in the state.
• 78% of those energy dollars leave the state, never to return.

Arkansas ranks 13th in per capita energy consumption, and is expected to need 2,500 megawatts (MW) in new generating capacity over the next 15 fears.

The report cites a previous NRDC study indicating that "green jobs" primarily in construction, engineering, installation, agriculture, and operation of rural energy production facilities -- jobs which cannot be exported.  According to the report, clean energy investments 3.6 times more jobs for people without a college education, and 2.6 times more jobs for people with a college education, than comparable investments in fossil fuel energy.

The report goes on to examine

the potential for renewable resource development in Arkansas and finds unprecedented opportunity for long-term economic growth in rural communities as well as new income sources fro farmers from an array of emerging clean energy technologies, particularly wind, biofuels, biopower, and biogas.

 Wind Power.  40 of Arkansas's 75 counties have commercially viable wind resources.  A federal government study projects that 1,000 MW of generating capacity would create $830 million in economic benefits over 20 years, including 3,496 construction and locally stimulated indirect jobs and 504 permanent operations jobs.

Biofuels.  With its strong agricultural base, Arkansas is "perfectly situated to become a center for the next generation of biofuels production."  Existing Arkansas crop and timber residue are "sufficient to produce 770 million gallons of transportation fuels each year, equivalent to 50 percent of all the gasoline used in Arkansas.

Biopower.  The report points out that combining solid biomass with coal at existing power plants is a relatively low-cost way to ramp up renewable resource development.  "If 10 percent of Arkansas's coal-fired power capacity were replaced with biopower, more than 700 new long-term jobs would be created, not including new agricultural jobs to produce and harvest the biomass fuel."

Biogas.  Methane from decomposing manure has 21 times the global warming potential as carbon dioxide.  While Arkansas is one of the nation's leading livestock and poultry producers, it has no operating biodigesters.  "In addition to providing a potential source of revenue and energy for livestock operation, anaerobic digestion systems create high-quality fertilizer and other byproducts while reducing odors, water pollution, and emissions.

Important Point.  Even the Arkansas Energy Office recognizes the potential for producing electric power with biomass, estimating that Arkansas has sufficient biomass potential to supply 150 percent of the state's residential electricity use.

Energy law and policy are important issues in our time.  On the one hand, energy needs are projected to grow at an accelerating rate, taxing the supply of available energy resources and increasing our dependence on foreign sources of energy.   On the other hand, energy generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption contribute to climate change and have other adverse environmental consequences.  Supplying our energy needs now and in the future --at a reasonable cost and with the least possible negative impact on the environment -- is a challenge that confronts us all.

However, there are opportunities in these challenges, particularly in the field of electric energy.  While still small, the share of utility scale electric generating capacity taken by wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and other renewable and alternative sources of energy will only grow.  Even so, those sources of electricity generation currently have their own limitations, such as reliability for base load, along with siting and transmission issues.  While those alternative sources of energy hold out promise for the future, the current reality is that older and cheaper technologies for producing electricity, like coal and natural gas fired power plants and nuclear power, will be the primary sources of electric energy for the foreseeable future.  But some argue advances in clean coal technology and carbon capture and sequestration will reduce the environmental impact of those sources of electric energy.  Although, cap-and-trade legislation such as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (Waxman-Markey), which attempts to impose the true costs of those dirtier technologies, could put renewable energy resources on an equal economic footing.

Moreover, new technologies in demand side management hold out the promise of increasing energy efficiency in ways that are both observable and measurable by the average electric energy consumer.  Advanced metering and smart grid technologies, coupled with appliances equipped with computer chips to communicate with the meter, and software to measure and report electric usage, will empower consumers to take more control over their own energy usage.  Those same technologies, including net metering, will increase the effectiveness of distributed generation systems like residential solar and small wind installations.   All these advances will change the consumer's relationship with their electric power supplier.  Thus, new regulatory and rate-making mechanisms must be studied, including decoupling of the rates electricity distributors charge from the amount of electricity supplied.

These are interesting times for electric energy law and policy, and Arkansas is at the forefront of confronting the challenges and capitalizing on the opportunities.  For example, the continuing fight over the location of SWEPCO's John W. Turk coal-fired generating plant in Hempstead County has implications for electric generation and transmission in Arkansas and across the nation.  And, with the location of LM Glasfiber and Nordex wind turbine blade manufacturing facilities in Arkansas, the alternative and renewable energy sector is contributing to economic development and job creation.

At the Hughes & Hughes Law Firm we have been following these issues with interest.  We want to be a participant with you in meeting the challenges of our time.  Therefore, this blog is designed to be a source for news and commentary about electric energy law and policy that effects Arkansas business, industry, municipalities, landowners, consumers, and others.  We hope you will join our conversation.