Read this on the web here: http://slvrenewablecommunities.blogspot.com/2012/01/our-energy-future-local-or-corporate.html

The San Luis Valley, CO has been in the national spotlight recently as one of the “coolest” hot spots for solar energy generation.  Since around 2005, plenty of corporate solar energy developers have lined up to exploit the valley’s cool sun and high generation values for private profit.

What most don’t realize is that the people who make the San Luis Valley their home have been quietly stoking a different, more grassroots, democratic solar paradigm, going back more than a quarter of a century.

In the mid 1980′s the Solar Energy Research Institute  — now the National Renewable Energy Lab in Boulder, Colo. — credited the San Luis Valley with inspiring “an explosion in solar energy resulting in perhaps the highest per capita concentration of solar installations in the country.”

The early San Luis Valley solar innovators knew what many are just beginning to discover: locally owned clean energy is the path to true energy independence and lasting prosperity that benefits real people and communities.

From: Community Power by Al Weinrub

John Farrell, with the Energy Self-Reliant States Project recently recognized Gainsville, Florida “among the world leaders in solar installed per capita”, beating out Japan, France China and California with a whopping 36 kW for each of its 125,000 residents.

The San Luis Valley has Gainsville beat by a long shot. When the 30 MW Cogentrix facility goes online in April, the Valley will generate a walloping 178 kW of solar energy for each of its 50,000 residents.  We are not far behind Germany, the world’s leader in solar generation, at 187 kW/person.

The Valley will soon generate enough electricity to power 100% of its average daytime demand (on paper, more than 2/3 is exported, but the laws of physics dictate that the solar electrons be consumed at the closest point of demand).

As the Valley faces critical energy issues, such as the need for a massive $.5 billion new transmission line or whether or not to approve massive, industrial power plant proposals such as Tessera Solar’s failed 200 MW Dish Sterling proposal and the 656′, 4,000-acre twin power tower plant currently under review in Saguache County, a grand opportunity is being overlooked by all but a handful of local energy visionaries.

The San Luis Valley’s geographic isolation, extraordinary solar resource and abundant solar generation puts it in the unique position to become the nations first energy independent region and a model for every community in Colorado.

The little village of Wildpoldsried, Germany is a harbinger of what the San Luis Valley could become.   In less than a decade and a half, the town installed enough renewable energy to produce 321% of its local energy needs – and it’s generating $5.7 million (US) in annual revenue by selling the excess back to the grid.

The key to Wildpoldsried’s success is local ownership.

The town’s local energy initiative was launched in 1997 when the village council made the decision to build new industries, keep initiatives local and bring in new revenue.

Town of Del Norte (Rio Grande County) Solar-powered Water System

Over the next 14 years, the community equipped nine new community buildings with solar panels, built four biogas digesters (with a fifth underway) and installed seven windmills. In the village itself, 190 private households have solar panels.  The district also benefits from three small hydro power plants, ecological flood control, and a natural waste water system.

Here in the San Luis Valley, outside corporate and government powers have a different plan.  Rather than maximizing local benefits, they are proposing the same export dependent economic “development” model that has kept the San Luis Valley in poverty for decades.

The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to open over 111,000 acres of public land in the San Luis Valley to corporate solar development for massive centralized solar power plants that dwarf the small, distributed SunEdison, Iberdrola, Cogentrix and SunPower utility installations in Alamosa County (for a critique of the BLM plan see the Wrong from the Start report produced by Solar Done Right).

There is no doubt that these projects will provide limited tax revenue and sorely needed, but temporary construction jobs.  But they also pave the way for 90% of the economic value of solar energy to flow straight out of the Valley into the hands of absentee corporate owners and investors.

Will the people and communities of the San Luis Valley really prosper by laying out the red carpet for industry to collect the gold at the end of our solar rainbow?  Or is it time for real bottom-up economic development that allows San Luis Valley property owners, farmers, ranchers, small businesses and communities to reap the benefits from local solar generation?

Town of Mesita, Conejos County, CO Biodiesel plant

Despite many obstacles, a brave new path is already being blazed by a small group of dedicated renewable energy innovators in the San Luis Valley.  The Orient Land Trust has been off-grid for decades and continues to expand its combined geothermal and microhydro generation plant.  The Town of Del Norte recently celebrated the completion of its 1.9 MW Net-Zero Solar network.

The  Mesita/Conejos County canola/biodiesel plant also has plans to expand production to serve more of the valley. The 300 kW Humprey’s microhydro generation plant made a big splash last fall when it went into the operation. The City of Alamosa, Alamosa, Del Norte, Costilla and Crestone District Schools, Adams State College, SLV Regional Medical Center and SLV Federal Bank have all gone solar.

Dozens of pioneering SLV farmers have installed solar PV panels to power irrigation pumps and efforts are moving forward with plans to develop up to 2,500 MW of solar generation on crop circle pivot corners without adversely impacting valuable agricultural lands.  And last, but not least, hundreds (perhaps as many as 1,000) homeowners have installed solar PV on their rooftops since the 1970′s.

These locally owned installations create real energy independence that renews our communities from the ground up.

Some people think the San Luis Valley can have both local and industrial solar development, but the evidence from renewable energy experts suggests otherwise.  Industrial solar is more likely to absorb limited financial resources, monopolize existing transmission capacity, saturate markets and create a path dependency that leaves little room for local energy-based economic development.

Two key decisions lay before our federal and county elected officials that could determine the energy future of Saguache County, the San Luis Valley and Colorado.  We urge people throughout the San Luis Valley and Colorado to let the BLM and Saguache BOCC know which vision of our energy future you would like to see come to bear.   Details below.

Contact: Ceal Smith, San Luis Valley Renewable Communities Alliance, ceal@theriver.com, 719-256-5780

BLM SOLAR SPEIS PUBLIC MEETING

This week, Coloradans have a chance to endorse or reject the Bureau of Land Management, Supplement to the Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Study (SPEIS), plan to open more than 100,000 -acres of public lands in the San Luis Valley (including 4 Solar Energy Zones) to massive corporate, industrial solar development:

Wed. January 11, 2012

7 pm (displays open at 6 pm)

Inn of the Rio Grande
333 Santa Fe Ave., Alamosa, CO

Call (800) 669-1658 for more information

Download the PEIS documents here.

For a critique of the BLM plan

see the Wrong from the Start report produced by Solar Done Right.

Comment deadline: Jan. 27th

Written comments on the SPEIS can be submitted through the Public Comment Form. Submitting comments through the Public Comment Form is the preferred method for purposes of tracking and providing confirmation of receipt. However, comments can also be mailed to:

Solar Energy Draft PEIS
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Avenue, EVS/240, Argonne, IL 60439

SOLAR RESERVE 1041 PERMIT

Solar Reserve 650′ tall power tower just completed in Nevada (solar mirror field is yet to be constructed)

The Saguache Board of County Commissioners is currently considering Solar Reserve’s 1041 permit application to develop two 656-foot power towers on 4,000-acres near Center, CO, approximately 25 miles west of Great Sand Dunes National Park.  The project could change the visual landscape of much of the San Luis Valley and irreversibly impact migrant wildlife, including the 20,000 Sandhill Cranes and 200,000 Brazilian free-tail bats that visit the SLV annually (more about the proposed project on our blog and the Crestone Eagle)

Comment deadline:

3 pm, Thur., Jan. 26th

Email to: Wendi Maez at

wmaez@saguachecounty-co.gov

or mail to:  Saguache County Land Use

PO Box 326, Saguache, CO 81149

PUBLIC HEARING

Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012

2 pm to 8 pm

Center School Auditorium, Center, CO

Instructions on how to access the Solar Reserve Permit Application here.

 

 

From the Washington Post Online, GO HERE for entire article.

WASHINGTON — Halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, on a former cattle ranch and gypsum mine, NRG Energy is building an engineering marvel: a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes.

The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009.

The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.

A great deal of attention has been focused on Solyndra, a start-up that received $528 million in federal loans to develop cutting-edge solar technology before it went bankrupt, but nearly 90 percent of the $16 billion in clean-energy loans guaranteed by the federal government since 2009 went to subsidize these lower-risk power plants, which in many cases were backed by big companies with vast resources.

When the Obama administration and Congress expanded the clean-energy incentives in 2009, a gold-rush mentality took over.

As NRG’s chief executive, David W. Crane, put it to Wall Street analysts early this year, the government’s largess was a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and “we intend to do as much of this business as we can get our hands on.” NRG, along with partners, ultimately secured $5.2 billion in federal loan guarantees plus hundreds of millions in other subsidies for four large solar projects.

“I have never seen anything that I have had to do in my 20 years in the power industry that involved less risk than these projects,” he said in a recent interview. “It is just filling the desert with panels.”

From 2007 to 2010, federal subsidies jumped to $14.7 billion from $5.1 billion, according to a recent study.

Most of the surge came from the economic stimulus bill, which was passed in 2009 and financed an Energy Department loan guarantee program and a separate Treasury Department grant program that were promoted as important in creating green jobs.

States like California sweetened the pot by offering their own tax breaks and by approving long-term power-purchase contracts that, while promoting clean energy, will also require ratepayers to pay billions of dollars more for electricity for as long as two decades. The federal loan guarantee program expired on Sept. 30. The Treasury grant program is scheduled to expire at the end of December, although the energy industry is lobbying Congress to extend it. But other subsidies will remain.

The windfall for the industry over the last three years raises questions of whether the Obama administration and state governments went too far in their support of solar and wind power projects, some of which would have been built anyway, according to the companies involved.

Obama administration officials argue that the incentives, which began on a large scale late in the Bush administration but were expanded by the stimulus legislation, make economic and environmental sense. Beyond the short-term increase in construction hiring, they say, the cleaner air and lower carbon emissions will benefit the country for decades.

“Subsidies and government support have been part of many key industries in U.S. history — railroads, oil, gas and coal, aviation,” said Damien LaVera, an Energy Department spokesman.

A Case Study

NRG’s California Valley Solar Ranch project is a case study in the banquet of government subsidies available to the owners of a renewable-energy plant.

The first subsidy is for construction. The plant is expected to cost $1.6 billion to build, with key components made by SunPower at factories in California and Asia. In late September, the Energy Department agreed to guarantee a $1.2 billion construction loan, with the Treasury Department lending the money at an exceptionally low interest rate of about 3.5 percent, compared with the 7 percent that executives said they would otherwise have had to pay.

That support alone is worth about $205 million to NRG over the life of the loan, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times by Booz & Company, a strategic consulting firm that regularly performs such studies for private investors.

When construction is complete, NRG is eligible to receive a $430 million check from the Treasury Department — part of a change made in 2009 that allows clean-energy projects to receive 30 percent of their cost as a cash grant upfront instead of taking other tax breaks gradually over several years.

Californians are also making a big contribution. Under a state law passed to encourage the construction of more solar projects, NRG will not have to pay property taxes to San Luis Obispo County on its solar panels, saving it an estimated $14 million a year.

Assisted by another state law, which mandates that California utilities buy 33 percent of their power from clean-energy sources by 2020, the project’s developers struck lucrative contracts with the local utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, to buy the plant’s power for 25 years.

From the Washington Post Online, GO HERE to finish the article.

Upper Arkansas Valley  – On July 14 at 7 pm at the Salida Community Center, the Land Trust of the Upper Arkansas (LTUA) will host a screening of a new film called Green Fire, the first full-length, high definition documentary film ever made about legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold.  The film explores Aldo Leopold’s life in the early part of the twentieth century and the many ways his land ethic idea continues to be applied all over the world today.

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time is a production of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the US Forest Service, and the Center for Humans and Nature. The film shares highlights from Leopold’s life and extraordinary career, explaining how he shaped conservation in the twentieth century and still inspires people today. Although probably best known as the author of the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac, Leopold is also renowned for his work as an educator, philosopher, forester, ecologist and wilderness advocate.

“Aldo Leopold’s legacy lives on today in the work of people and organizations across the nation and around the world,” said Aldo Leopold Foundation Executive Director Buddy Huffaker. “What is exciting about Green Fire is that it is more than just a documentary about Aldo Leopold; it also explores the influence his ideas have had in shaping the conservation movement as we know it today by highlighting some really inspiring people and organizations doing great work to connect people and the natural world in ways that even Leopold might not have imagined.”

Join the LTUA to learn about Leopold’s influential work and how it relates to the Land Trust’s conservation work in the Upper Arkansas River Valley.  The film will be shown at the Salida Community Center, 305 F Street at 7pm.  $3 for adults and children under 12 free.  For more information, contact Nathan Ward, 539-7700 or NathanWard@ltua.org.

DENVER— The Senate passed a bill by Senator Gail Schwartz (D–Snowmass) to promote local foods and create local jobs. Senate Bill 258, the “Local Foods, Local Jobs Act” will increase the availability of healthy, locally produced food by fostering direct connections between agricultural producers and consumers. The bill will support local farmers by allowing them to increase the selection of foods sold in farmers markets. The bill will also ensure Coloradans have access to a year round supply of healthy, local food. Senate Bill 258 now goes to the House for consideration.

Senator Schwartz offered the following comment on the passage of Senate Bill 258:

“This bill is good for all of Colorado. This bill supports farmers, local markets, local communities, and local jobs. By making adjustments to state regulations, we can support our economy, continue to protect our food supply, and provide our communities and visitors with more healthy food options.”

Under the provisions of Senate Bill 258, baked goods, jams and jellies, preserved whole foods, eggs, dehydrated produce and spices may be sold by growers directly to consumers at farmers markets, on farms and through CSAs (Community Supported Agricultural organizations). Making locally produced foods more easily available to all consumers will support our economy, stimulate entrepreneurial activities, create new jobs and increase agritourism in our state. Senate Bill 258 also encourages the creation of farm-to-school food programs.

Mark Guttridge, owner of Ollin Farms in Longmont, CO wrote about the Local Foods, Local Jobs Act:

“[Senate Bill 258] has major implications for farmers, farmers markets, and consumers interested in year round supply of local, nutritious food. The bill would allow farmers to bake, dehydrate, or prepare products in their home kitchens and be able to sell those products directly to consumers either at farmstands, farmers markets, or through community supported agriculture programs.”

A tool for finding local farmers markets is located at coloradosenate.org.

Guidestone is currently seeking a Farmhands Program Assistant for a 7-month contract position, ending Nov. 1, 2011, averaging 10 hours per week .

Responsibilities include teaching non-residential, outdoor farm & nature education programs for children ages 5-12 and to school groups grades Pre-K – 12. Developing and documenting lessons and the creation of teaching materials to support Farmhands’ programs while also assisting in some administrative duties. For more details on visit http://guidestoneco.blogspot.com/2011/03/now-hiring-farmhands-program-assistant.html , contact Andrea at (970)309-3175 or farmhandsed@gmail.com

40 percent rate increase from 2000 to 2010

34 percent projected rate increase from 2010 to 2020

34 percent projected rate increase from 2020 to 2030

The information that was provided by Xcel shows residential energy rates increasing from an average of 10.7 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to 19.1 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2030.

Xcel Energy spokesman Mark Stutz said the bulk of the increase can be attributed to inflation.

Xcel’s state-mandated plan to close some Front Range coal-fired plants and replace them with natural gas-fired units is also partly to blame, Stutz said. Xcel estimates the switch from coal to gas will cost ratepayers about 2 percent more annually over the next decade.

Underestimated hike ?

Even though the utility is projecting rate increases of 34 percent per decade, Xcel may be underestimating future rates, according to Boulder resident Leslie Glustrom, a longtime utility watchdog who has intervened in multiple Xcel dockets before the Public Utilities Commission, including the most recent requests to raise rates further.

Glustrom argues that Xcel’s future estimate for coal costs is far too low.

“Their modeling typically assumes coal costs will go up less than 2 percent a year,” she said. “But between 2004 and 2009, Xcel’s coal costs went up about 10 percent a year. … With a system that’s 60 percent coal, give or take, the cost of coal has an impact.”

Why go Solar?

Savings every month. When a solar electric system powers your home so you use considerably less electricity from the public utility.

Hedge against rate hikes. Offset energy prices and unpredictable rate hikes by generating your own power for decades.

Protect the environment. Most electricity is generated by burning coal that emits pollutants into the atmosphere. Solar electricity comes from a clean and renewable source —
the sun.

Reliable power. Solar modules generate power for decades and are backed with a limited
25-30 year warranties.

Increased property value. Solar is a smart upgrade that makes your home more desirable and valuable.

The math is actually pretty simple. If your monthly electric bill is more than $100, you could save money every month with a solar electric system. Even if you finance the cost of
your system, the loan payment plus your new, lower electric bill will be less than your previous utility bill.

Some homeowners may even earn back two to three times the cost. A lower electric bill and a system that pays for itself are just two reasons why solar is a smart investment.

Solar gives you protection against electricity rate hikes

Imagine that you had been able to lock in automobile gas prices in 2004. You’d not only be paying less than $2 a gallon today, but also for decades to come. With every gas price
increase, you’d be saving even more money. That’s exactly what you’re doing with the cost of electricity when you install a solar electric system.

Because solar installation is a fixed cost, savings increase as utility rates rise. Essentially, you’re building in a hedge against future rate increases. And rising utility rates are definitely something you can count on.

Solar comes with big financial incentives

Federal tax credits and utility rebates can help pay for a substantial percentage of your system and installation. Depending on where you live, there may be incentives available
from your Utility.

No changes in how you use electricity

Solar electricity works exactly the same as the electricity you buy from the utility company. You turn on lights, plug in lamps and power appliances the same way you do right now. In fact, if you didn’t see solar modules on the roof, you’d never notice any difference —except a lower electric bill.

Solar electricity has been in use for more than 50 years and is proven to be highly dependable. Unlike other methods used to generate electricity, solar doesn’t rely on moving
parts that can wear out. Most modules come with a 25-year limited warranty, and some systems installed more than 40 years ago are still performing.

For more information contact:

info@ecodepotusa.com

tim@peaksolardesigns.com

reosolar@gmail.com

The report is the first of its kind.   Rather than simply depending on an economic forecasting, researchers asked solar companies to report their actual hiring history and projections.   The result is an accurate review of the solar workforce in the United States, titled, “National Solar Jobs Census 2010: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce.”  According to the census, solar industry job growth is on the rise.

The San Luis Valley has reaped the benefits of this job growth, with several large projects completed and several more lined up.  Some of the bigger projects can employ over a hundred workers during construction.

The success of Colorado’s solar industries appears to be the result of a series of far-reaching clean energy policies passed in the last three years, which proponents asserted would grow a robust new energy economy.

This study confirms what we already know: renewable energy creates jobs and boosts our economy.  And Colorado is leading the way,” said Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass).   “The solar panel industry employs more than 2,000 Coloradans and will grow to more than 5,000 in the coming years. Research and development of   renewable energy will drive the future of Colorado’s economy and I’m proud to have sponsored important legislation in support these industries.”

The survey examined employment along the solar value chain, including installation, wholesale trade, manufacturing, utilities and all other fields and includes growth rates and job numbers for 31 separate occupations. The report included data from more than 2,400 solar company survey respondents and over 150 in Colorado alone.  More than half of solar employers nationally plan to increase their workforce in the next year.  Colorado is leading the way with an estimated to reach 5,300 jobs in the coming here.   At the same time traditional fossil fuel employers are expecting to shrink their workforce by 2%.

“Thanks to smart policy and entrepreneurship, Colorado is now #2 in the nation in solar jobs per capita,” said Neal Lurie, Executive Director of the nonprofit Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. “Solar is a job-creating, economy-boosting technology that is putting Coloradans back to work.”

The National Solar Jobs Census 2010 was conducted by The Solar Foundation and Green LMI Consulting with technical assistance from Cornell University.

“This is the first time anyone has tried to quantify solar jobs along the entire value chain by speaking directly with employers or projected with any certainty solar job growth over the next 12 months,” said Andrea Luecke, acting executive director of The Solar Foundation.

Environment Colorado was one of the early proponents of clean energy policies as right the state economy and environment.  “In 2004, Coloradans voted to invest in a clean energy, on the belief that the benefits of the new energy economy were just around the corner.   The solar industry has turned that corner, tapping the sun’s potential, generating pollution-free energy and a tremendous number of good, green jobs along the way,” said Dana Hoffman, Energy Associate of Environment Colorado.  “Continued leadership from our state’s elected officials and our leaders in Washington will be critical in keeping this momentum going towards a truly realized new energy economy.”

Environment Colorado is statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy group working to protect Colorado’s air, water, and open spaces

Please try to join us on Sunday to help make up this deficit.  If you can’t come, please consider making a donation (tax deductible).  You can donate or just read more about the Little Rainbow on this website: http://salidamountaintrails.org/little-rainbow-trail.html

USDA Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Region Pike & San Isabel National Forests, Cimarron & Comanche National Grasslands Salida Ranger District 325 West Rainbow Blvd. Salida, CO 81201 http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/sal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts Brett Beasley, 719-530-3953 : Ann Ewing, 719-539-3591

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CHAFFEE COUNTY NATIONAL PUBLIC LANDS DAY PROJECT

SALIDA, Colo., September 14, 2010 – The U.S. Forest Service, San Isabel National Forest – Salida Ranger District will celebrate National Public Lands Day, Saturday, September 25 with a trail maintenance project on the Colorado Trail.

The section of the Colorado Trail to be maintained is located west of Nathrop and travels south from the Chalk Creek canyon to Browns Creek. This portion of the trail is very popular with hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. The project will involve routine trail maintenance and volunteers should come prepared with drinking water, hiking boots, work gloves and long pants and shirt.

National Public Lands Day began in 1994 with three federal agencies and 700 volunteers. Last year over 120,000 volunteers worked at over 1,800 locations throughout the United States. National Public Lands Day helps to educate Americans about environmental and natural resources issues and helps to build partnerships within the local community that lead to improvements in outdoor recreation and public involvement in public lands management.

Interested volunteers may contact Brett Beasley at (719) 530-3953 for more details.

One particular Land trust project of direct benefit to fishermen is the Moyer Ranch in Lake County. This easement opened up over a mile of both sides of the Arkansas River to public access, as well as ensuring that one of Lake County’s most senior water rights stayed with the land.

The intention is to make this event an annual happening, in doing so extending its reach to encompass other outfitters. Guides who participated in the event were Bill Dobson, Rob Whitman, Don Puterbaugh, Kevin Potter, Jerry Graves, Will Yinger, Greg Felt and Hayden Mellsop. Photos courtesy of Mike Wilbur, who has previously worked for Time / Life.