MUNCIE - Midwestern utilities have failed to take advantage of clean energy opportunities that could improve the economy, the environment and the reliability of the power supply, a recently released report claims.
"A staggering 95 percent of the Midwest's electricity is produced by coal and nuclear plants - the two fuel sources with the worst environmental and public health impacts," reports the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Chicago-based environmental and entrepreneurial public interest group. "These old power plants produce pollution that causes smog, acid rain and global warming, and they generate radioactive wastes and other toxic pollutants."
The center last week released a report titled "Repowering the Midwest." The Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana and other Midwestern clean energy advocacy groups helped develop the report.
The document calls for the generation of more electricity from the wind, the sun and the burning of agricultural crops.
The Midwest is in a strong position to capitalize economically on the development and manufacturing of clean energy, according to the center.
The region has enormous untapped biomass energy potential from both crop residues left over from farming and energy crops grown expressly for energy, the report says.
"Although the Midwest is not usually considered an especially sunny region, solar power can provide economically valuable electricity because of the strong coincidence between its greatest availability on sunny summer days and the timing of peak power demands for air conditioning," the report says.
"When it comes to wind power, six of the 10 states with the highest wind potential are in the Midwest."
Although American Electric Power is investing in wind generation in Texas and buys and sells biomass energy to customers in West Virginia, the company hasn't gone far down the solar energy path.
AEP is developing the 130-megawatt Trent Mesa wind power project in West Texas. The company expects the project's 87 wind turbines to generate enough electricity to supply about 30,000 homes.
That's still a drop in the bucket compared to the company's 4.8 million customers in 11 states and total generating capacity of 38,000 megawatts.
Green power "may be the right thing to do and become more economical in the future," but the decision to switch or not to switch to green power should be made by customers, not by the Citizens Action Coalition or by AEP, said John R. Sampson, AEP's Indiana president.
"We think it's more important that the consumer or the marketplace make the decision," Sampson said in an interview. "Telephone customers, for example, today have options like caller ID and caller conferencing because they sell in the marketplace. Consumers are willing to pay more because it brings some value to their life. That's different than implementing an agenda because someone says we should do this."
For the most part, renewable energy sources carry a bit higher price tag, said Pat Hemlepp, manager of media relations for AEP.
"We agree with and support fuel diversity and renewable energy, but the consumers will determine what they are willing to pay," Hemlepp said.
He also noted it would take either 70,000 acres of wind turbines or 13,000 acres of solar panels to replace just one of AEP's 1,300-megawatt, coal-fired power plants.
In addition, only modest wind resources exist in Indiana and throughout most of AEP's service territory, the company says, citing government wind maps.
Still, Hemlepp thinks the new report's goals for renewable energy in the Midwest are achievable.
"If you look at Indiana, for example, this group projects wind and solar energy combined of 591 megawatts by the year 2020," Hemlepp said.
For a copy of "Repowering the Midwest: The Clean Energy Development Plan for the Heartland," call Mike Truppa at 312-673-6300, or download a copy at www.repowermidwest.org .
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