North Carolina debates energy policy

The group assigned to develop state energy policies appears poised to resurrect some of North Carolina’s most controversial battles over efficiency programs and renewable energy.

The N.C. Energy Policy Council thinks North Carolina may be trying to buy too little conservation and efficiency too cheaply. And it is warming to the idea of setting up an independent administrator to develop at least some of the programs currently left to the for-profit utilities.

That could include an entity to retrofit schools, public buildings and low-income housing, council member Simon Rich suggests. And the overall investment in that could exceed $1 billion, he says.

The group is turning from fact-finding to evaluating legislative proposals. To help in that task, it was to receive bids Thursday on a study to establish reliable baseline numbers on energy efficiency and renewable resources available in the state.

The 16-member group met June 11 in Raleigh. Chairman Tim Toben said subcommittee reports over the past several months have given members the “lay of the land.” Now they need to develop recommendations before the February opening of the next N.C. General Assembly session.

It will not be easy. Last week saw opening skirmishes over charging customers for nuclear-plant construction and whether the state’s utilities are blocking renewable-energy development.

“The single-largest issue is that the utility’s financial interests and the objective of increasing the use of distributed generation (solar and wind) technologies are at odds,” council member Markus Willhelm of Strata Solar in Chapel Hill said in his presentation.

The two legislators on the council clearly chafed as Chris Fallon, Duke Energy Corp.’s vice president for nuclear development and not a member of the council, suggested a new law to speed utilities’ cost recovery for nuclear construction.

State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird (D-Orange, Person), a member of the council, groused that rules adopted in 2007 already “shifted the risk of building those plants from shareholders to customers.”

State Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) questioned whether Fallon had given serious consideration to the costs of waste disposal and nuclear security.

Read the full story in the Charlotte Business Journal.