Energy In the News

 

By Kristi E. Swartz
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

State utility regulators Tuesday agreed to make Florida Power & Light Co.'s renewable energy program permanent and allow businesses to participate as well, starting next spring. It's been nearly three years since FPL launched the voluntary Sunshine Energy program, in which residents can opt to pay an additional $9.75 a month so the utility can buy electricity from alternative sources and add it to the power grid.

Businesses that want to participate would pay the same monthly amount of $9.75, FPL told the Florida Public Service Commission. 'We wanted it to be at a price point that was less expensive than other programs,' FPL spokeswoman Pat Davis said.

Each $9.75 monthly contribution equates to 1,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy. It buys what's known as tradeable renewable-energy certificates, or credits, which represent the 'green' or 'environmental' portion of the energy created from a source such as wind, solar or biomass.

Businesses also can buy more than one credit. For example, a large chain retailer that has 40 stores can buy 40 credits - one for each store, Davis said. Business will be able to participate starting in April.

FPL pledged to build 150 kilowatts of solar energy in the state for every 10,000 customers who signed up for the Sunshine Energy program. More than 26,000 residential households have signed up, and so FPL is building a 250-kilowatt solar farm in Sarasota's Rothenbach Park, which is expected to open in spring, Davis said.

Participation in the Sunshine Energy program, which began in February 2004, is tiny compared with the size of FPL's customer base of 4.4 million households and businesses.

Environmental and consumer advocates have often chided FPL for not using more renewable and alternative energy resources. On Tuesday, one PSC member also questioned FPL's commitment to alternative energy. 'There are some altruistic customers out there that are donating $9.75,' PSC commissioner Isilio Arriaga told FPL attorney Patrick Bryan. 'What is your commitment if that wasn't the case?' Stone-faced, Bryan said he didn't have an answer to that but said FPL 'has had a long history of being in favor of environmental measures that are cost-effective.' 'There is a population out there, a significant one, that is interested in entering into this,' Bryan said. A leading environmentalist applauded Arriaga's line of questioning. 'It sounds like the commissioner has hit the nail on the head: FPL offers a green power program, which is a good thing, but it's nowhere near what they could and should be doing,' said Holly Binns, field director for Environment Florida.

The PSC signed off on expanding the program but Arriaga continued to press FPL about what it is doing to have a more diverse, renewable fuel mix. He mentioned recently approving FPL's plans to build the West County Energy Center, a two-unit, 1,219-megawatt natural gas-fired plant near Wellington - but only because FPL said it would be moving away from using natural gas, a clean-burning but pricey fuel.

FPL gets 43 percent of its fuel from natural gas.

Arriaga later told Bryan, 'There is a message that you need to carry back: You made a commitment to this commission, that's why you got our vote, among other things. I'm still waiting, patiently, for you guys to come back to us to say, 'This is our plan for energy conservation, energy savings and diversity.'