THE BENEFITS OF LOCAL RENEWABLE ENERGY
There are several benefits of locally generated renewable energy. We’ll cover some of them here:
1) Local Renewable Energy Reduces our dependence on foreign energy
We currently import vast quantities of crude oil. Additionally, we also import natural gas, ethanol, biodiesel, and even electricity (from Canada). Now some of those imports are from friendly countries like Canada. However, the vast majority of our energy imports comes from unfriendly nations like Venezuela and the Middle East. Every Watt of energy that we can generate locally reduces the energy dollars that we export to our enemies.
Looking at the production of the Rock Creek Plants averaged over a ‘typical’ water year, the Rock Creek Plants will produce the equivalent of a barrel of #2 Fuel Oil every 122 minutes. Running nearly 24/7, that starts to stack up. That ends up being 4,324 Barrels of oil, or 7.9 railcars of #2 Fuel Oil every year. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t even a drop in the bucket. However, how many other little projects are out there. A lot of little projects begin to add up to something really significant.
This concept is referred to as ‘Energy Security’, and can be summarized as “How can we expect our nation to be secure when we are funding our enemies every time we fuel our vehicles or turn up our thermostats?”
2) Local Renewable Energy Reduces our Carbon Footprint
While EOL&P isn’t ready to declare the “Global Warming” theory as gospel truth, we do feel that there is enough evidence to compel us to do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint. Even the relatively small Rock Creek Hydroelectric Plants will displace 5,400 tons of CO2 per year. In other words, once Rock Creek is on-line and producing, theoretically a carbon-based electrical generation plant could scale back a little, and end up producing 5,400 fewer tons of CO2 per year.
3) Local Renewable Energy produces local jobs and tax revenue – i.e. Economic Development
The Oregon Department of Energy estimates that for every 1 MegaWatt of local, small scale (smaller than 10 MW), renewable energy production that is installed, 3 jobs will be created. At first, we thought that sounded high. However, once we began thinking about all of the jobs that are or will be supported by the Rock Creek plant, this figure becomes very believable. Just this little plant requires the following services to support its installation and operation: Electricians, linemen, aggregate miners, truck drivers, welders, heavy equipment dealers, heavy equipment operators, surveyors, structural engineers, software engineers, control equipment dealers, pipe & fitting dealers, concrete contractors, fuel dealers, mechanics, painters, carpenters, insurance salespeople, CPA’s, lawyers, biologists, and many labor positions.
This list doesn’t even include all of the services required of all of these people in their everyday lives (like grocers, gas stations, etc).
To promote local renewable energy, there are some temporary tax breaks given to renewable installations. However, these do expire, and the net result is a drastic increase in property tax revenue. Remember that electricity coming into your county over wires pays no property taxes.
For our local Baker County, the Oregon Department of Energy estimates that 80% of every energy dollar spent leaves the county. For local, small scale (<10 MW), renewable energy, over 80% of every dollar stays in the county.
4) Distributed Generation provides local grid stability and emergency options.
Local renewable energy is a form of Distributed Generation (or ‘DG’). One of the advantages of DG is that it provides local electrical grid support through the generation of a unique form of energy called VARs. Most all of us are familiar with the energy unit Watts (effective power). A light bulb consumes 100 Watts. VARs (Volt-Amperes Reactive), (imaginary power) are produced or consumed when there is a phase difference between the applied voltage and the current.
Although the exact details are above this author, the basic fact is that VARs promote stability in the electrical grid. Local renewable energy, or any form of DG, promotes that stability by producing VARs locally.
Additionally, during times of extended emergency electrical outages, local renewable energy generation facilities can sometimes be incorporated into the local emergency management action plan.
As Rock Creek gets closer to going on-line, we will be exploring this option with our local emergency management department.
And
there are other benefits. However,
this should give you the idea that Local Renewable Energy is a Good Thing!