Clean Energy News

First, on the promotion of renewable energy, the plan will ensure New Jersey stays on the cutting edge of renewable energy development, helping to solidify New Jersey’s status as a national leader. The plan recommends that New Jersey increase its renewable energy standard (RPS) to 30% by 2020, and lays out a year-long process that will culminate in setting a new and stronger 2025 target.  (Only California can boast bigger plans to grow renewable energy generation in their state, with a renewable energy standard of 20% by 2010.)  Also, the Governor’s plan increases the state’s specific goals around wind and solar energy development, ensuring these superior clean energy sources are the primary strategies to meeting the state’s RPS. This is great news for the healthy solar market in the state and the soon-to-be launched wind energy market. Specifically, the Governor’s plan is to increase the solar set aside in the state RPS to 1800 MW (an increase of 300MW under the current set-aside) and to develop 3,000 MW of off-shore wind energy by 2020. All together, the Governor’s plan would mean an estimated 1.3 million New Jersey homes are powered by wind or solar by 2020, more than one-third of all New Jersey households.

On energy efficiency, the Governor’s plan is less clear and in need of work in the coming months. The goal it sets to reduce the state’s energy demand is respectable, but the route to achieve those savings can either be very successful, or a serious failure. The plan recommends that New Jersey put the state’s energy efficiency programs entirely in the hands of the state’s utilities. Today, New Jersey’s BPU runs effective energy efficiency programs that deliver $3 to $5 in benefits for every ratepayer dollar the agency collects and invests. Like the BPU, New Jersey’s utilities will look to the ratepayers to fund these programs and it is unclear they can deliver programs that will cost the ratepayers less while delivering more energy savings than BPU’s programs currently do.

Another concern we have about the plan is its promotion of waste-to-energy within the goals the plan sets for bio-fuels. Most forms of waste-to-energy, especially plasma gasification, need more study before they are embraced as a solution to environmental problems (as they could be a net loss for the environment). As it currently stands, the environmental benefits of plasma gasification are unknown, the only studies that promote it as an environmentally positive strategy have been industry-funded and industry designed.  We disagree with the Governor’s plan to set a broad bio-fuel standard for the state without first evaluating the various types of bio-fuels and weeding out those that are a net loss to the environment. On this aspect of his plan, he needs to go back to the drawing board.

Our final concern is the lack of analysis in the plan about whether the state needs more Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) facilities in-state and off New Jersey’s coast.  With the strong goals around energy efficiency and renewable energy set in this plan, it should have concluded that these ports were unnecessary. Instead, the plan punts on the question of our state’s supplies needs, which is

a key factor that should form our state’s position on port proposals now pending Disappointingly, the plan only goes so far as to take the position that any new facilities must have the best environmental controls and practices.

Other positive aspects of the plan are the Energy Institute, the Energy Council, and the Edison Innovation Fund to provide $75 million to help develop emerging renewable technologies over the next five years. The research and policy analysis from these collaborations could identify and help to drive the ‘next big thing’ in renewable energy for New Jersey, whether it will be small rooftop wind, small hydropower or more powerful solar panels and wind turbines. Also, we agree with the plan’s recommendation to closely study variable rate setting (to drive conservation), smart grid technology and advanced metering. These can be effective tools to manage energy use in the state and drive down usage. However, the cost / benefits and the best applications of these tools must be determined before we go headlong into adopting them as the cost will be borne by the ratepayers.

Finally, the Governor’s plan takes building more power plants off the map and puts the nuclear question where it should be, parked at a rest stop for further study. Although we’d prefer that the Governor reverse his position on nuclear power, we are ready and willing to have the debate about the relative merits of nuclear energy compared to other energy sources, and are confident that nuclear power’s many disadvantages will be fully brought to light through this dialogue. 

Our biggest concern with the draft energy plan was its push to build more energy generation from coal, natural gas and nuclear power, energy sources with a whole host of environmental and public health problems. Unlike the earlier draft, the final plan distributed today affirms that New Jersey does not face an urgent reliability crisis that should push us to build more coal, gas and nuclear power plants, putting aside state commitments to clean up air pollution and fight global warming.  Instead, the plan affirms that the major crisis we face from our ties to unsustainable energy sources is out of control energy costs and the harmful effects they are having on our environment, especially their contribution to global warming.  To solve the problems, the Governor’s plan hangs our energy future on renewable energy and energy efficiency, making the expansion of generation from these problematic energy sources unnecessary.