City falls short on renewable energy

Feb 26, 2009 (Columbia Daily Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CBWT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- In 2008, Columbia fell short of its renewable energy target, and the Columbia Water and Light Department is considering counting energy that it received in 2007 to reach the amount mandated for 2008.

About 1.7 percent of Columbia's total energy output in 2008 came from renewable resources that included wind power, a landfill gas project and waste wood burning at the Municipal Power Plant, said Connie Kacprowicz, Columbia Water and Light spokeswoman. A renewable energy ordinance passed by voters in 2004 calls for 2 percent of the city's electricity to come from renewable resources in 2008.

During a meeting Tuesday, city Environment and Energy Commission members said they disagreed with counting electricity generated by renewable resources in 2007 because it would set a precedent for future years. Commissioners Tom O'Connor, Dan Goldstein and Dick Parker said that they don't want to see "rollover watts" counted in 2017, when the city must obtain 10 percent of its energy from renewable resources.

"We recognize that they didn't meet it last year, but we are not faulting Water and Light," Parker said.

The 2009 renewable resource report shows that some months Columbia did receive more than 2 percent of its energy from renewable sources, but overall it received less. The city received the most renewable energy in October, with 2.9 percent of the total electricity coming from renewable resources.

Columbia's failed to reach its 2008 target because of cracked turbine blades at the Bluegrass Ridge Wind Farm in Gentry County, which was supposed to supply Columbia with about 2 percent of its total energy. Also contributing were delays in two landfill gas projects, at the city's Sanitary Landfill and at the Ameresco Biogas Plant in Jefferson City. The Columbia Biogas Plant, where Columbia turns decomposing waste into energy, didn't go online until July, and the landfill project in Jefferson City is expected to be online by March.

Although wind power costs more than coal -- an average of $74 per megawatt hour for wind compared with $63 for coal -- some renewable resources were cheaper than coal in 2008 because of a rise in the price of coal. Waste wood, for example, costs an average of $32 per megawatt hour. The city has applied with the state Department of Natural Resources to burn more waste wood with its coal in 2009.

"If natural gas and coal prices go up, renewable resources look better," Kacprowicz said.

Solar energy from the city's Solar One program, in which utility customers can pay for solar energy generated from solar panels at two local sites, was not counted toward the renewable energy total because it did not meet the cost requirement in the ordinance. The law says that purchased energy cannot exceed 3 percent of the cost of energy generated by nonrenewable resources, such as coal and natural gas. It doesn't give suggestions for what the city should do if it cannot purchase electricity from renewable resources for 3 percent of the cost or less.

If Columbia continues to have problems with renewable resources in the future, the Water and Light Department would consider satisfying its requirement by investing in the development of renewable projects through "green tags," or renewable energy credits issued by producers of renewable energy. Under this system, the utility would pay for renewable energy but would not receive electricity.

Tad Johnsen, the superintendent of the Municipal Power Plant, said he has talked to two groups from Missouri about the possibility of burning agricultural products such as switch grass at the plant. One group, Missouri Bioenergy LLC, is made up of farmers and landowners from Boone County who are looking into building a local biomass plant.

Kacprowicz said she expects the city will be able to reach its 2 percent mandate for 2009 and exceed it, reaching the 5 percent target for 2012 that the Water and Light Department predicted for 2008.

"If everything would have gone as planned, we would have had 5 percent," Kacprowicz said.

Reach Laura Latzko at 573-815-1724 or e-mail llatzko@columbiatribune.com.

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