ENERGY, OIl & UTIlITIES
Stronger National Renewable Electricity Standard Needed for Clean Energy Job Stability and Growth
C
EOs representing America’s renewable energy indus- tries announced a major new study showing that a 25%
by 2025 national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) would support hundreds of thousands of new American jobs and prevent a near-term collapse in some industries. Job growth in the wind, solar, biomass, waste-to-energy and hydropower industries would particularly benefit the Southeastern U.S. and manufacturing states whose Sena- tors have questioned the viability of renewable electricity. The “Job Impacts of a National Renewable Electricity
Standard” study, conducted by independent firm Navi- gant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: NCI) and released by the RES Alliance for Jobs, found that a 25% by 2025 national RES would support an additional 274,000 renewable energy jobs - the equivalent of a cumulative 2.36 million job-years of work – over a no-national policy option. This total is also significantly higher than the expected jobs supported in the current House and Senate provisions under consid- eration in Congress. In addition, the study found that without stronger near-
term targets than currently envisioned, industries like wind will experience flat job growth and long-term stag- nation, while the U.S. biomass industry could collapse al- together. The RES Alliance recommends raising near-term RES targets in federal legislation to 12% in 2014 and 20% in 2020. The study is available at
www.res-alliance.org. “This new analysis proves what advocates of a national
renewable energy policy have long been saying,” said Don Furman, Senior Vice President for Development, Trans- mission, and Policy at wind energy company Iberdrola Renewables. “A strong Renewable Electricity Standard is crucial to create a stable investment environment and grow this highly promising sector. Without a strong RES, the US wind industry will see no net job growth, and will likely lose jobs to overseas competitors. A target like 25 percent by 2025 would allow American wind companies to support double the amount of jobs than without a poli- cy – about 125,000 additional jobs. That’s a gain our coun- try cannot afford to pass up.” States that stand to gain the most from a strong RES, ac-
cording to the RES Alliance / Navigant Consulting study, include: Southeastern states like Louisiana, Alabama, Ken- tucky, Tennessee Georgia and Florida that can benefit from substantial biomass and municipal solid waste-to-energy. Traditional manufacturing states like Ohio, Michigan,
60 HISPANIC NETWORK MAGAZINE
“The report analysis clearly shows that an RES of 25 percent by 2025 results in significantly expanded job opportunities in renewable energy.”
Pennsylvania and Indiana, which will gain Midwestern states like North and South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois, home to major wind esources; Western states like Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and California, where solar, wind and hydropower have significant growth potential; States that do not currently have renewables standards or targets like Indiana, Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama; and States that would lose renewable electricity jobs unless a national policy is passed, like Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Delaware, Maryland, Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina. The study emphasizes that while tax credits continue to
play a critically important role in preserving the viability of existing facilities, an RES is needed in order to support both near- and long-term investments. “A strong RES will complement tax benefits and ensure
both the preservation and creation of jobs throughout rural America,” explained Robert Cleaves, CEO of the Biomass Power Association. “Currently, tax credits for the biomass industry remain a critically important element for a renew- able technology that now supplies half of the nation’s re- newable energy.” The benefits of an RES for Southern states are significant,
given skepticism among many Southern Senators about the benefits of a national energy policy for their states. Mark Pytosh, Executive Vice President and Chief Finan-
cial Officer for Covanta Energy, a leading waste-to-energy company, noted, “An RES would create the right market environment for significant growth in waste-to-energy technology. A strong national standard would result in sub- stantial job growth in the industry, and that means good- paying, stable jobs in communities that need them.” “The report analysis clearly shows that an RES of 25 per-
cent by 2025 results in significantly expanded job opportu- nities in renewable energy,” said Lisa Frantzis, Managing
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