Guest Column
By Bob Chew
In the Oct. 11 issue of the Providence Business News, an article titled “Solar Power Eclipsed by Cheaper ‘Green’ Energy Sources” overlooks some very important facts.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
First, Rhode Island is going to start having rolling brownouts and blackouts during periods of peak electricity use, within the next couple of years, unless we reduce the amount of electricity that we use or increase our generation of electricity during these peak demand periods. These blackouts and brownouts will occur during hot summer days when air conditioners are working overtime.
Such an event occurred on Aug. 2, when the grid almost crashed.
On this sweltering day, when the state broke all previous records for electricity use, photovoltaic systems were pumping critical electricity back into the grid. Unfortunately, as is typical on hot summer days, the wind was not blowing and the water levels were low in many streams and rivers.
Wind turbines and many hydroelectric turbines simply cannot be counted on to be producing electricity during these dog days of summer.
The engineer for the new hydroelectric turbine being installed at the Royal Mills project in West Warwick told me that, from the second week in July to the second week in August, those turbines will be producing electricity only 10 percent of the time.
Second, as much as I am a supporter of wind projects, I still disagree with Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s current strategy for bringing wind turbines into the state. I would rather see individual wind turbines, owned by Rhode Islanders, than some large wind-farm project owned by out-of-state companies.
By helping the towns and businesses in the state that have approached us and others to install wind turbines and photovoltaic systems, we can help these businesses and communities to take ownership of their energy needs and reduce their electricity costs, while at the same time helping to ensure that customers without the capacity to generate their own power will have electricity available to them during periods of peak power use.
For years, Rhode Island has been losing its manufacturing companies, partly as a result of high energy prices and the high cost of housing. By helping Rhode Island businesses reduce their energy costs, we can help these businesses to remain strong and competitive, and thus can protect those important manufacturing jobs. Also, by helping our cities and towns reduce their cost of energy, we can enable these communities to reduce taxes for their residents and businesses, making the cost of living affordable for more people.
Given this reasoning, why is the governor putting all his eggs into one basket, with large-scale wind and hydroelectric projects?
We have businesses in Rhode Island whose roofs could hold megawatt-sized photovoltaic systems. Combine them with the potential for small-scale residential photovoltaic systems, and a large portion of the demand for electricity could be met by “green” sources.
How much energy will it take to get the state to realize what the rest of the world knows: that solar energy works – both photovoltaic and solar thermal systems – and it needs to be part of any overall energy strategy to make Rhode Island energy independent. n
Robert W. Chew is president of SolarWrights Inc. and Ocean State Wind, both based in Bristol.
