Policy Analysis

The new clean energy economy provides over four times more jobs in the Great Lakes region than the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries, according to EWG’s analysis of recent reports.

In Clean Jobs Midwest, the nonprofits Clean Energy Trust and E2 conclude that the 12 Midwestern states had more than 700,000 clean energy jobs in 2017. Data in the Clean Jobs Midwest report was derived from the U.S. Energy and Employment Report released in May by the National Association of Energy Officials and the Energy Future Initiative.

Narrowing the data on the entire Midwest region to the six Great Lakes states – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin – shows that there are about 345,000 clean energy jobs in those states. That compares to about 57,000 jobs at coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants and about 21,000 jobs in coal mining and natural gas drilling.

Here are EWG’s takeaways for the Great Lakes region:

• The energy efficiency sector is by far the largest job generator, with almost 300,000 jobs in the Great Lakes area. 
• In the Great Lakes states, wind and solar accounted for the most jobs in the renewables sector, reaching over 60,000 jobs. 
• Jobs tied to coal mining and natural gas fracturing and related jobs in the Great Lakes states amounted to only about 21,000. 
• The major coal producing states – Indiana, Illinois and Ohio – saw a decline in coal mining-related jobs from 2016 to 2017, ranging from over 4 percent in Indiana to over 13 percent in Illinois.
• Small businesses are king in the Great Lakes clean energy sector. On average, about three-fourths of clean energy businesses in the region employ fewer than 20 people.
• The small decline in solar jobs in some states was attributed to uncertainty over extension of the federal tax credit for solar investment and the recent imposition of tariffs on solar panels imported from China. 

Of the factors generating these jobs, including the declining costs of wind and solar, it’s clear that public policy plays an important role.  For instance, key job-creating subsectors within the energy efficiency arena are high efficiency heating and air conditioning, the federal EnergyStar program for appliances and lighting, and building materials such as insulation. 

Key to this development is the federal appliance and equipment efficiency standard program for a broad array of products that’s been in place for decades.  According to the Appliance Standards Awareness Network, consumers saved $80 billion from existing standards in 2015, and that will increase to about $150 billion in 2030. 

Job growth in clean energy is boosted – or slowed – by government policies. For example:

• According to a 2017 Department of Energy report, the adoption of international building codes by Great Lakes states will save over $8 billion in energy costs by 2040 for commercial businesses and nearly $20 billion for residential customers.
• In Ohio, a hostile policy environment for clean energy has resulted in stunted wind growth, first through the suspension of the state’s renewable energy standard and then by the imposition of draconian setbacks for wind farms while the state pursues natural gas fracking, resulting in higher job numbers in that sector than in any other Great Lakes state.
• Strong state policy support for community solar in Minnesota, the Clean Jobs Midwest report shows, yielded an 18 percent increase in solar jobs in the state over just one year.
• According to E&E News, Illinois added almost 4,000 renewable jobs due to the passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016.

The bottom line is that any state can greatly strengthen its economy with well paying jobs if policymakers provide certainty for the renewables and energy efficiency sectors. Unswerving state support can also overcome external economic forces that would otherwise dampen investment and job growth in those sectors.

Key Issues: 

August 16th, 2018 by Derek Markham 

By taking advantage of otherwise unusable land located in a floodplain, and with financing provided by the solar company itself, a city in northwestern New Mexico will benefit from a new 9.8 megawatt (MW) solar farm, saving an estimated $785,000 in energy costs in the first 8 years, while also covering about 10{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} of the city’s energy needs with solar electricity. Gallup, New Mexico, which is located on historic Route 66 in the northwestern part of the Land of Enchantment, is a sunny high desert community of about 22,000, and its new 9.8 MW single-axis tracker solar array is expected to generate some 20 million kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity annually, or the equivalent of the electricity demand for about 2500 homes.

Image: Standard Solar

Standard Solar, a Maryland-based solar energy company, provided the financing for the project and owns and operates the array, which sits on 31 acres of city-owned land leased by the company, and the city of Gallup has signed a 20-year PPA which will lock in a flat rate for electricity generated by the array, saving the city a considerable amount of money in energy costs annually. The city has also retained the right to purchase it after 7 years of operation.

According to Gallup’s electric director, as told to the Gallup Sun, the city only had to pony up “roughly $135,000 toward the project,” which is expected to “save the city roughly $1 million over 25 years.” Gallup did not have any electricity generation capabilities before the solar farm began operating, and purchased all of its electricity from the Continental Divide Electric Cooperative, but a 2014 agreement with that provider gave the city the option of supplying 10{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} of its own electricity, which will now come from this 9.8 MW solar array. Gallup’s average of 280 sunny days per year is well suited to solar electricity generation, especially when coupled with the single-axis tracking system that helps keep this 28,896-module solar installation pointed at the sun throughout the day.

From an engineering standpoint, the Gallup solar farm had an additional challenge to overcome, as the parcel of land, which sits just off of I-40, is in what is considered to be a 100-year floodplain, and so had to be designed to be sufficiently resistant in order to survive a flood event of that size. According to Standard Solar, the company’s engineering team “found a company that could design both the racking system and the pile foundations supporting it,” which found during the design process that “the major factor contributing to the pile design shouldn’t be the base-flood elevation condition, but the wind load—and designed it accordingly.”

Gallup is well on its way to being powered by 40{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} renewable energy, as according the Gallup Sun, 30{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} of the electricity being supplied from Tri-State Generation (via Continental) to the city is sourced from renewables (50{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} wind, 38{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} hydroelectric, 12{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} solar), and another source of electricity for the city is Western Area Power Administration, which comes “primarily” from hydroelectric sources. With the new solar farm covering an additional 10{0b7da518931e2dc7f5435818fa9adcc81ac764ac1dff918ce2cdfc05099e9974} of the city’s needs, Gallup is making significant progress toward a renewable future.

Tags: Gallup, New Mexico, new mexico solar, Standard Solar

About the Author

Derek Markham Derek lives in southwestern New Mexico and digs bicycles, simple living, fungi, organic gardening, sustainable lifestyle design, bouldering, and permaculture. He loves fresh roasted chiles, peanut butter on everything, and buckets of coffee. Catch up with Derek on Twitter, Google+, or at his natural parenting site, Natural Papa!

The YWCA McLean County has saved about $14,000 in the 10 months since installing its 123-kilowatt solar panel.

Larissa Armstrong coordinates the Solar Bloomington-Normal program, which offers solar at a reduced cost. She said local solar program participants would expect a payback time of 10 years, but the YWCA is different. Its panel was installed in September 2017.

“I would imagine because the energy usage at the YWCA is significantly higher than at a home and their system is quite larger, that their payback is going to be a much shorter period of time than that,” Armstrong said.

Solar Bloomington-Normal has about 15 other participants under contract, totaling nearly 150 kilowatts of solar panel space.

Armstrong said the benefits of going solar including saving money on electricity and reducing carbon emissions. Within the first year of going solar, she expects the program’s 15 participants to save a combined total of $15,000.

“The average payback time with just energy savings alone for all of those systems combined is 10 years,” Armstrong said.

The 15 participants are also expected to reduce their combined carbon footprint by 250,000 pounds, she added.

Armstrong said there are high incentives of going solar, both locally and nationally. Federal incentives include a 30 percent tax credit available until 2019. She is hopeful residential solar will become more popular as people become aware of the benefits.

Solar Bloomington-Normal’s current program runs through Sept. 30. Residents interested in going solar at their home or business can attend a free information session have their property assessed by an installer before committing to go solar.

The next information session is Sept. 5 in the Town of Normal Multipurpose room at 6 p.m. More information can be found on their website.

People like you value experienced, knowledgeable and award-winning journalism that covers meaningful stories in Bloomington-Normal. To support more stories and interviews like this one, please consider making a contribution.

STAVELY, Alta. — Three separate farming operations east of this southern Alberta town have co-operated on a 313.56 kilowatt project that will use the sun to power pumps for their irrigation pivots.

Lamb Farms Ltd., Roemmele Farms Ltd. and Lilybrook Herefords Inc. turned the key last week on an installation designed and erected by Western Solar of Calgary.

Electricity is a major expense when it comes to irrigation. Ron Lamb, a partner in Lamb Farms, said last year it cost $45 to $50 per acre, an all-time high because of high electrical rates and dry conditions that required a lot of irrigation.

He expects to pay about that same amount this year, given that the solar system was just installed and the irrigation season is waning as harvest nears.

Even so, Lamb said he expects his part of the system will be paid for through energy savings within five to 10 years, with a similar payback period for the other farm operations involved.

He and his farm partners have about 1,200 acres under irrigation and among the three farm operations, there are 20 to 22 pivots. The solar panels produce enough power to run pumps for three pivots a time.

“We’re producing about 75 percent of our usage throughout the year and the other fellows are designed about the same way,” said Lamb.

Co-operation between three separate farm entities, some of them with multiple partners, may seem like a daunting proposition but Lamb, Roemmele and Lilybrook already have experience working with each other.

They all worked with the Alberta government years ago to establish an irrigation project from Clear Lake, a water body about five kilometres long and two km wide that is popular for boating and fishing.

Lamb described it as “a slough in dry years and a lake in wet years,” until the diversion from upstream rivers resulted in steady water flow in and out of the lake throughout the summer irrigation season.

The system required various pipelines crossing the three farmers’ properties so co-operation was needed. When Lamb started pondering a solar system, it wasn’t a hard sell.

“I’d been tinkering around with the idea of solar panels all winter and I finally was fortunate enough to get hold of Dan (Visser) at Western Solar and he kind of outlined how a solar project would work in conjunction with … irrigation,” said Lamb.

“It looked like a really good thing for our farm. I talked to both the Roemmeles and Andy (Schuepbach of Lilybrook Herefords.) We sat down and had a meeting and in short order, about a week later I think, it seemed like a good deal so Western Solar designed it.

“I believe very much in solar electricity and it really worked well with irrigation. The other guys came on stream quite easily, so a lot of the hiccups that maybe would stop most people in terms of design and who gets the power for what, those things were easily solved because we’ve been (working together) for 20 years.”

The three farms will take advantage of the Alberta Agriculture On-Farm Photovoltaics Program, which provides grants based on the size of the project.

Visser said each of the participating farmers is eligible for funding and the amount varies according to number of kilowatts.

The project was among the larger ones recently undertaken by Western Solar, which has also installed systems for southern Alberta chicken, hog and feedlot operations.

In this project, Lamb Farms has 96.48 kW, Roemmele has 144.72 kW and Lilybrook has 72.36 kW. That capacity is generated by 936 solar panels on a few acres at the south end of Clear Lake.

“Any one of those would be average for us but the three put together was definitely a big project,” said Visser.

Irrigation projects are 30 to 40 percent of the Western Solar business now as farmers take advantage of government grants. Without those, payback on the systems would take longer.

“The thing about these solar systems is in the winter you find that your production is actually way down, as much as a third of what you’re getting in the summer,” he said. “You’re using your power when you’re really making it.”

Power produced beyond needs goes back into the grid, though that amount is much less in winter simply due to the sun.

Lamb said government grants were among the selling points for the solar install, although they are limiting in one important way.

“There’s constrictions in terms of how big we could go and how much we can put back in the grid. It would actually be nice to go bigger but we’re capped by government rules.

“If the government wanted more solar power, they could open it up by kind of freeing up some of these rules and allowing us to take advantage of sunshine.”