County has high potential

An front-page article that got picked up by the Laramie Boomerang. My first wire story!


• Study gives Carbon County high marks for renewable energy potential.

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

Carbon County’s renewable energy potential is among the best in the state, according to a report released by Colorado College.

The State of the Rockies Report Card, an annual student research project, publishes data from agencies like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. The report card issues grades according to each county’s renewable energy potential.

Along with eight other Wyoming counties, Carbon County received an “A” for its wind potential. Not far behind was its solar potential with an “A-minus.” Fremont County was the only county in Wyoming to get an “A” for solar power. Receiving a grade of “B-plus” for geothermal potential, Carbon County and five others charted just behind Campbell and Fremont counties.

Most of the Western states have focused on developing wind power, according to the report. Often, it is to the neglect of other renewable resources, such as solar power, the potential for which is greater in the West than some of the leading areas in solar energy development. But wind is the most cost effective for large-scale energy production.

“The solar in Wyoming is good,” said Elizabeth Kolbe, a Colorado College researcher, “but as far as putting in utility-scale arrays, it may not be the best choice. Wind turbines create more energy per unit than solar panels and are cheaper to build.”

Jeff Hymas, spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power, said one way to take advantage of the solar potential in high-scoring counties is for homeowners to invest.

Rocky Mountain Power offers a meter that measures the energy generated by a home with solar panels. If the panels produce more energy than the home uses, it goes back into the grid and the homeowner gets an energy bill credit. Those who invest in such a system can generally expect a 10- to 15-year return on their investment. The program also works for wind turbines.

Geothermal power is another story altogether. According to Kolbe, geothermal development is difficult because much of the land with the most potential is in public or protected areas.

Currently, Rocky Mountain Power operates just one geothermal plant in Utah. Hymas said it is financially risky to invest in a drilling project because there is no guarantee of what is underground.

The report pinpointed Wyoming as the state with the highest dependence on coal energy: 97 percent. Rocky Mountain Power, the company that provides the majority of Wyoming’s power, showed a figure of 65 percent.

Rocky Mountain Power hopes to reduce the presence of coal in its energy mix by 20 percent throughout the next five years, Hymas said.

Five of the eight states Kolbe studied have state-mandated goals for increasing renewable energy usage over time, known as renewable portfolio standards. Wyoming is one of the three states without such standards.

Kolbe attributed Wyoming’s lag in renewable progress to its extensive coal fields. Because the coal resources are some of the largest in the world and still a profitable resource, the incentive to move toward renewable energy isn’t strong.

“But Wyoming also has some of the best wind in the world,” she said. “So it might take awhile (to bring down coal usage), but a lot of it starts with government mandates and with people doing what they think is right for the environment.”