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<P align=left><FONT face=System size=2>ARCO built the place in the early 80s
because of the late 70s energy crisis...<BR>***********<BR>The response to the
'70s energy crisis, though it was about oil, included the formation of
PURPA:<BR><BR>The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) is a law,
passed in 1978 by the United States Congress as part of the National Energy Act.
It is meant to promote greater use of domestic renewable energy. The law
<U>forced</U> regulated, natural monopoly electric utilities to buy power from
other more efficient producers, if that cost was less than the utility's own
"avoided cost" rate to the consumer; the avoided cost rate was the additional
costs that the electric utility would incur if it generated the required power
itself, or if available, could purchase its demand requirements from another
source. At the time generally, where demand was growing, this was considered to
be the construction and fossil fuel costs incurred in the operation of another
thermal power plant. </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=System size=2>This free market approach presented
investment opportunity and government encouragement [$$$] for more
development of environment-friendly, renewable energy projects and technologies;
the law created a market in which non-utility Independent Power Producers
developed, and some energy market players failed.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=System size=2><FONT face=Arial size=3><A
href="http://www.ask.com/wiki/Public_Utility_Regulatory_Policies_Act">http://www.ask.com/wiki/Public_Utility_Regulatory_Policies_Act</A></FONT></P>
<P align=left></FONT><FONT face=System size=2></FONT><FONT face=System
size=2><BR><FONT face=Arial size=3>So when the govt funds ran out [the
utilities didn't do this out of the goodness of their hearts] the big RE
displays were dismantled and it was back to business as usual. The lesson
learned by the utilities was that, with a significantly lower cost, RE could be
profitable. We have witnessed this around the world thx first to the wind
industry and now to China for the collapse of the PV
market.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The key to the weak success of the PV industry was largely
due to the definition of "avoided cost" which only includes the cost
in dollars to generate the electricity. The definition clearly
avoids references to any other secondary financial benefits like no
emissions from burning dirty stuff to generate electric power.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>I recall a recent California legislative battle to redefine
avoided cost to include something to do with geothermal [?] where the utilities
lost the battle but the final outcome is still up in the air. </FONT></P>
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