GREEN DRILLING, OR SUN GETS GAS

Solar energy, natural gas: Florida's new power couple
Mike Thomas, October 15, 2009 (Orlando Sentinel)

"In a most unlikely alliance, the enlightened purveyors of solar energy are joining forces with the dark lords of fossil fuels…The plan is to open up Florida's offshore water to oil drilling, then use some of the royalties to open up more rooftops to solar panels…

"Some might call it an ingenious ploy to drive a wedge between two renewable-energy camps…granola greenies…and the businesspeople…[T]he Florida Solar Energy Industries Association [took the business point of view in accepting the plan]…[I]t's not a perspective shared by all…[but] drilling rigs are coming…"

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"Gov. Charlie Crist is on board. It burnishes his conservative credentials. And diverting some of the royalties to renewable energy gives him some political cover…Green drilling…It's a rare case of good politics creating good public policy.

"If renewable energy is the future, we are living in the past. Florida is falling far behind other states in encouraging its development…[and] attracting the jobs it creates…Utilities here have little incentive to promote solar energy…Florida does not require that they generate a minimum percentage of their energy from renewable sources…[nor] require them to buy power from small solar plants at premium prices…[P]oliticians aren't willing to go there."

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"Florida's only incentive is a rebate program…[that] went bust and had to be rescued with temporary stimulus dollars…Money from drilling…[could permanently fund the rebate program and] used to lure renewable-energy companies into Florida, creating next-generation research and manufacturing jobs…[and] drilling would create economic development and thousands of jobs…[T]ourism and growth… haven't been this deep in the Dumpster since the Great Depression…We need to diversify and create things that have real value…

"…[P]art of the answer is [natural gas] sitting offshore under the Gulf of Mexico…It is the cleanest of the fossil fuels…[and has] a worldwide demand…Extracting it off our coast would do no harm…Natural gas is the perfect companion to solar energy…[S]un is a part-time source of electricity…Natural-gas power plants ramp on and off very quickly. They are best at meeting sudden spikes in demand. And they are the cheapest plants to build…This plan works for the present and, more important, it works for the future."