Conference focuses on renewable energy

HOBBS, N.M. — Renewable energy will be the focus of the 2009 energy conference presented by the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy beginning at 9 a.m. April 14 at the Lea County Events Center.

The all-day conference, “The Making of Energy Policy: Where Are We Going? Part II,” features U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., as keynote speaker. It’s a follow-up to the 2008 conference, which featured now-retired U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Among those who will introduce conference sessions is U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M.

HOBBS, N.M. — Renewable energy will be the focus of the 2009 energy conference presented by the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy beginning at 9 a.m. April 14 at the Lea County Events Center.

Local officials leading the conference will include Bethe Cunningham, executive director of the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County, and New Mexico state Sen. Carroll Leavell, R-Jal.

The conference theme will be “Renewable Energy in Crisis, Cost and Carbon,” said Dr. Dan Fine, an associate of the NMCEP, part of New Mexico Tech. Fine is in charge of the program.

“The conference will be looking at renewable energy in the context of the financial credit and economic slowdown and what impact this has made on investment in renewable energy,” Fine said. “What is the role of the government in the short term and long term?”

The conference also will include a look at the next generation of renewable energy technology, what it looks like “without regard to cost and economics at this point,” Fine added.

The conference will review state-of-the art solar technology, investment in solar energy, access to capital available for developing solar energy and its potential to be cost-competitive with coal-fired energy.

“This will be from a business and technology perspective, ”Fine said.

Conference participants also will examine geothermal resources in the Southwest and worldwide along with advances in geothermal technology.

The conference will discuss issues from a different perspective than other energy conferences, Fine said.

“This is a unique conference in the sense that it’s focused on the here-and-now, contemporary conditions for renewable energy, and a look ahead, who is involved and, what is particularly significant, the position of the federal government to support renewable energy as policy,” Fine said. “Does the country want renewable energy? Does the country want to follow climate change and respond to it, and if so, is the government required under present conditions essentially to continue financial grant and project support?”

One of the problems to be discussed will be how renewable energy is to be put on the national energy grid, Fine said.

Fine said the conference would have been different six or seven months ago, before the economic and credit crash.

“It made the U.S. government the only working, effective venture capital source for renewable energy,” he explained. “Renewable energy now depends on the federal government’s support because private capital has withdrawn. In the renewable energy industry it’s extremely difficult to access capital.”

He noted the administration of President Obama has committed to a climate-change policy that includes a reduction in greenhouse gases and low carbon standards.

“Effectively, this means monetary support for renewable energy which is not fossil fuel,” Fine said. Federal and state governments are committed to renewable-energy mandates that include the requirement a certain percentage of electricity come from renewable energy by certain years. New Mexico began requiring electric utilities to provide 5 percent of their energy through renewable sources in 2006, increasing 1 percent a year through 2011, when 10 percent of utilities’ power must come from renewable sources.

The Obama administration is committed to the “20-20” concept, which is that 20 percent of U.S. energy be produced by wind power by the year 2020, Fine said.

Carbon, specifically CO2 and other greenhouse gases, will be another topic to be discussed, Fine said. The administration also is committed to reduce CO2 levels to 80 percent of 2005 emissions by the year 2050, he noted.

“The conference will focus on the obvious cost,” he added.

He said the energy economy is being transformed to renewable energy over the long term and noted New Mexico Tech is a leading research university in energy technology innovation.

Fine said organizers expect participants will include representatives from the oil and gas industry; farmers and ranchers; energy technology and efficiency companies; state and local government officials; graduate students and faculty members of all universities in New Mexico and one in Texas; researchers in renewable energy, including individual consultants and company representatives, from throughout the Rocky Mountain region; and other interested parties from Lea County and the surrounding area.

A panel also will discuss Obama’s cap-and-trade carbon proposal, in which industries would have a cap on the amount of carbon they could produce but could “trade” carbon amounts to meet their caps, Fine said.

“A panel also will discuss the EPA rule that I expect soon to regulate carbon dioxide as a hazardous emission and how that would affect New Mexico and the country,” he added.

The conference will include panel discussions in the morning, a lunch featuring Bingaman’s speech and panel discussion in the afternoon, Fine said.

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