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Co-op makes investment in renewable energy, conservation
Record investment aims improve environment, save energy
 York Electric Cooperative is joining with the state's 19 other electric cooperatives in a plan to invest nearly $10 million per year toward renewable energy and energy-efficiency measures. The investment represents up to 1.1 percent of budgeted gross revenue for Central Electric Power Cooperative, which supplies and transmits power to the state's 20 distribution cooperatives. "We're committed to helping our members, our community and our environment," said Paul Basha, President and Chief Executive Officer of York Electric Cooperative.
The record investment includes a three-pronged approach to improving the environment and saving energy. The following measures represent the beginning of this process.
Encouraging homegrown renewable energy. York Electric Cooperative will offer a net metering pilot program for members who wish to install their own renewable energy generation facilities, such as solar systems, in their homes. Net metering will reward members who produce more electricity than they use by allowing them to sell the excess to their cooperative. The program will encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of cooperative members and provide a working laboratory for future renewable generation partnerships.
 Producing efficiencies to save energy and money. York Electric Cooperative will join with the state's other cooperatives to develop a program to place energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in the home of every cooperative member in the state, or approximately seven million bulbs within 10 years. CFLs use 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than standard light bulbs. At completion, the energy savings from the program would equal the energy used by 35,000 homes.
Investing resources in clean energy research. York Electric Cooperative has joined with the state's other cooperatives to invest $2.5 million into a partnership with the University of South Carolina to develop technology that reduces carbon dioxide and other emissions from coal-fired power plants. Coal remains the least expensive and most plentiful resource for generating electricity, but its environmental impact is substantial. Plans call for university researchers to develop affordable technologies that will make coal cleaner and more efficient.
The initiative follows two major studies commissioned by electric co-ops in South Carolina. The first explored the potential in South Carolina for producing power from renewable resources. The second researched the amount of energy that cooperatives and their members could save through using energy-efficient measures.
"These studies give us a starting point," said Basha. "They show us what potential exists for developing and using renewable resources and what measures we can take to increase and encourage the efficient use of energy."
Surprising results
The study on the potential for use of renewable resources in South Carolina produced surprising results. For one, the largest contribution to renewable energy production would come from burning wood biomass, which includes logging residue, commercial thinning and urban wood waste. Biomass is generally accepted as a renewable resource; however, this resource comes with significant environmental impacts.
A second conclusion showed that if the environmental impact could be overcome, the total renewable resources (biomass plus other renewables) that could practically be used would meet three to five percent of South Carolina's total electrical energy requirements.
Basha said, "From the standpoint of potential, the renewable resources identified in the study located in South Carolina could produce enough energy to meet the energy needs of 200,000 to 300,000 homes. That sounds like a lot, and it is. But in 2005, there were approximately two million housing units in South Carolina, and we are adding thousands more each year."
Significant savings
Encouraging results from the energy-efficiency study revealed significant energy savings potential for members served by York Electric Cooperative. (This study, unlike the renewable resources study, focused on cooperatives.) The report suggests that the maximum potential, given the necessary incentives and marketing, for cost-effective savings — that is, savings that exceeded implementation costs — would be between 5 and 20 percent of the total projected power sales by 2017.
The report also determined that one of the greatest opportunities for saving energy in co-op members' homes would be the replacing of standard lighting with energy-efficient lighting such as compact fluorescents.
Read the studies
Both the renewable energy and energy-efficiency studies can be viewed and downloaded at ecsc.org here.
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