Meenal’s testimony for 11/14/18 hearing by Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities re: 70MW solar for muni operations

Hi, I’m Meenal Raval. Active with many of the groups here today, including the Philly’s Ready for 100 team as well as 350 Philadelphia. We’re thrilled to hear of this project for 70 MW of solar to power municipal operations. 

Did you know that this is to be the largest solar project in our state? This is indeed something to be proud of. 

But did you know that 70 MW is a small project in other states? Why, there are 400MW solar projects approved in Ohio, with 900 MW pending approval! And in NY, over 1600 MW of solar, wind and storage are in the works. 

Any of you wonder why we’re not developing the renewable energy field by leaps and bounds, like neighboring states? The gas industry, pumping out gas from the Marcellus Shale faster than current consumption, has been actively, should I say, aggressively, seeking out markets for their product. 

So the reported reduced emissions from our electric grid is thanks to fracked gas replacing coal power plants. It’s also possible to replace coal power plants with a mix of renewables & storage, offering not just reduced emissions, but zero emissions. But development in this area has been suppressed, and political leadership twisted towards supporting gas projects. 

To build their market base, the price of gas has been kept artificially low, resulting in artificially low electricity rates for the larger customers like the City of Philadelphia. Why, PECO’s price to compare for each of our homes is about 6.8c, and the City has been paying about 4.5c per kWh. This financial factor has also made it hard for renewables to compete in PA. We’ve been subsidizing the gas industry, while demanding that the renewables industry mature and thrive without subsidies. We need you, as our City Council, to approve only zero-emissions energy projects. 

The primary resistance we’ve heard about this project is… why plow over agricultural land? To ease this concern, let’s specify that this project design include a co-existence with agricultural uses — be they pollinator friendly solar farms, solar farms that allow for grazing, or solar farms that include crops beneath the panels. 

The rate at which we deploy new renewable energy must be hastened. Of concern is the decommissioning of the Three Mile Island nuclear generation next year. The zero-emissions 800 MW of electricity from this facility must be replaced with 800 MW of zero-emission capacity from renewables — wind, solar, storage. The technology exists. The skills exist. All we need is you on our side. So that we as a region, no longer consider any project that has emissions — from quote clean burning gas (which it’s not), or anything else. 

We envision a City where every energy use is electrified, and that electricity comes from renewables. 

The emissions we’re responsible for are the 508,000 MT CO2e from municipal operations. We need to lead by example and get this to number to zero. How? 

  1. First with goal setting. I think we have a hearing about that at the end of the month. 
  2. Second, with planning. With smarter management, we can reduce at least 25% of our current energy usage, which equals about 25% of our current emissions. 
  3. And third, with action. This 70MW project reduces our emissions by 11%, and is an excellent example of an action we can support.

Let’s do this and more!