Feb 2 2010
According to a new study conducted by Black & Veatch, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, due to increased development in the clean energy sector, is set to reap a huge financial windfall during the next 17 years. Black & Veatch is a leading consulting, construction and engineering company in the world.
The study indicated that between now and 2026, more than 125,000 new job-years of current ongoing jobs and construction jobs could be created due to the expanded Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS). Employment for 2080 hours in a single year is called a job-year. More than $25 billion is projected to be added to the commonwealth's economy due to the fast growing advanced energy sector during the 17-year period.
The expanded AEPS has increased the renewable target of the state from 8%, which the current target, to 15% by 2026. Requirement of solar energy is 3% in the 15% standard. The potential impacts due the increase in the renewable portion were studied by Black & Veatch.
Ryan Pletka, Project Manager for Black & Veatch, said that renewable resources such as solar, biomass and wind are abundant in Pennsylvania and there are a number of coal plants in the state that are good potential for retrofitting with carbon capture and sequestration technology. The project was modeled based mostly on these resources.
The study reveals that the direct impacts on the prices for consumer electricity will be small, and will be less than 1% for consumers throughout the state. But the researchers from the company pointed out that due increased availability of electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar, the overall prices would likely reduce resulting in savings for the consumers.
Community Foundation for the Alleghenies in collaboration with the William Penn Foundation and the Heinz Endowments had commissioned this study.
Source: www.cfalleghenies.org