Testimony of David K. Garman
Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
Before the House Committee on Resources
Potential Alternative Energy Sources Available on National Public Lands
October 3, 2001
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am David Garman, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the potential of increasing renewable energy generation on America's public lands.
My Office promotes the greater use of renewable energy, as well as technologies and practices to use all forms of energy more efficiently. The tools at our disposal include:
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A diversified research, development, demonstration and deployment (RDD&D) portfolio supported by an annual budget of almost $1.2 billion dollars;
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Our national laboratories, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado; and
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Vital partnerships with industry, states, communities, universities, utilities, consumers, and many others.
The need to diversify our energy resources, to use our energy more efficiently, and to expand our domestic energy resources is already well understood by this Committee as evidenced by the legislation it advanced in response to the President's energy plan.
We need to use energy more efficiently and to develop more secure new domestic energy supplies, including those from clean, renewable resources.
In my testimony today I will provide a brief overview of the Department's renewable energy portfolio, discuss some of the opportunities that exist for developing this country's renewable energy resources on public lands, and share with you activities that are planned or underway to identify and address barriers to renewable energy development on public lands.
The President's National Energy Policy (NEP) released in May presented a balanced energy strategy that recognizes the importance of developing new energy supplies, including renewable energy. The NEP specifically recognizes the potential of the vast traditional and renewable resources that exist on our Nation's public lands and directs the Department and other relevant Federal agencies to re-evaluate access limitations related to their development. We are working closely with the Department of the Interior, other relevant agencies and renewable energy industry representatives to determine the best path forward. I will elaborate on these efforts later in my statement.
As you can see from my first chart, not only does our Nation enjoy abundant renewable energy resources throughout every region of the country, it especially does so in States with the majority of our public lands. Developing the technologies to bring these resources into the energy marketplace is one of the fundamental missions of my office. Our renewable energy programs have led to the development of advanced technologies that generate power from wind, geothermal, solar and biomass energy, as well as supporting technologies to move this power more efficiently to the end-user.
Our R&D program has helped bring down the costs of generating electricity from renewable technologies. As my second chart illustrates, we have made significant progress in this regard. Wind technology has been reduced from 80 cents per kilowatt-hour to a current range of 4-6 cents per kilowatt-hour. Today, wind projects in the best resource areas are delivering power at an unsubsidized rate of 4 cents per kilowatt-hour—a twenty-fold decrease.
Photovoltaic technology has been reduced from $2.00 per kilowatt-hour to a current range of 20-38 cents per kilowatt-hour.
In geothermal, the cost has fallen from 15 cents per kilowatt-hour to a range of 5-8 cents per kilowatt-hour.
And in biopower, we have gone from 20 cents per kilowatt-hour to a range of 7-10 cents per kilowatt-hour.
We expect to continue to reduce costs as our RDD&D activities result in additional technology improvements. For example:
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Now that wind is becoming cost-competitive in the best wind resource areas, (those indicated in red on my next chart), we are turning our attention to developing new turbine technology designed to help produce power economically in areas with lower wind speeds (the areas indicated in green). Success with lower wind speed turbines would bring into reach twenty times more wind resources, including those closer to the existing transmission grid and end users, and many will be on or near public lands. Such a breakthrough would open up the opportunity to produce hundreds of thousands of potential megawatts of clean, renewable power.
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In geothermal energy, improvements in resource characterization and drilling and energy conversion technology could help us capture more of the estimated twenty thousand MW of high temperature geothermal resources available for electric power generation, again many near or on public lands.
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With respect to biomass, efforts are underway to develop new feedstocks and the technology necessary to economically convert the abundant domestic bioresources into liquid fuels for transportation, electricity, and bio-based products.
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In our hydropower program, we've just completed our first test of a prototype turbine designed to minimize injury to fish at hydroelectric plants. We expect the new turbine to be used for new generation capacity, and as replacements for existing turbines.
The potential of biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts is particularly important to some of the farm and forest communities of special interest to this committee. Crop waste, forest-product residue, and even the woody debris from thinning or fire prevention activities can be used to produce fuels, power and products. The economics of biofuels, biopower and bioproducts are particularly difficult if they are pursued independently. But if pursued together through the synergistic model of a biorefinery, these conversions may come closer to economic feasibility.
The Challenges of Renewable Production from Federal Lands
As with conventional sources of energy, it is a complex and costly undertaking to secure the necessary permits for renewable energy projects on public lands. Some of the obstacles to development identified by the renewable industry include:
- Lack of coordination and overlapping jurisdiction among government agencies with authority and responsibility for approving projects;
- Issues related to development near tribal lands and sacred sites;
- Uncertainty about the future land use determinations; and
- Transmission easements for Federal lands.
To illustrate how important public lands may become to renewable energy production, 10 States have adopted Renewable Portfolio Standards, and two States have other renewable energy purchase requirements. The State of Nevada has adopted an aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard requirement in its electricity restructuring legislation and, by 2013, 15 percent of Nevada's electricity will have to come from renewable resources. Since 86 percent of Nevada's lands are public lands, it is reasonable to expect that Nevada will be counting on the use of public lands for greater renewable energy production.
If we judge the responsible development of geothermal, solar, wind and other renewable energy resources to be a compatible use of multiple-use public lands, we should examine ways to streamline permitting processes. For instance, we should support efforts of our States with public lands to develop clean, renewable energy opportunities for their benefit and the good of the nation.
And we need not confine our consideration to public lands managed by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. Some military bases and other Federal facilities have opportunities as well. For example, the Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada is currently soliciting expressions of interest in private development of geothermal resources on the base that we hope will become a successful demonstration.
In addition, other military or Federal lands that have contamination issues limiting the options for their reuse might be suitable for renewable energy development. We have been working on these kinds of projects in the context of brownfields redevelopment, and there will clearly be Federal applications of this model.
Following the Recommendations in the NEP
The National Energy Policy recommended that the Secretaries of the Interior and Energy re-evaluate access limitations to Federal lands in order to increase renewable energy production such as biomass, wind, geothermal and solar.
The Department of Energy is working with our colleagues in the Interior Department to schedule a summit on expanding renewable generation on public lands. This summit will explore both existing barriers and possible options to overcome them. We are currently working with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Department of Agriculture, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), our Power Administrations as well as the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. We expect that numerous representatives from the environmental, financial, Tribal, and energy project development communities will be invited, as well as national, State and local elected officials from areas with large concentrations of public lands.
Also, the White House Interagency Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining, created earlier this year by Presidential Executive Order and chaired by the Council on Environmental Quality, is charged with finding ways to harmonize and expedite the review and permitting of projects that will increase the production, transmission and conservation of energy while maintaining safety, public health and environmental protection. Renewables are a key component of that task force effort.
There are other ways in which we are addressing the broad spectrum of barriers to development of renewable energy resources. The Department of Energy is supporting and participating in the National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC), which identifies issues that affect the use of wind power. This group includes broad representation from entities at the Federal, State, and local levels, utilities and consumers.
The Department is also working with geothermal energy stakeholders to establish a group similar to the National Wind Coordinating Committee to address, among other things, geothermal facility siting issues on Federal lands. In that connection, we have met with representatives of the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Minerals Management Service, state agencies, and others in laying the groundwork for that effort.
We are also working with the private sector to develop renewable energy resources on DOE lands. At the Nevada Test Site, a private developer is working with the Department to build a 260 MW wind farm. This will provide us with some real world experience in addressing some of the siting, security and land use issues involved in letting private developers use public lands.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, in your letter of invitation you also requested that I discuss ocean thermal energy development (OTEC). The Department has examined the potential for OTEC in some detail. From the late 1970s through 1994, the Department conducted a research and development activity for OTEC, investing approximately $245 million in the effort. This program resulted in the construction and validation testing of small-scale OTEC systems, providing a technical base that could assist industry in proceeding with commercialization. Given the very narrow geographical applicability of this technology, the Department decided to end the program. However, archival information on the OTEC program can be found on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) web site.
Mr. Chairman, we believe there are many opportunities for renewable energy development on Federal lands and my office will be working in concert with other Federal agencies as this Administration's policies are implemented.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before the committee and I will be happy to answer any questions.
