Will industry tap its own grey and green power?

In its Feb. 15 edition, The Nation describes Ohio as the Saudi Arabia of ‘grey power’. That’s quite a striking statement, and absolutely true when considering the tons of grey power—“the massive bank account of steam and energy that could be used to generate electricity”—coughed into the biosphere every day from hundreds of old line manufacturers.

At this week’s CSU Levin College Forum, “Distributed Generation and Industrial Energy: Reducing Costs, Increasing Efficiency” panelists looked at the barriers and opportunities to scale up grey and green power in Ohio. Since the state passed an Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard – mandating that power producers ramp up sourcing of green and possibly grey power (and increase their efficiency) to 25% by the year 2025 – new opportunities for individuals and business have come on line. For example, Senate Bill 221 authorized businesses to apply for “special contracts” to produce their own power and sell it back to the grid (in the past, only utilities could make requests of the state).

The trouble is, navigating the regulatory and financial aspects of setting up, say, a wind turbine or solar array on an industrial property is “daunting” because industry is stretched thin, says Sam Randazzo, general counsel for the Industrial Energy Users of Ohio.