The failure of a bill to implement statewide standards for wind and solar development could ultimately lead to higher energy prices. That’s according to State Representative Ed Soliday, the author of House Bill 1381.
“We have 34 out of 40 counties that are in the wind corridor who have banned windmills,” Soliday said during the Northwest Indiana Forum’s legislative wrap-up last week. “So we’re going to buy renewable electricity because the market is there. Businesses moving here are demanding it.” He says if renewable energy isn’t made in Indiana, it’ll be purchased from other states at a higher cost.
But the bill was met with backlash from counties around the state that stood to have their local regulations wiped away, often after considerable work and public input. It ultimately failed to pass the Senate.
In any case, Soliday, who chairs the House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee, says the demand for renewable energy is there, whether people like it or not. “Just to give you the mantra – hopefully, you’ll listen carefully – we want to encourage renewables,” he said at last week’s event. “I’m not going to debate and I don’t let the committee debate global warming. That’s not going to swing anybody one way or the other. People are pretty well locked into what they believe.”
Soliday expects the big energy issue next year to be rooftop solar panels, and whether taxpayers who don’t want them should be subsidizing homeowners who do.
