Gubernatorial candidates weigh in on alternative-energy portfolio standards

One of the world's largest wind companies, Spain's Gamesa, has two plants in Pennsylvania where turbine components are made, and it employs 850 statewide.

A Greek solar-cell-maker, HelioSphera US, plans to build a manufacturing facility at Philadelphia's Navy Yard and hire about 400.

And in a little more than a year, the number of photovoltaic installers registered with the state has grown to more than 500, from just 20.

They are the indisputable signs of an alternative-energy economy taking shape. Whether the momentum continues will depend, some say, on who next occupies the governor's mansion.

Even his political foes acknowledge that credit for the green jobs that now exist in the state goes, in large part, to Gov. Rendell's support of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act of 2004. That mandated that the state's utility companies get 18 percent of the energy they sell from renewable, alternative sources by 2021.

Pennsylvania has since fallen behind other states that have set more ambitious requirements, and recent legislative efforts to boost the portfolio standards have fizzled.

As the Rendell administration comes to a close, business and environmental groups remain uncertain over what to expect from his successor. The question was put to the campaigns of Democrat Dan Onorato and Republican Tom Corbett.

Only Onorato was made available last week for an interview. Corbett's communications director, Kevin Harley, provided the candidate's energy-policy paper.

Onorato, now Allegheny County executive, said unequivocally, but without specifics: "I support increasing the alternative-energy portfolio standards. I would make that a priority of my administration."

As governor, Onorato said, he would not make a decision on what any new portfolio percentages should be until he had an opportunity to gather input from all interested parties, pro and con.

What he has concluded, Onorato said, is that higher alternative-energy standards would help reduce Pennsylvania's dependence on foreign oil, benefit the environment, and create jobs.

"If we do this right . . . this can be our job-generation activity for the next 10, 15 years," he said.

On the alternative-energy portfolio standards, Corbett, Pennsylvania's attorney general, seems to favor no additional increases.

"As governor, Tom Corbett will work with the [Public Utility Commission] to effectively and efficiently implement the current alternative-energy standards and encourage sound and cost-effective renewable-energy investment," his policy paper says.

Echoing a position of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the Corbett paper goes on to say that the state also should explore opportunities to enhance alternative-energy investments "through the competitive market."

"Tom Corbett believes that a properly structured marketplace can effectively incentivize alternative-energy investments - perhaps even more effectively than government mandates," the paper says.

In an apparent nod to coal's dominance - it provides 54 percent of the state's electricity - the Corbett policy statement says, "Sources such as wind, solar, hydropower, and nuclear are valuable supplements to our current base load fuels and augment and strengthen our current supply of electricity."

Like Onorato, Corbett considers the state's energy resources - both conventional and alternative - key to its economic viability and competitiveness.

Pennsylvania's energy resources, his policy paper says, "are a critical component to revitalizing our economy, growing job opportunities, and positioning the Commonwealth in the global marketplace."