Virginia Coal and Energy AllianceProfessional Engineering Seminar

March 29, 2018

Energy and Mining Civil and Surveying Environmental Health, Safety and Risk Management

Litigation and Expert Witness

Federal & State Current Policy Analysis Literature Review Barrier & Opportunity Analysis from Various

Stakeholder Perspectives ECSI Experience - Mining/Land/Environmental

Issues Spatial Analysis of Mine Sites in WV Permit

Database Drone topography verification Financial Analysis of Selected Mine Sites

Business Energy Investment Tax Credit Modified Accelerated Cost-Recovery System

(MACRS) Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) 1978 U.S. Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) EPA’s RE-Powering America’s Land

Lacking any Policy to Encourage Solar Energy Development

Eliminated Renewable Portfolio Standard No In-State Incentive Programs Has Net Metering Provisions, but Industrial Projects

are Limited to 2 MW, Must be Within 2 Miles of Customer and Require $1M Liability Insurance

Interconnection Standards – Maximum 2 MW Connection Allowed

Limited Visibility into Interconnection Feasibility

Ohio 20Pennsylvania 21Virginia 38West Virginia 44Wyoming 45Kentucky 48Alabama 50

Regulated market with no clear avenue to sell power produced by third party solar facilities

Qualifying PURPA projects are limited to 100 kW Net metering limited to 2 MW (200 homes) Must be Within 2 miles of point of use Repealed renewable portfolio standard in 2015 Relatively low current electricity rates Historical legacy of coal Mining in WV Lack of visibility into grid conditions

Severed mineral ownership Possibility of future mining Perceived future environmental liabilities Mountainous terrain Remote locations Grading and/or vegetation removal Potential subsidence from underground coal mines

Large tracts of underutilized land Potential early bond release and associated

reduction in reclamation costs Existing power infrastructure Replacement landowner revenue Available skilled labor New industry (jobs and tax revenue) Meeting corporate and utility company

sustainability goals

PURPA: 92% of North Carolina projects were developed through PURPA contracts (EIA 2016) ◦ 3,784.80 MW installed capacity

Utility self develops solar◦ AEP’s 2016 IRP and 2018 Strategic Vision for a

Clean Energy Future support solar development “Green Tariffs” enable electric customers to elect to

purchase electricity generated by renewable assets Customer owns solar generating asset

EPA’s “Re-Powering” Dataset◦ Extracted over 2,100 WV AML site records ◦ Reviewed site locations in Google Earth◦ Concluded majority were not feasible

WV Permit Database◦ 741 Total Permits Completely released – 436 Sites Active reclamation only – 68 Sites Active reclaimed – 127 Sites Phase 1 bond release – 73 Sites Phase 2 bond release – 37 Sites

Visually Google Earth evaluation◦ Existing vegetation◦ Other current land uses◦ Topography◦ Permit area configuration◦ Nearest electrical substation◦ Roadway access

Ranked potential sites on 1-5 scale 4 and 5 ranking most suitable Selected quality sites for further analysis

Projected falling solar costs will drive customer demand

Large corporations are the necessary silver bullet to spur utilities to action

Displaced mine workers and landowners could pressure state government

Utility companies will redirect demand from customers and seek change

Short Term Prospects for Solar Growth in WV Not Promising

Current Lack of Policy is Major Obstacle to Growth Falling Solar Installation Costs Will Drive Customer

Demand Some Large Corporations are Beginning to Demand

Renewable Options AEP has Recently Established Sustainability Goals Regional Competition for Industry Will Drive

Demand