By Andy Ostmeyer

aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com

Missouri voters can expect to decide in November if the state’s investor-owned utilities should be required to generate or purchase electricity from wind, solar, biomass or small hydro equal to at least 2 percent of their retail sales by 2011.

If passed, the requirement ratchets up to 15 percent by 2021, with at least 2 percent of that coming from solar energy. The proposal also limits the rate impact to 1 percent per year.

More than half of all states now have the so-called Renewable Portfolio Standards, which require utilities to get a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources. Some states have had the mandates in place for more than a decade.

But Southwest Missouri residents will escape the impact of the initiative petition that would require investor-owned utilities in the state to boost their use of green power.

That’s because Empire District Electric Co. already is on its way to meeting the top requirement outlined in the mandate and also was recently exempted from the one piece of the proposal that Empire officials said could have pushed up costs for ratepayers in the area. Empire is the only investor-owned utility in Southwest Missouri. Other area residents are served by cooperatives or municipal power providers, which will not be bound by the mandates.

The push for renewables is being led by Missourians for Cleaner Cheaper Energy, which in May turned in about 170,000 signatures — 90,000 were needed — for the Clean Energy Initiative to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. That office is verifying signatures, but that isn’t expected to be a stumbling block, said Warren Wood, executive director of the Missouri Energy Development Association, which represents investor-owned utilities in Missouri.

“We think there is a good chance it will go on the ballot and the polling data we’ve seen indicates support for it if it gets on the ballot this fall,” Wood said.

While MEDA is “neutral” on the initiative, Wood said there are concerns. Missouri electric rates are the seventh lowest in the nation, and a requirement from voters that utilities develop more green power could push up costs, even if it is capped at 1 percent per year.

Already there

Still, Wood noted that Empire customers will be spared.

“For Empire, based on where they are right now, I don’t see any impact,” he said.

Empire already has a 20-year contract for energy produced by the Elk River Wind Farm near Beaumont, Kan., and has been purchasing it from that site for nearly three years. That wind farm has the ability to generate about 150 megawatts, or enough electricity to meet the annual needs of about 42,000 homes.

The Elk River Wind Farm can provide about 8 percent of Empire’s needs, although the benefits of the wind are currently resold on the open market as green credits, said Brad Beecher, Empire vice president and chief operating officer for electric services. The credits are sold to utilities in other states that may already have renewable requirements, with the money used to keep rates lower for Empire customers, Beecher said, explaining: “It is a reduction in costs.”