In a hearing Tuesday, March 2, Colorado legislators listened as environmentalists released a report showing that HB 1001, which proposes raising the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 30 percent of energy from renewables by 2020, would stimulate the state’s economy by promoting the use of solar energy.

The report, Investing in the Sun, released by The Vote Solar Initiative in cooperation with Environment Colorado, showed that an additional 1,000 megawatts of distributed solar would supply enough clean, renewable energy to power 146,000 homes, provide more than 33,500 jobs, and generate more than $4 billion in direct and indirect revenue.

Increasing solar energy would also, according to Vote Solar, preserve 6.8 billion gallons of water at a time when water-supply conditions in Colorado, based on mountain snowmelt, are at an all-time low, according to a report from the Colorado Division of Water Resources, which shows water in the Colorado Basin is at -9 (with -4 representing drought conditions).

This is especially important in light of the fact that conventional power plants use a lot of water in converting burning fuel to steam to power turbines. In fact, according to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, coal-fired plants use 2.2 billion gallons of water each year, or enough to support a city of about 250,000. In fact, water use might be solar photovoltaic electricity’s biggest selling point in drought-ridden, water-stressed Colorado.

HB 1001, waiting for a hearing on the Senate floor, is sponsored by Rep. Max Tyler (D-Golden) and proposes to increase renewable energy requirements by 50 percent for Colorado’s investor-owned utilities. This means the new RPS would stand at 30 percent by 2020, rather than the current 20 percent.

Colorado was the first U.S. state to create an RPS in November of 2004, via Amendment No. 37, and the state’s utilities have seen a dizzying number of changes over the intervening years, including meeting the RPS through renewable energy purchases, providing rebates to encourage renewables, and in 2007 (HB 1281) increasing the RPS and extending the requirement to electric cooperatives, which must meet half the current mandate.

If HB 1001 were passed, it would not apply to municipally-owned utilities serving fewer than 40,000 customers. In spite of that, legislators from both sides of the aisle, and business leaders, argue that the higher RPS would put unwelcome strain on an already stressed economy.

The bill also includes a clause requiring minimum certification for anyone installing solar panels, which some see as a throwaway to the unions and a way to keep independent contractors out of the field.

Those in favor note that the RPS puts Colorado on an almost-even footing with California, the undeniable solar king of the country. And this, they feel, would attract more solar enterprise to the state, adding clout to its economy.

Area utilities, who say they are on track to meet the former RPS by or before the deadline, haven’t actively opposed HB 1001, which permits 3 percent of total electricity sales to come from distributed generation systems; for example, residential rooftop solar.