involvement insures the customer of a successful entry into solar energy because equipment performance, proper installation and maintenance, warranties, financing and tax credits are arranged for, or provided by W.P. & L.. In Wisconsin, there are as few as 400 solar installations. There are approximately 100 installers available in the State, but only one third of these have had experience with more than two installations. The solar industry is in a development stage and the necessary infrastructure has not yet developed. Typical of any new industry without the support groups being available, there is a lack of confidence and credibility by the customer. Without credibility there is no demand, and without demand, there can be few support groups. This is a vicious circle that W.P. & L. intends to break by its participation. W.P. & L. has commissioned the construction of three different types of passive solar homes, two of which are completed and one is being built and will soon be completed. One of the homes has won the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Passive Solar Design Award. W.P. & L. will monitor these homes' thermal performance and use them for demonstration purposes for builders, developers, financiers, and customers. We have had thousands of people already go through these passive demonstration homes. As we and others advance these renewable resource technologies in the marketplace, the solar manufacturers, the contractors and installers, and most importantly the public, will benefit from this experience. And this knowledge will lead to an acceleration of the acceptance of solar energy by the public. This process of developing a solar market will take time and W.P. & L. has been working and will continue to work on this development with its customers, manufacturers, installers, et cetera, and all other participants in the solar energy field. We have a very important and exciting role to play, and we urge that you encourage and support our participation in solar development. We also encourage you to monitor our actions to assure yourselves, the public, and W.P. & L. that our role enhances solar energy development. Regulation at this time could inhibit the rapid development of a solar energy market and, therefore, would be premature. Once it is sufficiently clear what direction this emerging solar energy market is taking then, and only then, should action be taken if such action is necessitated to insure the continued and orderly development of solar energy. To reiterate, my philosophy is that utilities should actively participate in the development of the solar market, that this participation is in full public view, and that it is very important at this stage of solar energy development that the Government should encourage an open marketplace where all can participate. And finally, this utility participation need not lead to domination of the solar energy market in the future. Those are my remarks. I have attached to those remarks the supplemental solar energy rate that we put into effect in 1977. Mr. OTTINGER. Thank you, very much for your testimony. The exhibits will be included in the record. Dr. Kirby Holte, Southern California Edison, on behalf of the Edison Electric Institute. [The biographical sketch and prepared statement of Mr. Holte follow:] Biography Dr. Kirby C. Holte Dr. Kirby Holte received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University in 1965, 1966, and 1971, respectively. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist in the Research and Development organization of the Southern California Edison Company responsible for Energy Policy, Advanced Technology Assessment, and Electrical Systems. Projects under his direction include fuel cell development, battery storage, fusion, thermionics, long range energy supply/ demand studies and energy policy analysis. Dr. Holte joined the Southern California Edison Company in 1972. From 1976-1977, Dr. Holte took leave from the Edison Company to accept a Congressional Fellowship with the United States Congress. He accepted an assignment as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Mark Hatfield during that term. Dr. Holte is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 7/17/79 STATEMENT OF DR. KIRBY C. HOLTE REPRESENTING THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY My name is Dr. Kirby Holte and I am a Senior Research Scientist with the Southern California Edison Company located in Rosemead, California. Southern California Edison (Edison) is an investor-owned electric utility engaged in the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electric energy. During 1978, the Southern California Edison Company delivered 55,637 million kilowatt-hours of energy to our customer. This is roughly equivalent to 92 million barrels of oil. The system demand peak was 11,997 megawatts in 1978. The SCE service territory includes an area of over 50,000 square miles and a population in excess of 8,000,000 people. Approximately 70 percent of Edison's installed generation capacity is fueled with extremely low sulfur imported oil with the remainder provided by coal, nuclear, hydro and purchased power. Edison is confident that in the near future there will be a viable and lasting solar energy industry in the United States. We also have a strong commitment to help this emerging industry get started in the proper direction, especially in Southern California where the solar "resource" is so great. As a matter of policy, Edison views solar as an energy source which is becoming a natural element of our business, We do not view solar as a threat which will cause the utility industry to change in a way which ! is perceived as being undesirable or unwanted. Accordingly, Edison is working to determine its most appropriate role in this new industry, with the goal of utilizing the experience it has gained over the past 50 years or more in serving the energy needs of its customers. Edison views our most immediate roles in the solar energy area as: 1. 2. 3. 4. To accelerate the commercial introduction of to provide sound information and assistance to to provide a reliable backup system to customer to remove market barriers to solar energy where We have not made a decision as to the future role of the Edison Company in the marketing, installation and servicing of solar energy systems to our customers. At the very least, we will continue to provide a reliable source of backup power at night and when available solar is insufficient to meet customer requirements. In the time remaining, I would like to describe our experiences in carrying out the four roles previously mentioned. Of the forecasted $37 million R&D budget for the Southern California Edison Company, approximately 60% is used for the development of our solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and synthetic fuel resources. Approximately 25% goes to environmental and health effects research, and the remaining 15% is spread over a large number of other programs. There is not time to go through all of these programs however a few are illustrative. With the committee's permission, I will submit fact sheets on several of the projects for the record. Regardless of the eventual contribution of solar energy systems installed at customer locations there will be a continued need for a reliable power generation and distribution grid to provide peaking and backup power. The major part of the utility generation capacity, at least through the remainder of this century, will be coal, nuclear, hydro and oil fueled. However, small but growing percentage 1 will be solar, wind, biomass and geothermal. Two very important Edison projects expected to help us in obtaining a greater contribution from solar and wind energy are the 10 Megawatt central receiver solar power plant funded principly by the Department of Energy ($19.6 million is cost sharing provided by Edison, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the California Energy Commission) and a 3 Megawatt wind turbine now being installed at no cost to the government. We expect these projects to provide meaningful design data leading to the later installation of commercial systems. 54-948 0 - 80 - 5 |