Renewable energy vs. the electric grid - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 162

Opposition from utilities that view renewables as a competitive threat
In addition to complicating grid operations for utilities, the renewable
energy sector is increasingly creating fiscal challenges for utilities as well.
As wind and solar energy have grown in the past decade, some utilities
and traditional energy companies that formerly seemed to favor renewable
energy development have become vocal opponents of it. Once little more
than a fledgling side industry good for bolstering utilities' public relations,
renewable energy has emerged as a formidable threat to utilities' profit-
ability and long-term existence in some markets. The growing clashes
between utilities and renewable energy interests are manifestations of the
friction inevitably involved in transforming an entrenched but outmoded
electricity industry into something far more financially and ecologically
sustainable. Because these clashes have more to do with economics than
logistics, they do not easily lend themselves to technological solutions.
Consequently, they can be among the most perplexing and difficult conflicts
to resolve.
Lobbying against renewables
For years, major stakeholders in the electricity industry have openly lobbied
against renewable energy in hopes of protecting their own economic
interests. In some instances, these protectionist motives have been known
to drive opposition to wind energy in the United States. Once a wind
energy system is up and running, it can produce electricity for decades
at almost zero marginal cost. During seasons and hours of the day when
energy demand is low, the growing abundance of wind-generated energy in
some electricity markets is driving down spot prices and cutting deeply into
the conventional power generators' pocketbooks. Hoping to avoid these
financial losses, a growing number of longtime players in the electric power
sector who once claimed to support renewable energy are quickly becoming
its political foes.
Exelon Corp., an energy company in the United States, is one example
of a utility that has morphed from an avid supporter of the renewable
energy sector to an active opponent of it. Exelon operates as a regulated
utility in multiple U.S. states and owns several nuclear energy generating
facilities. The company was once a member of the American Wind Energy
Association (AWEA) and had even touted its own wind energy holdings
and commitment to sustainability in its marketing materials. 63 However,
as more and more wind farms began sprouting up across the mid-western
United States, spot prices for electricity in the region dropped during certain
periods and cut into the company's profits.
Frustrated by the economic impacts of wind energy development on the
regional electricity market, Exelon became a vocal advocate and lobbyist
against renewal of a federal tax credit program that was critical to the