Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

the following is a forward from Bill Ball. Bill is an architect/builder/solar guy. He and I are asking for your support for house bill 1851. This legislation will go a long way to promote sustainable energy in Arkansas.
Please give it a read.




My good friends,
Many of you are aware of my effort to get REFIT Arkansas into law. The Bill, HB1851 is scheduled to come before the House Insurance and Commerce Committee this next Wednesday. I would very much appreciate your contacting any or all of the representatives listed below that sit on the Committee. I am attaching the Bill, talking points and a link to the legislature's website, where you can find contact information for these representatives. My best regards........WB

William (Bill) Ball
Arkansas Renewable Energy Association

http://www.arkansas.gov/house/reps.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rep. Eddie Hawkins, Chair
Rep. Fred Allen, Vice Chair
Rep. Bill Abernathy
Rep. Mark Martin
Rep. Allen Maxwell
Rep. Bruce Maloch
Rep. Eddie Cooper
Rep. Rick Green
Rep. Willie Hardy
Rep. Wilhelmina Lewellen
Rep. David Rainey
Rep. John Paul Wells
Rep. David Dunn
Rep. Frank Glidewell
Rep. Johnny Hoyt
Rep. Jon Woods
Rep. Buddy Lovell
Rep. Barry Hyde
Rep. Charolette Wagner
Rep. Keith Ingram

A Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff guarantees the price of renewable energy electricity through long-term power purchase agreements between renewable energy producers and electric utilities. The Bill calls for utilities to offer to purchase up to 2% of their electricity from renewable energy sources in Arkansas.

Long-term contracts secures financing for RE systems. A feed-in tariff will provide a guarantee for individuals, companies and utilities willing to purchase RE systems.

A REFIT will insure that the RE industry will continue to reduce cost and improve performance. A customer's return on investment depends on the cost and performance of the system and customers will opt for systems with the highest return.

This legislation jump starts the renewable energy industry in Arkansas by establishing a performance-based payment system for renewable energy producers with facilities of 5 megawatt or less. Some examples are small and medium scale wind, solar energy, and biomass, such as chicken litter or forest waste.

This legislation promotes energy independence for Arkansas by promoting Arkansas-based production instead of energy imports. Individuals, farmers and small business will be rewarded for installing renewable energy equipment and putting clean renewable energy on the grid.

This legislation protects Arkansas interests under a likely Federal renewable energy mandate, by making sure some of the renewable energy is supplied from Arkansas rather than sending rate payer dollars to brokers selling Renewable Energy Credits from out of state wind farms.

Utilities are reimbursed for the costs, plus paid to administer the program. Just like we pay for new power plants, the costs are spread across the entire rate base. Rate impacts will not exceed 3% but will likely be on the order of ½ %. A rate increase of 17% was recently applied for to cover just the cost overruns of the coal plant under construction in south Arkansas.

This legislation will keep dollars in Arkansas through federal investment tax credit, accelerated depreciation schedules for commercial applications and forth coming federal stimulus funds that target renewable energy development.

This legislation will reduce stress on the distribution system by promoting distributed generation. In the case of solar, the power is produced at the time of day and year that it is most needed.


the bill itself can be seen at

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This one is only tangentially related to paddling. Just because I like the politics and the poster, doesn't mean we should nix the bullet ban threads and not this one. Just one Fish's opinion.

I must respectfully disagree with Bill. Considering that the Rural Electric Cooperatives in Arkansas are pushing more development of hydro-electric power as a way to meet "renewable" energy requirements in a post-petroleum age, I think this post is right on target. The alternative to what Bob is proposing is the damming of more rivers.

Perhaps if Bob rephrased the post to talk about his excellent home energy/net metering program with a nod to the legislation, you would find it more palatable.

By the way, I'm a big fan of net metering and of bills like this one. But as Bob clearly noted in the subject line it is "(off topic)" for this forum and it is a political issue for several folks. Will we welcome threads from those members who might oppose the bill or who support coal/gas or even hydropower? If so, then let this thread stay.

I respectfully appreciate your disagreement Kim, and hope you get to paddle somewhere in the sunshine this weekend. :)

- Fish

all I want to know is about law enforcement problems on the Big Piney

Richard wrote:Environmental issues are very much political issues. I would suggest we split the general page into some sub catagories beyond what has already been done. Politics being one of them. Maybe even one for Religion.

Maybe even a 'Whitewater' section?

In defense of my post, I will note that conservation is a significant focus of this organization, rating membership on the board of directors. Further, in past years we have employed lobbyists to promote legislation pertaining to conservation issues. So where as the post is off-topic for canoeing specifically, it should certainly be within the purview of this message board.

Now as to Kim's suggestion, I would love to say a few words about my system. It consists of 40 x 135 watt kyocera panels with a xantrex inverter. (5.4 kW). The system went online February 5. Since then I have met my electrical needs and run my meter back by over 200 kWh. This during cloudy, short winter days. It appears that the system is oversized for my needs right now. It is grid-tied, and net metered. The only problem is that the net metering is tied to the calendar year, so any credit I have at the end of the year will become the property of Arkansas Valley Electric Coop. On the sunniest days so far I can generate about 34 kWh, my worst day only generated 3 kWh. My average daily need is only about 12 kWh per day this time of year. For more photos of the system, go to

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Next time you come up to run piney stop by and take a look.

It's a great group of people indeed, but Religion and Politics are separate message boards, not really branches of ACC paddling topics. And it's easy to start your own board if you want to debate/rant/edumucate/proselytize/etc on those topics: http://www.proboards.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Invite us all to join and perhaps we will.

Or go join Jody's private board, where I hear all the cool paddlers go to talk about anything and everything. Can't remember the address, but I'm sure Jody can edify us.

Man, I'm in Colorado right now skiing on the same water that I'll be boating on in June. Ice breaker run down Royal Gorge on Saturday on our way home. Hope to get to do some more paddling when I'm back amongst the best paddlers in the world.

My final word: no need to defend your post Bob, and that is a bi***in system indeed! :)

- Fish

No batteries. I had additional costs to relocate my meter due to the fact that my house is too well shaded to place the panels on the roof, and the sunny spot for the panels is on the other side of the creek.

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The coop didn't charge for exchanging my old meter for a bidirectional one. The ac from the inverter goes directly into the meter. When I'm producing faster than I'm using, my meter literally runs backwards, taking off kWhs. And when the plug-in hybrids arrive, I can start tapping the excess I am currently producing. My design was for about 20 kWh per day production so I have an excess of about 7 or 8 kwh per day, just what I need for a 35 mile daily round trip to Russellville.

The installation was simple: panels--> inverter--> breaker box-->meter

Basically the grid is my "battery". The only disadvantage I can think of is that if the grid goes down, my system automatically disconnects so as not to fry a lineman doing repair work. The inverter has a sensor that detects line voltage and turns itself off automatically when it detects no power from the gird. I also comes back on automatically when the gird voltage is reestablished.

How much does a set up like that cost? How large is it? And, I've heard that when you produce more electricity than you use, the co-op will pay you for the excess. Is this true?

Love your setup there Boba.That thing is huge!Wish I had some on my roof...The farm next to my sister's farm in Tx runs of wind turbine and I keep nagging her to do the positive thing.What was the round about cost on that if you don't mind?Did you get any kind of tax credit or funds from the goverment for your project? Jodie B

Kim was exactly right - I love this thread now. :)

- Fish

Please tell us what it cost!?!?!?! Did you already tell us the square foot of your home? May have missed that. WOW!!! Just looked at all the pics, that thing is huge!! Who was the contractor??? Phone number????
Adam

thanks for scaring Bob away :twisted:

bob, if you dont come back, canoe school will be moved to your front yard

GRANT