from KUNC

Colorado’s Renewable Energy Industry Sees Hope in Stimulus

By Kirk Siegler, KUNC, 2-19-09

When President Barack Obama signed the stimulus bill Tuesday at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, he was surrounded by Colorado renewable energy leaders, many of whom saw the bill as hope.

And, as Kirk Siegler reports for KUNC in Colorado, the state’s favorable regulatory climate toward renewable energy served as the perfect backdrop for key provisions in the stimulus plan.

“Its an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years, provide tax credits and loan guarantees to companies like Namaste, a company that will be expanding instead of laying people off as a result of the plan that I’m about to sign,” Obama said.

Click here to listen to Siegler’s report from Denver

Boulder-based Namaste Solar CEO Blake Jones introduced Obama and later said he expects the stimulus will help him grow his business by 20 percent this year, 40 percent next year and not lay people off as expected. But, Namaste wasn’t the only company in the room happy for that signature.

Pascal Noronha, President and CEO of Fort Collins-based AVA Solar said the tax credits will spur demand for solar energy—and that will be good for his company.

“We’re very happy. The timing couldn’t be better for us,” he said.

The stimulus, he said, is going to help his company’s new plant in Longmont get to full capacity in the next two months.

“What’s tended to happen here in the U.S. is we’ve been very much further behind compared to countries like Germany, Spain, perhaps, Italy—and we need to catch up,” he said.

Not everyone was excited to have Obama bring the stimulus bill to Colorado, however.

A group of state Republicans held a protest at the state capitol, complete with a live pig, to suggest pork-barrel spending.

State GOP chairman Dick Wadhams was one of the organizers of the protest which was billed as a rally of fiscal conservatives. 

He said,"This bill is nothing more than a huge spending bill that will be paid for by our children and grandchildren.”

Back at the museum, a few protesters also gathered outside.  They held up signs for drivers along busy Colorado Boulevard.  Mario Lorenz came up from Colorado Springs.

“I think our debt in this country is too far gone, I think our country’s changed for good and people have to tone down our lifestyles. The stimulus plan isn’t going to solve this.”

Lorenz said he thinks there are probably some good things in the stimulus bill that will help people, but he says he’s still fundamentally opposed to the $787 billion price tag.

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