COSEIA 

COLORADO SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION 

Testimony in support of the EPA's Clean Power Plan - July 29, 2014 

My name is Rebecca Cantwell. I am the Executive Director of the Colorado Solar 

Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) and I am pleased to speak to you today in 

support of the Clean Power Plan, and wish to thank the EPA for the hard work in 

developing this rule. 

This landmark proposal to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants 

offers a sensible approach to addressing global warming, the most pressing issue 

of our time. The beauty of the challenge before us is that while it will take hard 

work, the solutions are right outside the door: the sun that beams down 300 days 

a year here in Colorado and the wind that blows across our plains every day. 

These sources of proven, reliable clean energy can power the future in a way that 

not only eases the threat of catastrophic climate change but also provides jobs 

and economic development right here at home. 

Thus, we are pleased that the proposed 111(d) rule allows states to take 

advantage of solar as part of a diverse compliance portfolio. We are also pleased 

solar is included in the definition of the Best System of Emission Reduction (BSER) 

as we believe solar has a large role to play in helping states reach compliance as a 

competitively priced CO2 offset. Nationally, solar can be expected to avoid 13.8 

million metric tons of CO2 in 2014. With the right policies in place, solar has the 

potential to offset a great deal more under the Clean Power Plan. 

The need to act is urgent. I am a Colorado native and love this magnificent statethe inspiration for America the Beautiful. But last year, for the first time in 

memory, we had fatal wildfires followed only a few months later by fatal floods. 

Increasing extreme weather events are mounting all around us. And we know 

these impacts- here and around the world-- will continue to escalate, causing 

political disruption and eventually threatening everything we hold dear. 
Colorado is known as a clean energy leader and our policies have been in part a 

model for the Clean Power Plan. But Colorado still gets about two-thirds of its 

electricity from burning coal and the plan would require cleaning up the state's 

carbon pollution 35% from 2005 levels. 

We believe the solar industry can play a critical role. As we like to say, Solar is the 

Solution. 

Last fall, the Solar Foundation did the most in-depth study ever of the economic 

and environmental impacts of the solar industry on Colorado. Just since 2007, 

after Colorado voters passed a Renewable Energy Standard, the solar energy 

industry: 

-- Has created the equivalent of 10,790 jobs, leading to employee earnings of 

over $534.1 million; 

-- Generated economic output worth $1.42 billion; 

--Been responsible for about $24.3 million in environmental benefits achieved 

through avoiding emissions of pollutants tied to conventional electricity 

production, and; 

-- Generated savings of nearly 300 million gallons of water, which would have 

otherwise been consumed as part of the electricity generation process. 

Last year, COSEIA announced Colorado's Million Solar Roofs-- a campaign setting a 

goal to increase solar deployment to 3 Gigawatts by 2030, or roughly 10 times the 

amount of solar installed today. This program can become a key part of how 

Colorado will meet the emissions reductions of the Clean Power Plan. We have 

mapped out a path to reach this goal, and there is evidence all around us that it is 

not only achievable, but becoming more cost effective every day. 

Just last week, Colorado's biggest utility, Xcel Energy announced it will buy the 

solar power from a new 156 MW solar project for 25 years at rates competitive 

with the long-term prices for natural gas generation. More than 20,000 

Coloradans have made the choice to put solar energy systems on their homes and 

businesses already. 

While supporting the rule, we believe it can be made stronger. In building block 3 

on renewable energy ,the BSER is based on incomplete data. Solar capacity and 

market projections are already much higher than stated by the proposed rule. 

We also believe the EPA should include Distributed Generation Solar as well as 

Solar Heating and Cooling. Both of these sectors are already playing an important 
role in the rapid expansion of solar energy the United States has seen since 

2012, and can play a much bigger role. 

The transition to a clean energy economy will not be simple. But we have the 

solutions available. 

What we must do, however, is to get started immediately. We have already lost 

too much time as a nation responding to the climate crisis. We cannot afford 

further delays. Rather, we have many reasons to embrace a sunny future with 

optimism. 

Thank you for the chance to talk to you today. 

Contact: Rebecca Cantwell: rcantwell@coseia.org 

1536 Wynkoop Street, Suite 104 Denver Colorado 80202 303.333.7342