Just a week after an announcement that Bloom Energy of California reached an agreement to build its East Coast fuel-cell facility in Newark, legislation to enact the required business and regulatory framework to accommodate the proposal is on the fast track in Dover.
As explained by Bloom Energy, the so-called “Bloom Boxes” convert natural gas or other naturally-occurring materials into energy, which would be made available to Delaware businesses and Delmarva Power. About 900 people would be employed at a Bloom facility to be built at the former Chrysler assembly plant, now owned by the University of Delaware and being rehabilitated into a campus for health and environmental sciences. Bloom-related suppliers could employ about 600 more people in Delaware.
State Senate President Pro Tem Anthony De Luca (D-Varlano) sponsored the legislation which passed 18-2, with one senator not voting. “It enables a process by where an agreement between Delmarva and Bloom can proceed to the Public Service Commission,” according to DeLuca. “They’re going to be the ones who rule on how the rate structure takes place and what the cost actually is.”
State Senate passes "Bloom Energy" legislation.
State Senate President Pro Tem Anthony DeLuca (D-Varlano) explains legislation he sponsored to set up a regulatory framework for Bloom Energy to bring fuel cell technology and jobs to Delaware.
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State Senate President Pro Tem Anthony DeLuca (D-Varlano) says questions about the impact of the fuel cell agreement on electricity rates are understandable.
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State Senate President Pro Tem Anthony DeLuca (D-Varlano) says the agreement with
Bloom Energy protects the state's investment and interests.
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The proposed agreement includes an $11-million grant from the Delaware Economic Development Office Strategic Fund to Bloom Energy, as well as $7-million to the University of Delaware. The grant money is contingent upon the jobs actually being created and maintained.
“I think this is one of the best written contracts I’ve seen that we’ve executed as a state, which requires the investment to take place, the jobs to take place, the production to take place before any of this happens,” DeLuca said.
The average residential customer’s monthly bill would be assessed an additional 70-cents initially for the renewable component.
Senator Harris McDowell (D-Wilmington) said Delaware is poised to take advantage of an opportunity to be put on the “world technology map” and to put hundreds of people into well-paying jobs.
“We know the energy of the future is not going to look like the energy of the past,” McDowell said during Thursday’s floor debate.
Senator George Bunting (D-Bethany Beach), who ended up voting in support of the measure, nonetheless said his issue was that “we are now shifting the cost to the residential user through a tax.”
“There’s no question this technology is being subsidized by taxpayers,” said Senator Colin Bonini (R-Dover West).
Lawmakers also had questions about how a technology that relies on a chemical reaction involving natural gas could be considered “renewable energy.”
“It isn’t combustion,” said Delaware Natural Resources Secretary Colin O’Mara. He added that about 20 states currently allow fuel cell technology into their renewable energy portfolios, joining such forms of energy as solar and wind power.
State Senators also voted overwhelmingly in favor of moving Delaware’s Presidential primary election from early February to the fourth week of April. Supporters say it would allow the state to get attention during an important time on the election calendar that includes larger states such as Pennsylvania. Delaware shifted from a system of caucuses to a primary in the mid-1990s in an effort to be one of the earlier states. The goal at the time was to lure more attention from the candidates and national news media. However, Delaware still fell into an attention “gap” following the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Under the bill sponsored by Senator Michael Katz (D-Centerville), the Delaware primary would shift from the first Tuesday in February to the fourth Tuesday of April. The bill now heads to the House.
“Putting the person first, not the disability” is the goal of legislation given unanimous approval in the State Senate this week. The measure would require the use of what the sponsors call “respectful language” in the Delaware code and state publications. Rather than refer to someone as a “disabled person,” for example, such an individual would be referred to as a “person with disabilities.” New state laws and publications would be required in the future to “avoid language that is offensive and/or disrespectful to individuals with disabilities.” Senator Michael Katz (D-Centerville) said it is part of a national movement. Representative Debra Heffernan (D-Bellefonte /Edgemoor /Claymont) sponsored the bill in the House, where it passed 40-0. It now heads to the Governor for his signature.
