Renewable energy roundtable.

• Author: Malan, Mekenna

This month, Utah Business partnered with Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar to host a roundtable event featuring Utah's renewable energy leaders. Moderated by Kim Frost, executive director of the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR), the group discussed challenges, opportunities, and how Utah is faring with renewables compared to the rest of the country. Here are a few highlights from the event.

When it comes to renewable energy in Utah, have things changed over the last year?

Tom Holst | Senior Energy Analyst, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute | University of Utah

I don't know that Utah's renewable energy goals have changed, but technology has changed--and that's facilitated the growth of renewable energies in Utah's energy mix. The cost of a solar panel has decreased by more than 60 percent. I don't know that any of us around the table would talk hydrogen three or four years ago, but now, every one of us has had some influence on hydrogen.

In 2025, the Intermountain Power Project will switch from coal to a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas. In 2045, or perhaps sooner, they'll move to 100 percent hydrogen. Utah and three other states--Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico--have signed a memorandum of understanding whereby that group would bid up to $8 billion in US Department of Energy funding for four regional hydrogen hubs.

Todd Wood I Division Manager of Sustainable Energy | Hunt Electric, Inc.

I think the national coverage of drought conditions here in the West has increased public perception of the climate change issues that we're facing in the state. I'm seeing a lot of businesses that are implementing net zero policies. What used to be a scary topic to discuss publicly is now becoming very commonplace. People are trying to do more to help with pollution in the state. I'm seeing more customers that are focused on renewable energy, not just for the sake of a payback period, but for what their impact is on the environment.

Troy Herold | Manager, Renewable Energy | SITLA

From what we've seen, it's an economic force and not necessarily state policy. The Trust Lands Administration did not have a renewable energy program four or five years ago. We've seen such an uptick in renewable energy demands on our lands that enabled us--or required us--to develop processes, put leasing structures in place, and actually create my position to have someone manage renewable energy on our lands. Previously, that wasn't being done in any organized fashion. That's just one example of the demand we've seen, and that demand is...