Politics is nothing if not humbling. That is why it almost seemed inevitable that today – the date long staked out by environmental groups to hold a solar-powered barbecue and highlight the renewable energy bills passed this legislative session – would turn out to be cloudy. Sure enough, when lunchtime rolled around, the groups had staged about a half dozen solar ovens on the Capitol’s east side with barely any sunshine to warm them.
Several Republican lawmakers – who often criticize solar energy as not reliable enough to make up the bulk of power production – showed up to gawk at the spectacle of the overcast solar-power celebration.
“I came here to gloat,” one Republican staffer said. “This is funny.”
Except, it turned out, the clouds didn’t kill the party.
Instead, a solar panel array hooked up to a trailer from New Belgium Brewery was able to crank along at about two-thirds capacity, despite the cloudy skies. That produced enough power to run not only the small public address system but also a plug-in hybrid solar oven for cooking hot dogs, which slowly got the lengthy line of hungry renewable energy advocates fed.
In the meantime, speakers at the event tried to make, er, light of the gray skies.
“You can still get a sunburn on a day like today,” said House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder.
Heidi VanGenderen, the governor’s climate change advisor, said there is a running joke in the office about moments like this. When Ritter signed a bill promoting wind power last year, he did it at a wind farm on a still day. When he went to Boulder to congratulate a number of scientists who shared the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on climate change, he did so on a sub-freezing day.
Like the frog in the Looney Tunes cartoons that only sings when other people aren’t looking, it seems Colorado’s weather has wonderful renewable energy potential – except when you try to tell people that it does.
But lawmakers tried to turn the day to their advantage.
“This proves even without the sun, we can generate plenty of electricity,” said Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village.
Schwartz sponsored a bill this year, along with Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, to promote large-scale solar power projects in the state. Speakers also highlighted a bill to help homeowners finance renewable energy projects for their own homes and another bill from Solano to create uniform standards for how people with solar panels across the state are paid for the energy they put back onto the power grid.
“It’s the solar year,” Solano said, making a play on her own name.
Even Republicans joined in. Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genessee, talked about a clean energy future. Sen. Steve Ward, R-Littleton, riffed on plug-in hybrid cars.
“Imagine the day we can drive to work on wind power and solar power,” Ward said. “I think the day is coming. The technology is already here.”
Now, if you could just get the weather to perform on cue.