OKLAHOMA CITY – From an energy standpoint, Oklahoma Energy and Environment Secretary Jeff Starling believes the just-concluded legislative session “went really well,” adding, “There’s always some shenanigans here and there, but I’d grade it as a pretty good session.”
Starling believes Oklahoma is “well positioned” from a regulatory standpoint— something Gov. Kevin Stitt defined very early on in his goal of making Oklahoma the most business- friendly state in the nation.
“We have a friendly regulatory environment,” the secretary said. “We have a friendly tax environment. We saw tax cuts again this year with the path to zero.”
But it appears one of the major goals accomplished by the Stitt administration was the passing of ‘Behind the Meter’ legislation. The governor signed Senate Bill 480 into law, a measure authored by Sen. Grant Green (R-Wellston), who claimed it could generate billions in new private-sector investment, empower businesses to develop and manage their own power and electric facilities.
“This legislation puts Oklahoma on the forefront of energy innovation and economic competitiveness while ensuring we continue to support and respect the role of our longtime electric utilities,” Green said.
Starling couldn’t agree more, saying it will boost recruiting business to the state, “specifically in the energy field,” which shows how important it was to get behind the meter.
“Sure, and just to set the context first, you have new electricity, which is needed in our area of the country -- in Oklahoma, specifically,” he said. “That’s not unique to Oklahoma, but we need new electricity as well.”
Starling is aware it takes time to get a new electric production or electric generation connected to the grid.
“So if we need companies now, how do they get electricity now?“ he asked.
Behind the Meter allows new industries coming into the state to set up their own generation facilities that just serve that business, Starling said.
Theoretically, new businesses will come in and set up their generation, he added.
“They typically need to establish and build more generation than they actually need.”
Behind the Meter will likely produce and excess of electricity which could be advantageous to most large industries relocating to the Sooner State.
But Starling also said new projects need to get on an approval queue with regulators to ensure the safety of the grid.
“If people were able to just connect to the grid, you could really cause a lot of damage,” he said. “When you talk about just the high voltage of some of these, both the supplies being put on and also the loads being taken off the grid… those need to be approved. And that takes time. The SPP (Southwest Power Pool) was our regional provider that approves new electricity generation coming onto the grid.”
For a while, it put pressure on the power grid and in some cases, applications to the SPP took five years before approval was given.
“The SPP has worked really diligently to bring that down and they’re telling me it’s down to two years for the goal of getting down to one year by the end of the year,” he said. “We’re very hopeful on that, and the governor’s been pretty adamant on pushing them on that. But again, it’s not unique to Oklahoma.”
One of those major projects that will have a large capacity for electricity is the $4 billion Emirates Global Aluminium smelter announced to be located at the Port of Inola in northeastern Oklahoma. The project is expected to bring 1,000 jobs to Oklahoma.
“Yeah, the good part is the thousand new jobs here in Oklahoma,” said Starling. “And these are good manufacturing jobs that President Trump has really prioritized for the country.
Trump is pushing to bring manufacturing back to the United States, the secretary said. “And this is one of those projects,” he added. In fact, it was so important that President Trump himself announced it. That’s the big deal that it is.”