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Solar Power and Labor Unions

The appointment on Rep. Dina Titus’ calendar last Saturday didn’t appear controversial at first glance.

She was to tour the new 10-megawatt Boulder City Sempra Generation plant — the largest solar power plant in North America to use widely praised thin-film technology. The project also produced the kind of environmentally friendly jobs that elected officials covet and tout.

Yet Titus soon realized that she was wading into a political firestorm.

In Carson City, Nevada legislators had blasted Sempra for its hiring practices, part of an intensifying debate here and nationwide over who is to benefit from growing state and federal renewable energy incentives aimed at saving not only the environment but also the economy.

Titus was a last minute no-show at Sempra.

Sempra had provoked the ire of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for hiring nonunion electricians, who the union insists were not properly certified to install photovoltaic panels. (Sempra spokesman Art Larson said he wasn’t aware of and couldn’t respond to those accusations).

Building Trades, IBEW and AFL-CIO representatives said although they have told politicians not to visit Acciona’s plant, they do not have the same request regarding Sempra.