DOE invests $13 million to drive U.S. solar power manufacturing

The Department of Energy announced more than $13 million for five projects to strengthen domestic solar power manufacturing and speed commercialization of efficient, affordable photovoltaic and concentrating solar power technologies. As part of the DOE's SunShot Initiative, these awards will help lower the cost of solar electricity, support a growing U.S. solar energy workforce and increase U.S. competitiveness in the global clean energy market. According to a new U.S. solar industry report, the U.S. solar market continues to grow — reaching record-breaking levels. In Q3 2013, the U.S. installed 930 MW of photovoltaic, up 20 percent over Q2 2013 and representing the second largest quarter in solar installations in U.S. history. Cumulatively, solar capacity has already surpassed 10 GW and by the end of the year more than 400,000 solar power projects will be operating across the country. Matched by over $14 million in private cost share, the DOE's investment will help five companies in California, Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Oregon develop cost-effective manufacturing processes for photovoltaic and concentrating solar power technologies. For example, Colorado-based Abengoa Solar will develop new methods to produce concentrating solar power trough systems, helping to lower overall production costs and support easy and quick on-site assembly. PPG Industries, headquartered in Pennsylvania, will lead a project to cut solar module manufacturing costs in half, while Georgia-based Suniva will develop a low-cost highly efficient silicon photovoltaic cell.

Xcel receives approval to increase wind, solar capacity in Colorado

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has approved Xcel Energy’s request to increase the amount of wind and solar power on its system in Colorado by 620 MW, according to a report from the Denver Business Journal. The increase will boost Xcel’s renewable energy capacity in the state by 25 percent. According to the report, 450 MW of the new capacity will come from wind power projects and 170 MW will come from utility-scale solar projects. The new power supplies will meet the power demand for Xcel’s customers in the state through at least 2018, the company stated. Xcel currently has 2,427 MW of renewable energy in its portfolio, with 250 MW coming from solar power and 2,177 coming from wind power projects, according to the Business Journal.

Signatures Delivered to Xcel Energy in Denver

DENVER - A petition bearing 27,000 signatures asks Xcel Energy to withdraw a recent proposal about solar energy. It was delivered with a protest outside Xcel's headquarters in Denver on Wednesday. In their 2014 Renewable Energy Standard Compliance Plan, Xcel writes that they want to open a dialog about changes to the incentives offered in the on-site solar program. They specifically want to discuss "the equity of that incentive." "Customers deserve credit for all of the solar that's produced on their rooftops and that shouldn't be undermined by Xcel's proposal and it shouldn't be undervalued by Xcel," said Meghan Nutting, Director of Policy and Electricity Markets for SolarCity. But Xcel says the goal is to provide better service. "The folks that have solar on their homes are not going to see any change in incentives they receive," said Xcel spokeswoman Ethnie Treick. "It's merely starting a conversation, making sure it's fair for all of our customers." One of the changes proposed by Xcel for 2014 is to include the cost of new installations in the Renewable Energy Standard Adjustment but credit an equal amount to the Electric Commodity Adjustment. The utility wrote they are hopeful the change will inform debate about the "appropriate level of incentives going forward." For customers who install their solar systems after the start of 2014, Xcel also proposes a surcharge to the Renewable Energy Standard Adjustment. They called it a "fair share surcharge." The utility's RES Plan specifically states, "We do not propose any changes for customers who have currently installed on-site [photo voltaic] systems." In another immediate repercussion of the RES, Xcel is hanging its future plans for distributed generation on the decision about the "transparency" proposal. If the plan is refused, Xcel tells the Public Utilities Commission it will plan to cut the growth of distributed solar generation through two programs by nearly 70 percent. With 237,800 renewable energy credits annually, Xcel's proposal shows it will already be compliant with its distributed generation requirements for 2014. The proposal is currently in the hands of the Public Utilities Commission.

New Poll People of Colorado Oppose Xcel Energy Proposed Changes to Net-Metering

According to a new poll, Colorado residents support solar net metering, a standard policy in dozens of states across the country, but one that has been a bone of contention with Xcel Energy, the state’s largest power provider. Net metering is the process in which homeowners and businesses with solar panel systems are credited with the retail rate of electricity for any excess power they send back to the grid. In other words, it’s basically the same as if they had cut their electricity use by that amount. The bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Keating Research recently completed the survey of 400 voters throughout Colorado regarding their perceptions of a proposed change to net metering for rooftop solar systems. The survey finds strong and widespread support for the practice of net metering, and a rejection of the changes proposed by Xcel Energy. Opposition to the proposal is broad based and widespread, but is particularly strong among Xcel’s own customers. Specifically, the survey found nearly four in five Colorado voters (78 percent) support the practice of net metering. Survey respondents received a brief, neutral explanation of net metering in order to ensure all respondents had the same level of information on the topic. Only 11 percent of the state’s electorate indicate opposition to the policy, with a mere 5 percent strongly opposed, and another one in ten (11 percent) unsure of their views on this policy. Support for net metering is just as strong among Xcel Energy customers (79 percent support). In fact, support exceeds 70 percent in every region of the state and exceeds 60 percent with every single key sub group of voters that were examined. Conversely, voters expressed adamant opposition to Xcel Energy’s proposal to change net metering and reduce the credit it provides to rooftop solar energy producers. For its part, Xcel Energy defends it proposal to reduce solar subsidies. The problem, said David Eves, chief executive officer of the utility’s Colorado subsidiary, is that the benefits of rooftop solar do not cover the program’s costs. “This is not about putting the brakes on solar,” Eves said. “It’s about having an honest discussion about costs and benefits.” If changes aren’t made, however, Xcel said it wants to cut back its Solar Reward program to 6 megawatts of new solar arrays from a planned 36 megawatts.

Solar Energy Battle in Colorado

How much for a ray of sunshine? In Colorado it's becoming a hotly contested question. Almost 30,000 Coloradans signed a petition that was delivered to Xcel Energy executives asking the company to withdraw its proposal to reduce the current credit rate for solar power generated by homeowners' rooftop systems from 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour to 4.6 cents per kilowatt hour. Back in July, Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy -- the leading power provider in Colorado -- proposed a plan to roll back the state's net metering program and reduce its "Solar Reward" rebate levels to less than a penny per kilowatt hour -- or in the words of the Vote Solar Initiative (which is against the proposal), "make solar a bad deal for customers in its service territory." Net metering is used as an incentive to sell solar power, paying homeowners full retail credit on their energy bills for the excess power their solar installations send to the grid. According to Xcel, the current rate includes a "hidden subsidy" that its other customers without solar panels are having to pay for their neighbors' rooftop systems, The Denver Business Journal reported. "Coloradans are not going to let Xcel get away with a dramatic rollback of the state’s most important solar policy. If approved, Xcel would be able to drastically cut the credit solar customers receive for electricity they put on the grid," said Annie Lappe, solar policy director at The Vote Solar Initiative, in a statement. "This proposal is anti-progress, anti-consumer, and simply unfair. Colorado’s solar customers deserve full credit for the valuable power they produce, which is building a safer, cleaner, more resilient grid for all of us." According to a poll released by Public Opinion Strategies and Keating Research last week, 78 percent of Coloradans support solar net metering and 80 percent oppose Xcel’s proposal to change the policy. The U.S. Solar Market Insight for the 3rd Quarter of 2013 even ranked Colorado 7th in the country for solar capacity with enough energy to power over 56,000 homes. “Monopoly utilities across the country, like Xcel, continue to fail repeatedly in their attempts to stop solar competition.” said Bryan Miller, TASC President and VP of Public Policy for Sunrun, in a statement. “In every net metering battle, from Idaho, to Louisiana, to California, to Arizona, states have preserved net metering. The verdict of 2013 is that net metering is here to stay.”

STAND UP FOR SOLAR RIGHTS!

Rally in Denver! Rooftop solar is helping Colorado build a cleaner, safer and lower cost energy supply. It's great news for Coloradans, but now Xcel Energy is asking to change the rules to penalize Coloradans who go solar. Learn more about the utility's anti-solar, anti-consumer plan here. Help us send a clear message that Xcel needs to withdraw its unfair proposal TODAY and keep solar shining in Colorado! Join us at noon on Wed, Dec 11 as we deliver our solar petition to Xcel. We'll have solar-powered coffee, hot chocolate and plenty of good company to keep us warm! Time: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM MST Host: Vote Solar, The Alliance for Solar Choice, COSEIA, Environment Colorado, Sierra Club, and others Location: Skyline Park (Denver, CO) 1732 Arapahoe Street Denver, CO 80265

Denver Rally 12/11/13 to Support Solar in Colorado

Rooftop solar is helping Colorado build a cleaner, safer and more resilient energy supply. But now Xcel wants to change the rules on Coloradans who go solar by drastically cutting the credit these customers would receive for electricity they put onto the grid. If the utility is successful, they could destroy the economics of going solar in our state. This proposal from Xcel is a thinly-veiled attempt to protect profits and stand in the way of energy innovation and customer choice. On Wednesday, December 11, we’re going to send a clear message to Xcel executives that Coloradans support fair credit for solar power. Will you join me? Here are the details: What: Stand Up for Rooftop Solar Event and Petition Delivery When: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM MST Where: Skyline Park (Denver, CO) 1732 Arapahoe Street Denver, CO 80265 12:30: Move to Xcel's Headquarters 1800 Larimer St Denver, CO 80265 Why: Xcel wants to change the rules on its customers who invest in rooftop solar, which helps Colorado build a cleaner, safer and more resilient energy supply. The utility has proposed drastic cuts to the credits it provides for the excess clean energy solar customers deliver to the grid, and that Xcel then sells to their neighbors. If Xcel is successful with this proposal, new solar customers could see bill-saving credits cut in half. More than 20,000 Coloradans have already voiced their opposition to Xcel Energy’s anti-solar plan. At noon on December 11, we will gather in downtown Denver to deliver our petitions in person to Xcel.

Poll: Xcel Energy’s anti-solar proposal is a nonstarter for Coloradans

Poll: Xcel Energy’s anti-solar proposal is a nonstarter for Coloradans A new poll released today shows that an overwhelming majority (78%) of Coloradans support the state’s existing net metering program, an important rooftop solar policy that’s being targeted by the state’s major utility, Xcel Energy. The poll also found that a whopping 4 in 5 of Xcel’s own customers oppose the utility’s proposal to weaken net metering, a view that remains strong among solar and non-solar customers alike. Net metering makes sure that homes, schools and businesses receive full retail credit for the excess energy they deliver to the grid for the utility to sell to their neighbors. This policy is helping Colorado harness its plentiful sunshine to build a cleaner, safer and more resilient energy supply. And as today’s poll results show, Coloradans clearly feel strongly that they want more solar power – and fair, full credit for it. So why is Xcel Energy working against its own customers to penalize investment in homegrown solar energy? Xcel wants to change the rules on Coloradans who have gone solar by drastically cutting the credit these customers receive for electricity they put onto the grid. If the utility is successful, solar customers could see their bill-saving net metering credit cut in half. On Wednesday, December 11, we’re going to send a clear message to Xcel executives that Coloradans support fair credit for solar power. If you live in Colorado, here are two ways you can help: Sign our petition: More than 20,000 Coloradans have already voiced their opposition to Xcel Energy’s anti-solar plan. ADD YOUR SIGNATURE HERE! http://action.votesolar.org/page/s/XcelPetition Show up in person: At noon on December 11, we will gather in downtown Denver to deliver our petitions in person to Xcel. We’ll have solar-powered coffee, hot chocolate, and plenty of good company to keep warm. RSVP TODAY! http://action.votesolar.org/page/event/detail/event/rtl Xcel’s is the latest in a series of attacks on net metering from utilities that are trying to protect their old way of doing business by preventing continued solar adoption among their customers. Within the last year, these traditional energy interests have tried and failed to roll back net metering in states that run the gamut from California and Arizona to Idaho and Louisiana. In all cases, the utilities’ anti-solar proposals were met with strong opposition from a public that increasingly wants to generate its own power from the sun. Let’s do it again! Help us spread the word that Xcel needs to withdraw its anti-solar proposal and keep Colorado solar shining today.

Competitive Solar And Natural Gas To Advance Hand-In-Hand

Unsubsidized utility-scale solar electricity will become cost-competitive with gas by 2025, according to a new report from Lux Research. Moreover, the analysis firm says, increased gas penetration actually benefits solar by enabling hybrid gas/solar technologies that can accelerate adoption and increase intermittent renewable penetration without expensive infrastructure improvements. The U.S. Department of Energy says between 11-21 GW of concentrating solar power can be integrated with existing fossil power plants in the U.S. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) from unsubsidized utility-scale solar closes the gap with combined cycle gas turbines to within $0.02/kWh worldwide in 2025, a Lux analysis of 10 global regions found. Solar’s competitiveness is led by a 39% fall in utility-scale system costs by 2030 and accompanied by barriers to shale gas production - anti-fracking policies in Europe and high capital costs in South America. "On the macroeconomic level, a 'golden age of gas' can be a bridge to a renewable future as gas will replace coal until solar becomes cost-competitive without subsidies," says Ed Cahill, a research associate at Lux and lead author of the report. "On the microeconomic level, solar integrated with natural gas can lower costs and provide stable output." Lux Research analysts created a bottom-up system cost model and analyzed LCOE to evaluate solar, gas and hybrid technologies' competitiveness under different gas price scenarios across 10 regions around the world through 2030. Solar can be competitive with natural gas as early as 2020 if gas prices are between $4.90/MMBtu and $9.30/MMBtu, depending on the solar resource, Lux says. In the report's scenario of gas prices above $7.60/MMBtu, solar will be broadly competitive by 2025 in all 10 regions. Lux expects solar power prices to fall to $1.20/W by 2030. According to the report, utility-scale thin film leads the pack with installed system prices that fall from $1.96/W in 2013 to $1.20/W in 2030, primarily due to increasing module efficiencies. Nevertheless, the transition from a subsidized solar sector to an unsubsidized one will be turbulent. The report says turmoil is imminent because standalone solar will not yet be competitive when subsidies start expiring in top solar markets of China, the U.S. and Japan. Companies will need to diversify geographically and transition to areas with fewer gas resources - or develop hybrid systems that take advantage of low gas prices, Lux says.

Energy stream: Colorado Mesa, GJ firm link solar, natural gas

Energy stream: Colorado Mesa, GJ firm link solar, natural gas There’s no shortage of sun and natural gas in western Colorado, making it a prime location to learn how to marry the two energy sources. Colorado Mesa University and Atlasta Solar Center, 111 S. Seventh St., teamed up to do exactly that, joining together a solar energy system with a 14 kilowatt-hour generator that runs on natural gas. CMU’s Unconventional Energy Center and Atlasta each chipped in $6,900 for the needed equipment and Jose Morales, a CMU mechanical-engineering technology student, helped build the system that ultimately will provide heat, electricity and light. Eventually, said Lou Villaire, one of three co-owners of Atlasta, “We want to see it get to the point that we use the utility as a backup” instead of as a prime energy source. The proposal by Atlasta, a 35-year-old Grand Junction company, fit the mission of the university’s Unconventional Energy Center, which provides funding for workforce development and research, said Derek Wagner, vice president for intergovernmental and community affairs for CMU. For Morales, a 2009 Grand Junction High School graduate, the venture provided real-world experience that he said he hoped to use after graduation. His interest in alternative energy was kindled in his youth, visiting his grandparents in Mexico. “I was interested to see if there were other ways to provide energy,” Morales said. The next step in the project is to create seamless switching from natural gas to solar to the grid, as conditions warrant, including the current price of each source. On Tuesday, Morales manually pulled down the switch taking the building’s interior systems from solar to natural gas. His next job is to set up the system so all those decisions are automated, one he hopes to complete during his final semester at CMU, Morales said.

Business coalition gets behind solar campaign

A coalition of more than 280 businesses and others, along with more than 11,000 people, called on Gov. John Hickenlooper and other state leaders to help reach a goal of installing 3 gigawatts of solar energy statewide. The Denver conservation group Environment Colorado said this week that support for the initiative included businesses in Fort Collins, such as Odell Brewing Co. and Equinox Brewing Co. Inc. The coalition includes farmers, ranchers, government officials and environmental organizations. The Colorado solar industry announced the goal, known as a Million Solar Roofs, earlier this year, but this week's announcement indicated broad support for the campaign. A similar campaign is under way in California. Three gigawatts of solar, which the solar industry aims to install by 2030, would multiply the state's solar capacity by 10. The goal would raise solar's contribution to 10 percent of the state's energy generation. The goal includes everything from rooftop arrays to solar farms. Solar thermal systems are also included in the campaign. Policies such as net-metering, where people who invest in solar panels receive credit from utilities for excess electricity they supply to the grid, can help reach the goal, Environment Colorado said.

Solar Has $1.42 Billion Economic Impact in Colorado

Colorado’s growing solar industry has contributed more than $1.42 billion to the state’s economy since 2007, according to a recent study from the Solar Foundation. The Solar Foundation is a national nonprofit focused on researching the economic impact of the solar industry. The organization’s 2012 solar jobs census found that more than 119,000 Americans were working in the solar industry, which was a 13.2 increase over 2011. Colorado’s Solar Friendly Cities Initiative, which was organized with U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative funding and run by the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, commissioned the economic impact study from the Solar Foundation. The study found that Colorado’s solar photovoltaic industry has created more than 10,700 full-time equivalent jobs since the technology first started to become popular six years ago. Workers have collected more than $534 million in wages since then and installed nearly 250 megawatts of solar electricity in the state. State tax revenue collected from increased solar development between 2007 and the first quarter of 2013 falls somewhere between $34.1 million and $59.7 million. “Solar energy is ready to play a major role in Colorado’s future,” said Rebecca Cantwell, Director of the Solar Friendly Communities Program. “It creates jobs, strengthens local economies, cuts air pollution and conserves our precious water supplies. This report puts some hard numbers on a lot of those benefits for the first time.” While the economic impact has been significant, such rapid growth is expected to continue. COSEIA set a goal of installing 3 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity by 2030, which is the equivalent of 1 million solar rooftops. The Solar Foundation study found that increased solar installation to such a degree would create almost 32,500 full time equivalent jobs. Employees of such jobs would earn a projected $1.9 billion. In addition to generating clean energy, the economic impact would top $3.85 billion. These types of growth opportunities are immense and Colorado solar industry leaders are expected to use the data from the study to promote state policies that will remain friendly and encourage industry growth. “The hard statistics in this report illustrate the unquestionable contribution solar development makes to state economic development,” said Piper Foster, COSEIA board president. “COSEIA is proud to publicize facts about the jobs engine that is solar energy.

Almost All New US Electricity Generation Coming from Solar

The U.S. brought online nearly 700 MW of new electricity generation in October, and practically all of it was large-scale solar energy, according to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of Energy Projects. Out of a total 699 MW of new build and expansions that FERC tracked, 504 MW of that came from 12 solar projects. Interestingly they're spread all over the country, and most have long-term PPAs in hand: Abengoa's 280-MW Solana Generating Station project in Maricopa County, AZ Southern Company's 139-MW Campo Verde Solar project in Imperial County, CA NRG Energy's 36-MW California Valley Solar Ranch Phase 4 project in San Luis Obispo County, CA Southern Company's 30-MW Spectrum Solar project in Clark County, NV eT Energy Solutions' 10-MW Indianapolis International Airport Solar Farm Phase 1 project in Marion County, IN WGL Holdings' 3.8-MW Bellingham Solar project in Worcester County, MA Constellation Solar's 2-MW Owens Corning Delmar Solar project in Albany County, NY St. Albans Solar Partner's 2-MW St. Albans Solar Farm project in Franklin County, VT Envirepel Energy's 2.8-MW biomass fueled Kittyhawk Energy Phase I project in Talladega County, AL Besides a whole bunch of solar, two wind projects and four biomass projects came online during the month of October, contributing 66 MW and 124 MW respectively. For the 10 months through October, 12.3 GW of new installed capacity has been brought online; 2.5 GW of that solar, roughly 1 GW wind, 360 MW biomass, and 117 MW of hydro, says FERC. Meanwhile, about 6.6 GW of natural gas was brought online, plus 1.5 GW of coal. Compared with FERC's statistics from a year ago, it's clear that larger solar projects are really ramping up in the U.S. From Jan-Oct. of this year 190 solar projects came online with 2.5 GW installed generating capacity; through the same period last year there were many more projects but with less than half that amount (260 projects, 1.25 GW). Also note the additions of wind energy have slowed to a trickle: roughly 1 GW through October of this year across 11 projects, compared with 107 projects and 6.2 GW from Jan-Oct. 2012, though activity seems to be picking up in these last couple of months. Still, solar energy's slice of total generating installed capacity is just a drop in the bucket for the nation's overall profile, roughly 0.6 percent (6.79 GW) out of a total 1,158 GW, lagging well behind wind (60.29 GW, 5.21 percent) and biomass (15.33 GW, 1.32 percent), while geothermal keeps steady at 3.79 GW/ 0.33 percent. All the renewable sectors together minus hydro tally up to about 88 GW, or 7.6 percent of the U.S.' total installed operating generating capacity; adding hydro more than doubles that to 184 GW and roughly 16 percent.

Solar Industry Wins In Arizona: Net Metering Preserved

The solar industry has been fighting in the trenches for the past few months as the utility, Arizona Power (APS), used under-handed ways to eliminate net-metering. Despite an unprecedented multi-million-dollar campaign, Arizona regulators rejected the utility's drive to eliminate net-metering for solar systems in the state. About 1,000 people showed up to protest before last week's vote. While state regulators did decide to impose a monthly fee for people that have solar systems, at 5% it is much smaller than APS requested. Regulators voted for a fixed fee of $0.70 per kilowatt (kW) starting next year, which amounts to $7 for a 10 kW system. Existing solar systems will not be charged. "Any tax on solar hinders market growth, but at this level at least the industry can continue to grow," says The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC), which vows to continue opposes similar moves in other states. Closely watched by utilities across the country, it would have set a problematic precedent had Arizona Power won. Background on the Case Arizona's net-metering law, in place since 2009, allows homeowners and businesses that have solar systems to sell excess electricity back to the grid. Over the past few years, strong growth of small solar systems has resulted in utilities running scared. As we've reported numerous times, their traditional business model of making money by selling more energy is threatened by the increasing number of independent power generators. Utilities argue that customers with rooftop solar aren't paying their fair share to maintain the grid - they are being "subsidized by customers who don't have solar." As more people rely less on grid-based solar, they say, that puts the burden of paying for utilities' services on fewer and fewer people. This isn't true - people that run on solar still pay the same monthly service charges. In this case, Arizona Power wants to charge people that have solar systems a separate $50-$100 per month, creating a disincentive for investing in solar. Money Rolls In To win its campaign, Arizona Power went so far as to channel millions of dollars through shady, conservative front groups that ran ads discrediting the solar industry. One of the groups - 60 Plus - is among the too-many-to-count Koch Brother funded-groups. And APS quietly joined ALEC. Uncovered by the newspaper, Arizona Republic, the utility lied about it to ratepayers, reporters, and state regulators. The revelation came after Bob Burns, Commissioner of Arizona Corporation Commission ordered the utility to disclose all funds spent to kill energy competition in Arizona, says TUSK (Tell Utilities Solar Won't be Killed). "The monopoly utility, when not wasting ratepayer funds concocting new propaganda materials, continues its scheme to reduce the rate it pays for solar so it can sell it at a higher profit. Net metering requires utilities to fairly compensate rooftop solar customers who send electricity back to the grid. APS is seeking to end this successful policy. In the meantime, APS ignores its own subsidies as subsidies for solar in the state of Arizona have largely come to an end. Since 1985, APS has received federal and state subsidies for nuclear and fossils in the range of $900 million to $1 billion, reports TUSK. "First they say they have nothing to do with ads attacking Arizona rooftop solar customers. That turned out to be a lie. Now it turns out that they are spending millions to launch these attacks. It makes you wonder where their priorities are. If they had put this amount of time and energy into actually being innovative and planning for solar expansion, they would not have found themselves in this position," says Barry Goldwater Jr., the son of the famous Republican, who chairs TUSK. Arizona Power spent $3.7 million on the effort and trade association Edison Electric spent another $520,000 on a 10-day ad campaign on television. The solar industry spent near $500,000 to fight the proposed changes. 43 states and the District of Columbia have net metering laws - a key driver for industry growth along with state Renewable Portfolio Standards. Learn more and get involved: Website: http://dontkillsolar.com/site/

As Xcel Follows National Playbook to Attack Solar, Ballot Results Say ‘Not in Colorado’

On the heels of Xcel’s second failure to stop the citizens of Boulder from taking control of their electricity, the utility is attacking energy choice on another front: rooftop solar. Xcel wants to penalize solar customers and eliminate the fair credit they receive for excess clean energy they deliver to the grid. The utility’s disregard for consumer choice is an attempt to protect its monopoly status and inflated profit margins. Tuesday’s election results show that Xcel faces an uphill battle in trying to stifle rooftop solar and consumer demands for choice and independence on energy matters. On two separate votes related to Boulder’s effort to create its own utility, pro-municipalization positions outpolled pro-Xcel positions 2:1. Meanwhile Lafayette, Boulder, and Fort Collins all passed restrictions on hydraulic fracking. “These results demonstrate a clear public desire for more choice, local control and more renewable energy,” said Meghan Nutting, Colorado resident and representative of The Alliance for Solar Choice. “Coloradans know last century’s fossil fuel status quo and a centralized monopoly doesn’t work for a 21st Century Colorado.” In 2011 and 2013, Xcel spent more than $2 million telling the citizens of Boulder that the utility knows better than the community. Consumers did not buy it. Now Xcel is asking the Public Utilities Commission for permission to pay rates below market value to rooftop solar customers who feed electricity back into the grid. Xcel’s proposal would undermine a policy called net metering and prevent consumers from receiving fair credit for the rooftop solar power they produce. Net metering is currently in place in 43 states. “We all should have the choice to produce our own power from the sun without being penalized,” said Nutting. “But Xcel wants to increase their monopoly over our power sources and eliminate this freedom.” Xcel’s attempts to end net metering and rooftop solar align with a national playbook outlined by the utility’s own trade association Edison Election Institute (EEI). EEI’s January 2013 report “Disruptive Challenges” warns that increased consumer adoption of distributed solar will lead to “declining utility revenues, increasing costs, and lower profitability potential, particularly over the long-term,” and proposes efforts to eliminate or counter net metering. Utility monopolies across the country have responded with political force. Just this month, EEI disclosed that it spent more than half a million dollars over a ten-day period on anti-rooftop solar advertising in Arizona.

Stop Xcel’s Profit Grab

Attn: David Eves, President and CEO, Public Service Company of Colorado, an Xcel Energy company Cc: Colorado Public Utilities Commission Dear Mr. Eves, We, the undersigned, are Colorado electricity customers. We urge Xcel to immediately withdraw its proposal before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to penalize rooftop solar customers who deliver solar electricity to the grid. Private investment in local solar power delivers numerous financial benefits to all of your customers, even those without solar on their roofs: savings on expensive and polluting conventional power; reduced investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure; reduced electricity lost during transportation over power lines; and savings on the cost of meeting future carbon regulation. Recent independent analysis found that these benefits of net metered power outweigh the costs, with a total net value of between $7 and $11 million per year in Xcel Energy’s Colorado territory. Overall, solar power has brought $1.42 billion to Colorado’s state economy since 2007. Your proposal significantly undervalues rooftop solar power at the expense of your own customers. We urge Xcel to stop trying to stifle rooftop solar. Instead, it’s time to innovate your business model to make room for customer participation in our energy marketplace. Please withdraw the net metering rollback plan in docket 13A-0836E at the PUC today. Sign the Petition here: http://protectnetmetering.org/state-campaigns/colorado/

Fight Over Future of Solar in Colorado

Geoff Vezzetti of Solar Side Up lifts a panel onto the roof while installing solar panels on a home in Golden on Sept. 17, 2013. (Seth McConnell, Your Hub) An attempt to find common ground on state policies for rooftop solar started Tuesday with a sharp exchange between Xcel Energy and solar-energy advocates. The session ended with Xcel's refusal to withdraw its proposal — which is pending at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission — to cut rooftop-solar incentives. In turn, the representatives from Vote Solar, a solar-energy advocacy group, said they were not sure of the value of continuing the talks. The session, hosted by the Colorado Energy Office, brought together representatives of utilities, state government and the solar-energy industry. The goal was to try to balance the interests of utilities and the solar industry "before it degenerates into contention," said Jeff Ackermann, director of the energy office. The contention, however, was evident in opening statements. Xcel's concern is that the credit given to homes and businesses with solar panels that add kilowatt-hours to the grid is too high and burdens other customers, said Frank Prager, an Xcel vice president. In a PUC filing, Xcel is calling for a cut in the credit, the so-called net-meter charge. The credit is equal to the price a residential customers pays: 10.5 cents a kilowatt-hour. If the credit isn't cut, Xcel wants to reduce new solar installations in its Solar Rewards program by 83 percent to 6 megawatts. "Utilities are working to stop and slow down these innovative technologies," said Rick Gilliam, Vote Solar's director of research. In turn, Prager objected to the proposal that how a utility conducts its business and its planning to accommodate new technology should be part of the discussion. "This was a missed opportunity," said Edward Stern, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group. "(Gov. John Hickenlooper) got all the relevant parties to the table, and that was a great step," Stern said. "But Xcel forcing net-metering into its renewable-energy-compliance plan makes it hard to have a discussion." Challenges to Xcel's plan must be filed with the PUC in two weeks. "There just isn't enough time to do everything," Stern said. The energy office is, however, planning another session. "We are optimistic because we see that people are willing to put forward their points of view," Ackerman said in an e-mail. "The prospects for consensus should not be judged by one meeting."

US Bureau of Land Management to auction Colorado solar sites

The US government’s land agency, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), will hold its first competitive auction of public land for solar development today. BLM’s Colorado office will auction off three parcels of land totalling 3,705 acres in two ‘solar energy zones’ in Conejos and Saguache counties in the south of the state. SEZs are areas of public land in the US designated by the government for development of PV arrays. If fully developed the two SEZs in today’s auction, De Tilla Gulch and Los Mogotes East, could support up to 400MW of new solar capacity, BLM said. “These Solar Energy Zones (SEZs) are part of our effort to make sure that we’re developing clean energy in the right places and in the right ways,” said BLM’s principal deputy director Neil Kornze. “[Today’s] competitive auction is an important milestone as we seek to accelerate the development of clean energy on our public lands that hold enormous potential for the solar power and for generating jobs and revenue for local communities.” Successful bidders in the auction will be invited to submit detailed project proposals, which will subject to environmental impact scrutiny. The US department of the Interior has created 19 SEZs in the western solar plan aimed at stimulating solar development in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. The zones are in areas with access to planned or existing transmission lines and where impact on biological, cultural and historic resources are expected to be minimal.

Another 1 MW of Community-Owned Solar Comes Online in Colorado

Perched at 9,200 feet in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, two community-shared solar arrays began producing clean, local power this week for residents and businesses of the historic ski town of Breckenridge, Colo. and surrounding Summit County. Developed in tandem by Clean Energy Collective (CEC), the Breckenridge Sol Array and the Breckenridge Ullr Solar Array are the first and only community solar facilities in Summit County, Colo., and are the second and third community-owned projects to come online in Xcel Energy's young Solar*Rewards Community program. The two 500 kW facilities—which the Town of Breckenridge named for Ullr, the Norse god of snow, and Sól, the god of sun—have the capacity to generate locally-made clean power for up to 200 Summit County electricity customers. The Ullr Array is completely sold out. Residential, commercial, or non-profit customers can purchase 235-Watt panels in the Sol Array for $870 each, with a minimum of five panels up to as many as needed to completely power a home or business. Thanks to the Town of Breckenridge's enthusiastic support of the program, town residents and businesses will also receive a $0.10/Watt rebate. "Today, Breckenridge and Summit County residents have access to affordable clean power and can feel good about how they're energy is generated," said Paul Spencer, CEC's founder and president. Community solar serves utility ratepayers who want to use renewable energy but face unworkable barriers like shady roofs, they are renters, or lack the financial capability to build a full solar PV system on site. Members receive all of the same rebates and incentives of home-sited systems, and receive credit for the power produced directly on their monthly utility bills. Community-shared solar facilities are sited and maintained to produce more energy for much longer, which delivers a significantly faster payback and better overall financial return than most other renewable energy solutions. This marks the 12th community-owned solar array CEC has brought online in Colorado, representing nearly 5 MW of utility-scale projects. CEC is building a total of 11 community-owned solar gardens under the Xcel Solar*Rewards program, to serve Colorado customers in Boulder, Jefferson, Denver, Arapahoe and Summit Counties and the City of Aurora. CEC also has facilities operating or under construction in N.M., Minn. and VT. About Clean Energy Collective (CEC) Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective is a developer of community-based renewable energy facilities and a national leader in community power generation. CEC established the first community-owned solar garden in the country near El Jebel, Colorado in 2010. In just three years, CEC has partnered with nine utilities on 23 renewable energy sites, representing more than 10 MW of community-sited solar PV. CEC is currently in discussions with some 75 utilities in 22 states.

Xcel Energy Buying Utility-Scale Solar at Prices Competitive With Natural Gas

Is utility-scale solar close to crossing a pivotal price threshold? Utility Xcel Energy last month submitted a proposal to Colorado regulators that identifies 170 megawatts of solar and 450 megawatts of wind as the most cost-effective resources. It's the first time that Xcel Energy, which serves eight states in the West and Midwest, chose solar and wind in its planning process strictly for economic reasons, rather than to meet the state's renewable energy standard, according to the company. “This is the first time that we’ve seen, purely on a price basis, that the solar projects made the cut -- without considering carbon costs or the need to comply with a renewable energy standard -- strictly on an economic basis,” David Eves, CEO of an Xcel subsidiary, told the Denver Business Journal. Xcel Energy won't be building solar or wind farms. Its plan is based on bids from project developers of solar and wind farms. "A lot of those energy technologies have started to level the playing field and we are able to take advantage of that," said spokesperson Michelle Aguayo in an interview with Greentech Media. In addition to the 170 megawatts of solar, the investor-owned utility called for nearly half a gigawatt of new wind, which it would also add through power-purchase agreements with third parties. The utility would also use 317 megawatts of power from natural gas plants that already supply Xcel Energy. These plants can adjust their output to buffer variable wind and solar farms, Aguayo said. Although the cost to develop solar projects has dropped steadily in recent years, Xcel's plan to buy solar for purely economic reasons is an anomaly, said Shayle Kann, the vice president of research at GTM Research. Georgia's solar plan calls for adding solar outside of state renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), but otherwise, renewable energy mandates are driving utility-scale solar, notably in California and Arizona, where the bulk of new utility solar installations are located. In the years ahead, though, the utility solar market will need to create demand with cheaper kilowatt-hours. "This has to start becoming the norm before too long, because state RPSs won't be deciding utility solar, so there needs to be procurement on a pure economic basis," Kann said. "This should be the trend not only in Colorado, but in every other market for utility-scale solar to pick back up." The federal Investment Tax Credit will fall from its current 30 percent to 10 percent in 2017 for business-related projects. Xcel’s proposal is based on bids for projects that would be installed by 2018. Colorado has a renewable energy standard that requires investor-owned utilities to procure 30 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Xcel is already on pace to meet those demands, Aguayo says. As for maintaining grid stability in light of a higher penetration of renewables, she says that its current resource proposal does not include the addition of new transmission lines. Other components of the plan include permanently closing a 109-megawatt unit at a coal-powered station and converting an existing coal plant to natural gas at the end of 2017. If all the measures were adopted, Xcel Energy says it would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by one-third compared to 2005 levels. The state commission needs to respond to and amend the proposal by December 9.

Colorado Springs Solar gardens project draws competition

More than a month after Colorado Springs City Council voted in favor of a plan that would double the scope of the city’s community solar garden program, 10 contractors expressed interest in doing business in the local market. During a mandatory pre-proposal conference held by Colorado Springs Utilities last week, the 10 companies — half based in Colorado and the rest with headquarters in five other states — conveyed their interest in the contract, were briefed on the terms and were able to ask technical questions about the expansion. The project was approved by City Council in a 6-to-3 vote Aug. 14 after members rescinded the previous Council’s approval of a 10-megawatt expansion in April. Council passed the buck for the planned 2-megawatt expansion to Utilities’ customers at the rate of about 50 cents per year for the next 20 years. Council passed the buck for the planned 2-megawatt expansion to Utilities’ customers at the rate of about 50 cents per year for the next 20 years, according to Utilities’ request for proposals published in early September. “That figure has not changed,” said Utilities spokesman Dave Grossman. “Fifty cents a year is the average cost for each of our 189,000 residential electric customers. The program’s average cost per year for commercial and industrial customers would be higher since their bills are higher, on average, than those of residential customers. We have a total of 215,000 electric customers.” The deadline for bid proposals is Oct. 1, and Utilities said that they hope to award the contract in mid-October and complete the project within one year. The location of the systems included in the contract is up to the discretion of the developer, but must be within what Utilities calls its “certified electric service territory,” according to the RFP. The document also states that one or more developers will be awarded the bid depending on qualifications and minimization of risk. “Utilities is one of the largest four-service (electric, natural gas, water, waste-water treatment) municipal utility services in the nation and the second largest electric system in the state of Colorado,” according to CSU’s documents. “Being a municipal utility means that customers are the owners. Utilities is governed by the City Council for the City of Colorado Springs, which also acts as the Utilities Board.” Because only companies in attendance — physically or electronically — at the pre-proposal meeting are permitted to vie for the bid, the following 10 companies are in the running: SunShare is a Colorado Springs-based solar energy startup owned by Colorado College graduate David Amster-Olszewski. SunShare built and operates two community solar gardens in Utilities’ pilot program: one at Venetucci Farm and the other at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School. Clean Energy Collective is a Springs-based solar energy firm that is member owned and builds, operates and maintains clean energy facilities at a community level — specializing in community solar gardens. CEC has completed projects in Colorado, Minnesota and Vermont. El Paso Green Energies is a family-owned and -operated business based in Colorado Springs whose personnel are certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and works primarily in the Colorado market. Solar Power Financial is based in Boulder. This company develops and finances renewable energy and real estate projects as a consultant both in the United States and foreign markets. SPF has worked primarily in the Colorado, Hawaii and Mexico markets. Custom Solar is a renewable energy design and construction firm that is also based in Boulder. The Colorado company provides solar electric, solar thermal and green engineering solutions for residential and commercial clients throughout the state, according to CustomSolar.com. Ecoplexus Solar Solutions is a development, design, engineering, construction and financing contractor based in San Francisco that specializes in solar systems for commercial, municipal, nonprofit and utility markets both nationally and internationally. Some of Ecoplexus’ recent projects were in Colorado, Georgia and California. Affordable Solar is based in Albuquerque and specializes in all things solar, with more than 14 years of experience in the field, according to Affordable-Solar.com. The company also says on its website that it can “design and distribute renewable energy systems for residential, commercial and industrial use domestically and internationally.” Cornwell Group is headquartered in Kapolei, Hawaii, with a location in downtown Colorado Springs and is a strategic management firm that provides consulting, data research and analysis to clientele worldwide, according to CornwellGroup.com. Cascade Renewable Energy is a Grand Rapids, Mich., company with expertise in design, installation, program management and quality/safety assurance pertaining to such renewable energy operations as wind farms and solar systems, according to CascadeRenewableEnergy.com. HelioSage Energy is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., and focuses specifically on solar energy project development. The firm has worked in 15 states since its inception in 2008 and “has been responsible for the construction of over 400 megawatts of renewable energy projects,” according to HelioSage.com. The only companies who were physically present at the meeting were representatives from SunShare and El Paso Green Energies — spokespersons from the remaining eight companies attended electronically. Original plans for the program’s expansion would have cost Utilities customers a 20-year total of nearly $22 million, according to earlier estimates, but that figure shrank along with the size and scope of the program. After the expansion is complete, customers within Utilities’ certified service area will have the option to purchase panel space — with a maximum customer benefit of roughly 13 cents/kilowatt hour. The community solar garden pilot program was launched by Utilities in September 2011, and is currently fully subscribed with around 400 customers. It features only three solar gardens – SunShare operates two and the Air Force Academy operates one – that make up a total power availability of 1.5 megawatts, and Utilities says a fourth is currently being completed to build the 2-megawatt pilot program. “Utilities was one of the first municipal utilities in the nation, working with the local solar industry, to offer a CSG option to its customers through a pilot CSG program,” according to the RFP. “Customers began receiving electric bill credits on their electricity bills in February 2012.” The concept of community solar gardens in Colorado Springs was spurred by state legislation that requires utilities to obtain 20 percent of their electricity from renewables. However, as a municipal utility, CSU is exempt but says they aim to meet that standard.

Xcel Energy Says Wind and Solar is Cheaper Than Natural Gas

Well, there goes the myth that cheap shale gas would price renewables out of the US electricity market. Xcel Energy, one of the country’s biggest utilities, has just announced a planned major expansion of its solar and wind investments – because they are “cheaper and more reliable” than natural gas. In a filing to the public utilities commission in the state of Colorado, Xcel Energy requested permission to include 170MW of new, utility-scale solar capacity and 450MW of wind energy capacity in the state. The reason, Xcel Energy said, was not to meet renewable energy targets (which in Colorado happen to be 30 per cent by 2020), but because these technologies were best placed to fill basic generation needs. Solar and wind, it said, were competitive with the cost of gas-fired generation. “Based on generation needs, the most reliable and most cost-effective resources happen to be solar and wind,” Xcel Energy spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo told the online publication SRN. “We are not taking on solar because we have to, but because it is cost-effective and economical.” A lot has been written about the shale gas boom in the US and its apparent impact on other technologies, particularly renewables such as wind and solar. But its principal victims in the short term appear to be coal-fired generation and nuclear, with neither able to compete on cost – particularly with the additional burden of emissions and/or safety regulations. Part of Xcel Energy’s plan out to 2018 include the closure of a 108MW coal facility and the switching of another to natural gas. Wind is now priced at less than $50/MWh in the US, and the proposed build out of wind will take Xcel’s total wind capacity to 2,650MW – nearly equivalent to Australia’s entire capacity. In an earlier filing, Xcel Energy had wanted to install 550MW of wind capacity, but the PUC only allowed 200MW because it was not sure it would be cost-effective. Excel insisted it would be, and is now pushing for the allowance to be lifted to 450MW. The cost of utility-scale solar is also falling fast. A recent auction in Palo Alto saw the local utility contract 80MW of utility-scale solar at a price of just under $70/MWh, and public utilities have recently contracted large-scale projects at around $90/MWh. The prevailing market price in that market is about $100/MWh. Xcel Energy already has 80MW of utility-scale solar and 160MW of rooftop solar from residential customers. It is now seeing utility-scale solar coming down – and from Xcel’s point of view – building large-scale solar, with single-axis tracking, would be a much cheaper option than rooftop solar. “For the first time ever, we are adding cost competitive utility-scale solar to the system,” said David Eves, the head of an Xcel subsidiary that deals with regulatory matters. “The 170 MW we recommend would triple Xcel Energy’s current utility-scale solar in Colorado and it equates to all of the customer-sited solar in the state of Colorado, at about one half of the cost.” It recommends around 42.5MW of additional rooftop solar. As John Farrell, from the Institute of Energy Self Reliance, writes in a blog on the same subject, even rooftop solar is meeting peak demand in the state of Colorado, at less than half the cost of peaking gas plant. “Solar not only meets this peak need at a lower per kilowatt-hour cost, but also without the harmful emissions from running a power plant on standby (or fracking its fuel out of the ground),” he writes. “What’s important to keep in mind when talking about solar and electricity prices is that solar energy production tends to align very well with the highest energy demand on a utility’s system. “It doesn’t have to be cheaper than a nuclear power plant built in 1965, it just has to be cheaper than the next kilowatt-hour the utility needs at 4pm on a hot, July afternoon. For many utilities (like Xcel, one of the 10 biggest in the US), it is. For many others, it will be soon, without subsidies. “And don’t forget, utilities buy power plants for 30, 40, or 50 years. With costs dropping by 10% per year, if solar power’s not cheaper now, it will be long before a new fossil fuel power plant is paid off.” Farrell also makes another point about the move by Xcel to embrace utility-scale solar: they are in fact competing with their own customers, because as more consumers add rooftop solar, that means lower revenues for the utilities. This is especially relevant in Colorado, where the community in Boulder (currently being hit by “biblical floods) has been trying to “break away” and establish its own municipal utility, on the basis that it can provide cheaper and greener electricity than a centralized utility. “Xcel’s Colorado plans suggest the utility is wising up, and that the era of customer-owned solar only lasts as long as people are willing to raise holy hell or legislatures are willing to tell them to do the right thing,” O’Farrell writes. “So the utility shift to solar is both bad and good. The bad news is that locally owned solar pours piles of cash into local economies, and utility-owned solar is going to suck it right back out again. The good is that even an anachronistic, monopoly utility can figure out the financial advantages to clean energy, and we need a lot of it to save the climate.” “Game on.”

Xcel Energy Counters Critics With Proposal For 170 MW Of New Solar

Colorado utility Xcel Energy is proposing to add new solar and wind energy resources to meet the state's future electricity needs, according to a report filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Xcel's recommendations include 170 MW of new utility-scale solar power, 450 MW of new wind power and 317 MW of natural gas generation that it says would provide operational flexibility the utility needs to reliably integrate renewable resources into its electric supply mix. "This request will add significant amounts of wind and solar energy to the system at the right price, and it makes good sense for our customers and the environment," says David Eves, president and CEO of Public Service Co., an Xcel Energy company. "For the first time ever, we are adding cost-competitive utility-scale solar to the system. The 170 megawatts we recommend would triple Xcel Energy’s current utility-scale solar in Colorado, and it equates to all of the customer-sited solar in the state of Colorado, at about one half of the cost." Xcel Energy’s announcement is in addition to 42.5 MW of on-site solar that the company has proposed through separate proceedings with the PUC, under the 2014 Renewable Energy Standard compliance plan. That proposal recently was sent to an administrative law judge with the PUC for further regulatory action. Xcel Energy has been under intense criticism from solar sector advocates as its recent proposals filed with the PUC also includes a request to re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the state's NEM policies. The utility maintains that some costs of NEM are unfairly shouldered by non-solar ratepayers, while critics, including the Vote Solar Initiative, say Xcel's analysis is flawed and NEM actually lowers grid costs. "This plan demonstrates the right way to advance clean energy because it keeps the focus on customer costs," says Ben Fowke, chairman, president and CEO of Xcel Energy. "We have a clear track record of implementing clean energy projects that create significant customer value and keep rates affordable. This plan continues that effort, and we are positioned to take advantage of very favorable pricing for some great projects." Details of the Xcel Energy proposal include the following: The addition of 170 MW of utility-scale solar generation would use single-axis tracking to maximize solar generation during the day. The company currently has about 80 MW of utility-scale solar and 160 MW of customer-sited solar generation; The addition of 450 MW of wind generation is an adjustment from the 550 MW the company initially recommended early this summer after its early wind request for proposal. This additional wind would bring the installed capacity on the company’s system in Colorado to 2.65 GW; and The proposed 317 MW of natural gas-fired generation would come from existing Colorado power plants that previously supplied Xcel Energy but would do so going forward at reduced prices. The company says this "flexible generation" allows it to start, bring up and turn down generation online in relatively short periods of time as wind and solar generation vary throughout the day. Xcel Energy’s proposal must be reviewed by an independent evaluator for the PUC and ultimately considered by the commission, which is scheduled to approve the plan as filed or make amendments to the proposal by Dec. 9, 2013.

Study: Colorado Solar Customers Deliver $11 M in Annual Benefits to Xcel Energy Grid

The Vote Solar Initiative (Vote Solar) today released new study findings indicating that distributed solar energy systems currently in the Xcel service area deliver as much as $11 million in annual benefits to Colorado ratepayers. The findings were submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in opposition to a study from Xcel Energy that could be used to weaken one of the state’s most important solar policies, net metering. More than 17,000 Coloradans have urged regulators to reject the Xcel proposal and defend consumer solar rights. Released in July as part of the utility’s 2014 Renewable Energy Standard compliance plan, the Xcel proposal takes aim at net metering, a policy that encourages consumer investment in solar power. The utility used a cost and benefit study of its own design that had not yet undergone public or commission review to make its case against the successful solar policy. In today’s comments, advocates stressed that the Xcel study and subsequent proposal do not fairly account for the many benefits that rooftop solar delivers to Coloradans. “Xcel has significantly undervalued solar power from its customers and we are determined not to let their incomplete math be used to dismantle the most important rooftop solar energy policy on the books. While we understand that rooftop solar represents a change from the utility’s traditional way of doing business, it’s clear that Coloradans want that change. We encourage the Commission to look closely at the serious flaws in Xcel’s approach to assessing the impacts of this policy,” said Annie Lappé, solar policy director at Vote Solar. "Net metering is key to keeping Colorado homes and businesses going solar, reaching the state’s Million Solar Roofs goal, and revamping our antiquated energy system,” said Edward Stern, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA), a joint party to the PUC proceeding. “Xcel’s current proposal clearly falls well short of accounting for rooftop solar’s tremendous value to Colorado. If we're going to have a conversation about net metering, we need to make sure we're using good, updated, accurate information that ensures a fair deal for our state’s solar customers.” "Xcel created this study without adequate input from the Technical Review Committee (TRC) of industry experts that was mandated by the Colorado PUC," said Meghan Nutting, a Colorado resident, TRC member and member of The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC). "This lack of best practices is exacerbated by the fact that the study uses non-current data from as far back as three years ago, and cites outdated studies, the most recent of which was completed more than four years ago." “Solar has become an affordable option for Colorado families, schools and businesses who want more control over their electricity supply and power bills. That is why we saw such a massive outpouring of opposition to the Xcel proposal,” said Nellis Kennedy-Howard, senior campaign representative, Sierra Club. “Xcel should be working with the PUC and stakeholders to support what the public wants and what’s good for the state’s economy and environment: more local solar power.” The new study, commissioned by Vote Solar and undertaken by Crossborder Energy, uses a Commission-approved methodology to assess the overall impacts of net metering in Xcel Energy’s Colorado territory. It finds that the financial benefits of net metered power outweigh the costs, with a total net value of between $7 and $11 million per year, depending on the price of natural gas, and the future cost of greenhouse gas regulations. Benefits include: savings on expensive and polluting conventional power; reduced investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure; reduced electricity lost during transportation over power lines, as net metered solar's surplus energy flows to the grid and is consumed locally; and savings on the cost of meeting carbon reduction and renewable energy goals. In addition to grid benefits, distributed solar is delivering economic, environmental and public health benefits to Xcel’s solar and non-solar customers alike. Colorado now ranks 5th in the country for the amount of solar installed with enough to power 50,500 homes. There are 275 solar companies employing 3,600 Coloradans throughout the state. In 2012, $187 million was invested in Colorado to install solar on homes and businesses. Groups opposing the Xcel net metering proposal include: Advanced Energy Economy, Clean Energy Action, Clean Power Finance, COSEIA, Dynamic Integration, EnergyShouldBe.org, Environment Colorado, Five Star Consultants, Go Green Electric, Namaste Solar, Real Goods Solar, SEIA, Sierra Club, SolarCity, Sunrun, TASC, Verengo Solar and Vote Solar. About net metering: Like rollover minutes on a cell phone bill, net metering gives solar customers full credit on their utility bills for the excess clean power they contribute to the grid. In place in 43 states, this simple crediting arrangement is one of the most important state policies for enabling Americans to generate their own power from solar and other renewable energy resources. Learn more at: www.protectnetmetering.org About Vote Solar: The Vote Solar Initiative is a non-profit grassroots organization working to foster economic opportunity, promote energy independence and address climate change by making solar a mainstream energy resource across the United States. Since 2002, Vote Solar has engaged at the state, local and federal levels to remove regulatory barriers and implement the key policies needed to bring solar to scale.

Multinational Corporation Real Goods Solar acquires Syndicated Solar

Real Goods Solar Inc., a Louisville-based installer of solar energy systems, has completed the acquisition of Denver-based Syndicated Solar Inc. to grow its residential market, officials announced Monday. Syndicated Solar has three regional offices in Grand Junction, Missouri and California. Syndicated Solar's efficient sales processes and integrated software tools allowed the company to rapidly grow in the residential sector, officials said in a news release. The company brought in revenues of $2.5 million in 2011 and $7.3 million in 2012 and is expected to double revenue year-over-year in 2013. Real Goods Solar (Nasdaq: RSOL) paid $2.5 million and issued 400,000 shares of its unregistered Class A common stock with the potential for the seller to earn up to $250,000 at the close of the 2013 fiscal year and an additional 1.3 million shares of unregistered Class A common stock over the next two and a half years. Over the next few months, Syndicated Solar is expected to be fully integrated into Real Goods Solar's residential division, officials said. The acquisition will add more than 40 employees to Real Goods Solar, including Justin Pentelute, Syndicated Solar's founder and CEO. Real Goods Solar on Friday also agreed to acquire Mercury Solar Systems in an effort to build its East Coast business. Real Goods Solar plans to issue 7.9 million shares of its Class A common stock for the Port Chester, N.Y.-based Mercury. Based on Real Goods Solar's $2.29 closing price Friday, the deal would be valued at more than $18 million. Mercury, founded in 2008, posted $35 million in revenue in 2012 and has cumulative revenue of $250 million, Real Goods Solar officials said. Under the terms of the transaction -- which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval -- Mercury's workforce of more than 50 people would join Real Goods Solar as would three of its executives, including company co-founder Jared Haines, officials said.

NREL Study: Cost Gap For Western U.S. Renewables Could Narrow By 2025

By 2025, wind and solar power electricity generation in the western U.S. could become cost-competitive without federal subsidies if new renewable energy development occurs in the most productive locations, according to a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The report, "Beyond Renewable Portfolio Standards: An Assessment of Regional Supply and Demand Conditions Affecting the Future of Renewable Energy in the West," compares the cost of renewables (without federal subsidy) from the West’s most productive renewable energy resource areas with the cost of energy from a new natural-gas-fired generator built near the customers it serves. A recent report from the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, says that solar power could become a mainstream source of electricity in the Western U.S. by 2020 if the DOE's per-watt cost targets targets were met. "The electric generation portfolio of the future could be both cost-effective and diverse," says NREL Senior Analyst David Hurlbut, the report’s lead author. "If renewables and natural gas cost about the same per kilowatt-hour delivered, then value to customers becomes a matter of finding the right mix. "Renewable energy development, to date, has mostly been in response to state mandates," Hurlbut adds. "What this study does is look at where the most cost-effective yet untapped resources are likely to be when the last of these mandates culminates in 2025, and what it might cost to connect them to the best-matched population centers." According to NREL, the study’s key findings include the following: Wyoming and New Mexico could be areas of robust competition among wind projects aiming to serve California and the Southwest. NREL says both states are likely to have large amounts of untapped, developable, prime-quality wind potential after 2025. Wyoming’s surplus will probably have the advantage of somewhat higher productivity per dollar of capital invested in generation capacity; New Mexico’s will have the advantage of being somewhat closer to the California and Arizona markets. Montana and Wyoming could emerge as attractive areas for wind developers competing to meet demand in the Pacific Northwest. The challenge for Montana wind power appears to be the cost of transmission through the rugged forests that dominate the western part of the state. Wyoming wind power could also be a low-cost option for customers in Utah, which also has its own diverse portfolio of in-state resources. Colorado is a major demand center in the Rockies and will likely have a surplus of wind potential in 2025. However, the study suggests that Colorado is likely to be isolated from future renewable energy trading in the West due to transmission costs between the state and its Rocky Mountain neighbors. California, Arizona and Nevada are likely to have surpluses of solar resources. None is likely to have a strong comparative advantage over the others within the three-state market, unless environmental or other siting challenges limit in-state development. Consequently, development of utility-scale solar will probably continue to meet local needs rather than expand exports. New geothermal development could trend toward Idaho by 2025 since much of Nevada’s resources have already been developed. Geothermal power from Idaho could be competitive in California as well as in the Pacific Northwest, but NREL says the quantity is relatively small. Reaching California, Oregon and Washington may depend on access to unused capacity on existing transmission lines or on being part of a multi-resource portfolio carried across new lines. The study notes future electricity demand will be affected by several factors, including trends in the supply and price of natural gas; consumer preferences; technological breakthroughs; further improvements in energy efficiency; and future public policies and regulations. While most of these demand factors are difficult to predict, NREL says the study’s supply forecasts rely on empirical trends and the most recent assessments of resource quality. To read the full NREL report, click here.

Mesa County District 51 Schools Increase Solar Energy Use

The school board also adopted a resolution tonight that will add alternate energy to four District 51 Schools this year. Seven District 51 schools to date have solar energy and now four more schools will be added to the list. Grand Junction High School, Fruita Monument High School, Grand Junction High School and Nisley Elementary will have roof mounted solar units. District 51 Energy Officials say over a 20 year term, it's estimated that 2.1 million dollars will be saved in energy utility. And the project will be added at no cost to the schools and will begin immediately and be up and running before the end of the year. After its completion, District 51 will have 18% clean, renewable solar power.

Bureau of Land Management boosts solar development in Colorado

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced its first-ever competitive lease sale inside two designated solar energy zones in southern Colorado covering approximately 3,700 acres in the San Luis Valley. Once fully developed with solar projects, the two zones have the potential to produce 412 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 140,000 homes. The move by BLM marks the agency’s first foray into actively developing any of the seventeen “solar energy zones” that stretch across the Southwest. BLM designated the zones last fall as well-suited for utility-scale solar energy development and has pledged to prioritize them for solar energy production, transmission and infrastructure development. BLM Colorado State Director Helen Hankins noted that the competitive lease sale would “facilitate the Department’s priority approach to making appropriate public lands available for renewable energy development in the Solar Energy Zones and ensure a fair return to taxpayers for the commercial use of these lands.” BLM will publish formal notice of the lease sale in the August 16, 2013 edition of Federal Register, kicking off a 60-day window ending October 15 for companies to submit sealed bids, which must be accompanied by a $48,169 administrative fee on each parcel. An oral auction will be held October 24, 2013, opening with the minimum bonus bid or the highest sealed bid over the minimum bonus bid, whichever is higher. Winning bidders will have 180 days to file right-of-way applications and plans of development with BLM. The competitive lease sale is the latest example of the Obama administration’s efforts to promote development of renewable energy projects – particularly on federal lands. As of today, 47 solar, wind and geothermal power plants have been approved on nearly 300,000 acres of federal land. If all are built, the projects will have the capacity to produce more than 13,300 MW of electricity, or enough to power 4.6 million homes.

BLM to auction Colorado land for solar development

The United States Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management announced today that it will auction off leases for 3,705 acres of public lands in Colorado for solar development this fall. This will be the BLM’s first competitive auction for of leases for Solar Energy Zone land. The land is divided between two sites, the De Tilla Gulch and Los Mogotes East Solar Energy Zones in the San Luis Valley. The Interior Department designated the areas Solar Energy Zones because of their proximity to transmission lines or planned transmission lines in a famously sunny region of the sate. President Barack Obama’s administration has been proactively seeking out optimal solar energy regions and designating them Solar Energy Zones in a push to develop more utility-scale solar energy generation on public lands. “As we double down on the unprecedented progress that the Obama administration has made on advancing clean energy, the Interior Department has an opportunity not only to cut carbon pollution, but also to advance important conservation goals," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said last week at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. The Department announced last week that it was designating another nearly 11,000-acre parcel of land near the Marine Corps’ Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range in Southern California’s Imperial Valley as its 19th Solar Energy Zone. While the department has been working to identify areas for solar development since the creation of the program in October of 2012, no actual development has started on the designated lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico or Utah. Scheduled for Oct. 24, the parcels in Conejos and Saguache counties will be the first to be auctioned for lease. Bidding for the De Tilla parcel will start at $3,352. The Los Magotes section has been divided into two separate parts with bidding for the north parcel starting at $4,035 and the south starting at $4,284. Utility-scale solar developers, particularly those that specialize in early-stage construction investment, will be the likely bidders for the projects. Once the leases are finalized developers will have to go through all of the usual approval processes before they can begin developing solar projects on the land. Since this is the first auction of Solar Energy Zone lands, it will be an important one for the BLM. “This process will facilitate the Department’s priority approach to making appropriate public lands available for renewable energy development in the Solar Energy Zones and ensure a fair return to taxpayers for the commercial use of these lands,” BLM Colorado State Director Helen Hankins said in a statement.

Colorado Solar Advocates Fight Xcel’s Proposal to Gut Solar Net Metering

It’s one of those mixed bags. Colorado’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, which does business in the state as Public Service Company of Colorado has filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to extend its Solar*Rewards program, which is good. But at the same time it would gut its support of rooftop solar by reducing the amount it pays for net-metered PV systems to next to nothing, significantly reducing the incentive it provides for people to go solar in the state. Xcel made the filing in late July becoming the latest utility to attempt to significantly reduce its net-metering program. Under an internal study by the company it claimed that it should be able to recoup 6 cents per kilowatt hour from residential net-metered customers—who currently get about 10.4 cents per kilowatt hour for power they put back on the grid, for all the power they produce—not just the power they put back on the grid, according to The Vote Solar Initiative. As such, the the filing the utility would reduce the amount it pays for net-metered solar arrays. “Xcel is essentially claiming the value of residential solar is about 4 cents per kWh. For commercial customers the ‘subsidy’ is much lower at 1.5 cents per kWh,” the organization said. In response to Xcel's efforts to gut its net-metering program, Colorado’s renewable energy advocacy organizations have already developed an online petition, which can be signed here (Stop Xcel’s Power Grab in Colorado) and the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) has started a letter-writing campaign to CPUC to reject the proposal. “Xcel is using shady math and backroom tactics to try to rollback the state’s successful net metering policy, which allows solar customers to get credit on their energy bills for power they deliver to the grid,” said CRES Executive Director Lorrie McAllister. “If our regulators at the Public Utility Commission approve this anti-solar proposal, it could be rolled out statewide—so even if Xcel isn’t your utility, this proposal could affect solar rooftops in your community,” she said. Meanwhile solar advocate Robert Carmichael created a CREDO campaign that he plans to deliver to the CPUC in opposition of the proposal. In the campaign, Carmichael contended, “Xcel is going to great lengths to convince you that rooftop solar is a bad deal for Coloradoans, but this couldn't be further from the truth.” He said, “Distributed, local rooftop solar delivers innumerable grid benefits, which Xcel is unfairly discounting. In addition to those ratepayer savings, Colorado’s growing rooftop solar market delivers tremendous public benefits including jobs, improved air quality, and the decreased use of precious water resources in our energy production. This valuable resource should be supported and encouraged in Colorado, one of leading solar markets.” It’s not the first time that Xcel has landed a bombshell to the solar community in Colorado. In 2011 Xcel tried to gut its rebate program by reducing its solar rebates from $2 per watt to 25 cents per watt. That proposal, as has this one, met strong resistance from the solar community and ultimately the utility worked out a deal with the solar industry that left no one completely happy, but worked for everyone. In the more recent case, already 22 organizations in favor of renewable energy have sent the CPUC a letter asking the commission to reject the proposal.

Colorado Solar Garden Program Expands as Prices Drop

New data revealed Colorado is home to some of the nations lowest solar photovoltaic system installation costs as one town looks to expand its pilot solar gardens program and improve its energy efficiency. The Gazette reported that the City Council of Colorado Springs has reached a compromise to expand its solar garden program after its original expansion program was halted due to the election of six new council members. Originally, the council approved a 10-megawatt expansion, due to the popularity of the pilot program. Since it's been scrapped, the compromise reached by new council members calls for a 2-MW expansion to take place over a single year. The compromise stems from concerns that the cost of the solar garden expansion would unfairly fall on the customers of the Colorado Springs Utility company, an effect that must be balanced with a need to fulfill state mandates that call for increased renewable energy portfolios. Originally going to cost $22 million, the solar garden expansion will now only cost $4.9 million over 20 years, offering a maximum incentive of 13 cents per kilowatt hour for customers who purchase portions of the garden. No matter how uneasy councilmen felt about the cost to utility customers, six out of nine members voted for the expansion. Utility customers will be charged 50 cents extra per year as a result. "Colorado Springs Utilities does not have to purchase one grain of coal to supply my electricity," said Bob Kinsey, a resident of Colorado Springs and owner of 20 solar panels. "And I am feeding electricity back into the system." The Price of Solar in Colorado Despite the local incentives towns and municipalities have to expand or undertake solar installations, the state of Colorado is one of the best states to install a solar system, at least when it comes to cost. In 1998, the average price to install a solar system hovered around $12 per watt. In 2012, the national average installed PV price was $5.30 per watt. However, for solar systems that range in size between 10kWs and 100kWs, Colorado boasts the lowest installed price in 2012, with it costing residents and businesses $3.70 per watt. "It is exciting to see tangible evidence that the Colorado solar industry is aggressively driving down solar installation costs," said Annie Lappé, solar policy director for Vote Solar. "Colorado installers are offering some of the most aggressive pricing options in the country."

Clean Energy in Yampa Valley

A new power purchase agreement between community-owned solar developer Clean Energy Collective and the Yampa Valley Electric Association was announced this week.– The agreement brings the community solar model to northern Colorado and supports the Yampa Valley Electric Association's quest to meet Colorado’s newly adopted renewable portfolio standard for rural electric cooperatives. The agreement allows Yampa Valley Electric Association , a customer-owned rural electric cooperative serving more than 26,000 members in northwestern Colorado, to buy 500 kilowatts of renewable energy from Clean Energy Collective'’s newest array to be built in Craig, Colo. Individual Yampa Valley Electric Association customers can then purchase solar panels in the shared array and receive credit for the energy produced directly on their monthly utility bill. The credit rate being offered by Yampa Valley Electric Association on participating member bills is significantly higher than the retail electric rate that members pay, making the program very advantageous for it members to embrace solar, according to its promoters. Clean Energy Collective expects the 500 kilowatt, approximately 2,100-panel array to serve upwards of 200 residential and commercial customers. Yampa Valley Electric Association ratepayers can buy in with as few as one panel, at an anticipated cost of $646.25 per panel, or purchase as many as needed to fully offset the electricity needs of their home or business. Yampa Valley Electric Association's 7,000-square-mile service territory includes the communities of Craig, Hayden, Steamboat Springs, and Yampa, as well as Baggs and Savery, Wyo. Yampa Valley Electric Association joins five other Colorado utilities in providing renewable energy through community-owned solar. Although a final site hanse'’t been identified to date, it is common for Clean Energy Collective to work with local communities to utilize land that is otherwise unproductive, or work with private land owners or local government entities eager to participate who want to leave a legacy of environmental stewardship. In 2010, Clean Energy Collective established the first community-owned solar array in the country near El Jebel, Colo. Today, Clean Energy Collective operates nine community solar facilities in Colorado, New Mexico, and Minnesota, generating 3.8 megawatts of clean power, spanning more than half of all utility customers in Colorado. Clean Energy Collective also has an additional 15 facilities under construction or approved for development, representing more than 6 megawatts of distributed renewable energy

Colorado Has Lowest Cost of Solar Installation in US

Colorado has just about the lowest costs in the country for installing photovoltaic solar systems, according to a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The annual study tracks the price for photovoltaic installations in the U.S. and has charted a steady downward path from $12 a watt in 1998 for a smaller residential system to $5.30 a watt in 2012. While that's the national average, the state-by-state breakdowns are far more dramatic. In Wisconsin, the installed cost for a system of less than 10 kilowatts was $5.90 a watt in 2012. The installed price for west Texas was $3.90 a watt, and in Colorado it was $4.10. For systems between 10 kilowatts and 100 kilowatts, Colorado had the lowest installed price in 2012 — $3.70 a watt. Wisconsin again had the highest cost, at $5.90. When it came to large, primarily utility-scale systems, Colorado again posted the lowest cost, at $3.20 a watt. Arizona had the highest installation figure, at $6.10 a watt, and California was the second-highest, $5 per watt. Driving down the cost has been a sharp decline in the price of solar panels, which dropped by $2.60 a watt between 2008 and 2012. That accounts for 80 percent of the overall price decline. A peskier part of the cost equation has been everything else — including additional equipment and workers' salaries. "The other costs have been less amenable to any overall policy, and they are lots of little things," said Galen Barbose, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley and the report's principal author. "Still, collectively, those little things have become the largest aggregate cost." These so-called soft costs have been a prime target for the U.S. Department of Energy in reducing overall solar-energy costs. The Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association in 2012 launched the "Solar Friendly Community" campaign to encourage municipalities to streamline their permitting and inspection process for solar installations. "It is exciting to see tangible evidence that the Colorado solar industry is aggressively driving down solar installation costs," said Annie Lappé, solar policy director for Vote Solar, an advocacy group. "Colorado installers are offering some of the most aggressive pricing options in the country."

Colorado GE Solar Plant Cancelled

Just two years after picking Aurora, Colo., over the Capital Region for a mega solar panel fabrication plant, General Electric Co. has dumped the business. The decision was announced Tuesday by GE and Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar, one of the country's largest solar manufacturers. Under the deal, which has already been completed, GE sold its thin-film solar panel technology to First Solar in exchange for 1.75 million shares of First Solar stock — about two percent of the company. GE cannot sell the shares for three years. The shares had a value of $83.8 million as of Monday. By the close of the Nasdaq stock market Wednesday, GE's share of the company had dropped to just below $71 million In April 2011, GE announced that its new $600 million solar panel plant — and 400 jobs — would be going to Colorado instead of the Albany area, which had fought fiercely for the plant. The competition by New York made sense because GE's renewable energy headquarters is based in Schenectady, and GE's research and development laboratory — where it works on solar technologies — is based in Niskayuna. The consolation prize for this area was 100 jobs in Schenectady and Niskayuna that would support the new Colorado plant, which was expected to be up and running this year. All of that was put temporarily on hold in July 2012 when GE announced the Aurora project would be suspended for at least 18 months after the collapse of domestic solar panel prices. At the time, GE said it needed to make its panels more efficient and cheaper and that the business and the Colorado plant had to be redesigned to reach those goals. Many analysts said that Chinese dumping of solar panels at cut-rate prices in the U.S. had led to a glut and to the crash of domestic solar panel prices. As part of this week's announcement, GE said it no longer plans to build the Aurora facility. First Solar spokesman Steve Crum said Wednesday his company was not planning to build the facility either. The 100 jobs expected for the Capital Region never materialized. Instead, the two companies will work together on complementary solar technologies. For instance, GE makes solar electric inverters, which First Solar will use in its systems sold to customers. Inverters convert direct-current electricity from solar panels into alternating-current electricity used in homes and commercial buildings where solar electric systems are often sited. GE will also sell First Solar solar panels to its customers. The two companies will also collaborate on future R&D projects related to the thin-film technology that GE is selling to First Solar, which is based on materials made from cadmium telluride. The efforts will take place in Niskayuna and at First Solar's research labs in Ohio and California.

Xcel Energy's Colorado Renewable Energy Plan Based on Flawed Study

This week, the Solar Energy Industries Association joined other renewable energy advocates, businesses, and environmental groups to urge the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to reject a new proposal from Xcel Energy that would discourage net-metered solar energy growth in its territory. Issued last week as part of Xcel’s 2014 Renewable Energy Standard (RES) compliance plan, the proposal takes aim at net metering using a contested, in-house Xcel study that has not undergone public or commission review to make its case against the successful solar policy. The Xcel study and this subsequent proposal do not fairly value the many benefits that net-metered solar delivers to Colorado. When determining the value of net-metered solar, both costs and benefits must be considered. Solar is helping Colorado families, schools, and businesses take charge of their power supply and their electricity bills like never before. Distributed, local rooftop solar also delivers innumerable benefits to the electrical grid, which Xcel unfairly discounts in its study. Private investments in local clean energy deliver economic, environmental and public health benefits to Xcel’s solar and non-solar customers alike: New energy leadership: Colorado ranks 5th in the country with enough solar installed to power 50,500 homes. Grid benefits: Local solar energy systems can reduce the need for expensive centralized power plants and transmission infrastructure, which benefits Colorado’s non-solar customers. Job & economic benefits: There are currently 275 solar companies employing 3,600 Coloradoans throughout the state. In 2012, $187 million was invested in Colorado to install solar on homes and businesses. In order to ensure a mutually-agreeable resolution for both Xcel and the Colorado solar industry, the study and RES compliance plan must be adjusted in order to adequately account for all of these benefits. Until then, SEIA encourages the Colorado Public Utility Commission to take a stand for the state’s growing solar industry by rejecting Xcel’s near-sighted proposal.

FREE Energy Efficiency Seminar in Grand Junction, CO

Energy Efficiency Seminar Save the Date for a great seminar presented by HBA member, Energywise Consultants, titled "Energy Efficiency Techniques for New Homes Seminar"! This educational seminar will include topics such as : Values of Air Sealing, Install of insulation, HVAC Certification, & Energy Star New Homes Program, presented by accredited speaker Paul Kriescher! When: August 15, 2013 Where: Atlasta Solar (1111 South 7th Street) Time: 3:30-5:30 PM with refreshments beginning at 3:00. FREE to attend! RSVP to Vernon at 970-242-9473.

Xcel Colorado Responds to the Solar Industry on Net Metering

Solar industry representatives are attacking Xcel Energy Colorado’s just-announced proposal to change net energy metering. They've called it a threat to hundreds of solar businesses, thousands of solar jobs and tens of millions of dollars in solar investments. “It was done with only the appearance of [having solicited] our advice and counsel,” explained SolarCity Policy Director Meghan Nutting, speaking for The Alliance for Solar Choice. “Throwing out a proposal like this is essentially declaring war on the solar industry.” The Xcel proposal on net metering to the Colorado Public Utility Commission (CPUC) came out of its in-house study on the costs and benefits of distributed solar generation. The study “significantly undervalues solar’s capacity benefits and the avoided transmission costs, and there is no valuation of solar’s ancillary services benefits,” said VoteSolar’s Annie Lappé. “And they proposed a hard and fast fixed net metering charge from that faulty analysis.” “It’s an overreaction,” Xcel Energy VP Karen Hyde said of the solar industry’s response. “We want to have an open debate in the best forum we know of, the CPUC, about the net metering incentive -- whether it’s the right amount, who should pay for it, those sorts of things.” Despite the proposed reduction of the customer benefits of net metering, Hyde noted, Xcel proposed no cutbacks in solar installed capacity for 2014. Hyde expects the filing to start a dialogue about the costs and benefits of rooftop solar. "There is a contribution of solar rooftop generation to our peak," she said, "but our system load peaks substantially later than the midday solar peak, when people start coming home from work but businesses are still operating." That was the largest part of solar’s value, according to Xcel’s study. “We gave solar credit for that, though It isn’t going to avoid the need for a power plant,” Hyde said. “We determined that rooftop solar does not avoid investments in transmission and distribution, in part because we still have to serve part of the load and in part because the peaks are different. We did determine that solar avoids line losses on the distribution system, because it is closer to load, and we credited solar for that.” Hyde said she wasn’t sure what ancillary services solar could provide. “It would be great if they give us some specifics.” Hyde speculated that even with significantly more solar on the Xcel system, the benefits attributed to it by the study would not significantly change. “Over time, as you add solar, it will avoid building other generation, but we have quantified that in our assumptions.” When residential solar owners get the $0.104 per kilowatt-hour retail rate for the electricity their systems send to the grid, Hyde said, that benefit is approximately $0.059 per kilowatt hour more than the benefit solar adds, and it is paid for by non-solar owning customers. “There are just and reasonable rates where one group of customers pick up the costs for another,” Hyde noted. “Rural and urban customers are charged at the same rate.” Xcel’s intention, she insisted, is transparency about who is picking up the costs. “We don’t agree that net metering is an incentive," Nutting said. “It is a fair credit for generation. Maybe the retail rate is rough justice, but solar customers who generate electricity for the grid should get credit for it.” “It is time to start recognizing the net metering incentive as an incremental cost of customer-sited solar,” Hyde testified to the CPUC, “and to include that cost in the RESA.” The Renewable Energy Standard Adjustment (RESA) fund is one of two places spending for renewable incentives can be entered, Hyde explained. Shifting the costs of net metering to the RESA fund is one of the proposed changes. “It is neutral to customers the way we proposed it,” Hyde said, “and it doesn’t change the amount of money available of other renewables.” Xcel is allowed to collect no more than 2 percent of the customer bill to pay for incentives, but the law allows customers to owe it, in the RESA fund, for incentive expenditures. “Even with the net metering incentive for new installations,” Hyde said, “the addition to the RESA fund for 2014 is only $2.6 million for all incentives.” The RESA fund rules are complicated, Hyde acknowledged, “but it shouldn’t impact the amount of money we are able to spend for wind or utility-scale solar. They are becoming quite cost-effective for us.” But it will make more transparent the money spent on “our most expensive renewable resource, which is rooftop solar,” she added. “We want to have a debate about what the most cost-effective ways are to use our customers’ money and about what our goals are,” Hyde said. “I’m perplexed why they are opposing the debate. They should be welcoming it.”

Advocates Urge Colorado Regulators to Reject Xcel Energy’s Anti-Rooftop Solar Proposal

Renewable energy advocates, businesses and environmental groups joined together to urge the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to reject a new proposal from Xcel Energy that would discourage rooftop solar growth in its territory. Issued last week as part of Xcel’s 2014 Renewable Energy Standard compliance plan, the proposal takes aim at net metering, one of the state’s most important programs for encouraging consumer investment in solar power. The utility is using a contested study that has not undergone public or commission review to make its case against the successful solar policy. The Xcel study and subsequent proposal do not fairly value the many benefits that rooftop solar delivers to Colorado. Rooftop solar is helping Colorado families, schools and businesses take charge of their power supply and their electricity bills like never before. This private investment in local clean energy is delivering economic, environmental and public health benefits to Xcel’s solar and non-solar customers alike. New energy leadership: Colorado ranks 5th in the country with enough solar installed to power 50,500 homes. Grid benefits: Local solar energy systems can reduce the need for expensive centralized power plants and transmission infrastructure, which benefits Colorado’s non-solar customers. Job & economic benefits: There are currently 275 solar companies employing 3,600 Coloradoans throughout the state. In 2012, $187 million was invested in Colorado to install solar on homes and businesses. Advocates issued the following statements in opposition to Xcel’s proposal: “Xcel is using a flawed study and backroom tactics to attempt to roll back one of the state’s most important solar customer rights. While we understand that rooftop solar represents a change from the utility’s traditional way of doing business, this proposal is a non-starter for a needed conversation about the future of rooftop solar in Colorado,” said Annie Lappé, solar policy director at The Vote Solar Initiative (Vote Solar). “Private investment in rooftop solar is helping build a cleaner, safer and more resilient energy supply for all Coloradans. We encourage the Colorado PUC to stand strong for rooftop solar by rejecting this harmful proposal from Xcel,” said Carrie Cullen Hitt, senior vice president for state affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). "Net metering is key to reaching Colorado’s Million Solar Roofs goal and has been a huge component to helping Colorado families and businesses afford to go solar. Xcel’s current proposal falls short of accounting for rooftop solar’s tremendous value to Colorado. If we're going to have a conversation about net metering, we need to make sure we're using good, updated, accurate information," said Edward Stern, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA). “With this proposal, Xcel is standing in the way of innovation and customer choice to protect its monopoly status,” said Anne Smart, executive director of The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC). “Instead, Xcel should be working with the PUC and stakeholders to support what the public wants, and what’s good for the state’s economy and environment.” “To increase energy self-reliance, clean our air, and fight climate disruption; Coloradans know solar energy represents a better path forward. In fact, a poll we conducted earlier this year showed a majority – nearly 60% – of Colorado voters agrees it’s important to have clean energy powering their homes. We encourage the Public Utilities Commission to act in the interest of its citizens and not a monopoly utility when considering Xcel’s proposal,” said Bryce Carter, organizer with the Sierra Club Colorado Beyond Coal Campaign. “Our state’s solar industry employs thousands of Coloradoans proudly working to build a new energy economy. This latest proposal from Xcel is a real threat to the continued growth of one of the state’s most innovative clean energy industries. At a time when solar has become more affordable than ever, the state's largest utility should be working with consumers, advocates and regulators to expand private investment in solar generation for the benefit of all customers - not cripple the industry,” said Tom Plant, vice president of state policy at Advanced Energy Economy. “Like many utilities across the country, Xcel Energy is trying to squash one of our most successful solar programs,” said Jeanne Bassett with Environment Colorado. “Rooftop solar provides immense environmental and economic benefits to households, businesses and neighborhoods; while making our electric grid more resilient. We urge our state regulators to recognize that net-metering is an efficient way to fairly compensate owners of solar panels for the value they provide to the electric grid and to reject proposals that would erode this effective program” Groups opposing the Xcel net metering proposal include: Advanced Energy Economy, Clean Energy Action, Clean Power Finance, COSEIA, Dynamic Integration, EnergyShouldBe.org, Environment Colorado, Five Star Consultants, Go Green Electric, Namaste Solar, Real Goods Solar, SEIA, Sierra Club, Sierra Club Rocky Mountain Chapter, SolarCity, Sunrun, TASC, Verengo Solar and Vote Solar. About net metering Like rollover minutes on a cell phone bill, net metering gives solar customers full credit on their utility bills for the excess clean power they contribute to the grid. In place in 43 states, this simple crediting arrangement is one of the most important state policies for enabling Americans to generate their own power from solar and other renewable energy resources. Coalition for Solar Rights http://www.protectnetmetering.org