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."