Utah commission rejects proposed fee for solar homes

Utahns with rooftop solar panels won’t face a new fee from Rocky Mountain Power after the Utah Public Service Commission ruled Friday that the utility company failed to prove such a charge is “just and reasonable.” But this contentious debate pitting the state’s largest electric company against environmental groups isn’t going away. The Commission is open to revisiting the issue as long as Rocky Mountain Power can provide some hard data proving these customers should be treated differently than others who just use less energy than the average family. Renewable energy advocates hailed the ruling as a major victory. “What a bright day for Utah’s future,” said Sarah Wright, executive director of Utah Clean Energy. “This order protects energy choice in Utah, and recognizes the potential solar has to benefit all Utahns.” Rocky Mountain Power framed the ruling as a minor setback in on an issue that’s far from being settled. “It is a little disappointing that the commission did not take at least an interim step,” said Dave Eskelsen, a spokesman for the power company. “We understand that emotions are running high. We look forward to participating in the accumulation of more information.” This high-profile fight has far more to do with Utah’s energy future than the dollars and cents at stake today. Rocky Mountain Power wanted to levy a $4.65 per month fee for “net meter” customers, a group of early solar adopters who number about 2,700. If the fee was implemented, it would raise just $150,000 the first year. At the same time, the commission did approve a small rate increase for all residential customers that is expected to net the company $35 million in the next year. That 1.9 percent rate increase, which goes into effect on Monday, means the average energy bill will go up $1.76 per month. The commission also approved another general rate increase for Sept. 2015 that would add another 73 cents per month to the average bill. Nevertheless, the number of homes with solar panels is growing and Rocky Mountain Power argued in a contentious two-day hearing last month that these customers are not paying their fair share of the utility’s fixed costs to maintain the power system. Eskelsen said that fixed costs could be as high as $30 per month and that the proposed fee was only $4.65 because that was in line with what the Utah Division of Public Utilities and the Office of Consumer Services, both government entities, would support. Groups including HEAL Utah and the Alliance for Solar Choice questioned Rocky Mountain’s motives, suggesting the power company is trying to dissuade people from going solar to protect its business model and that utilities are using the state as a test case. “It’s a victory for clean air and clean energy, and a strong rebuke to Rocky Mountain Power, who once again showed themselves to be more concerned about protecting their dirty energy monopoly than the health and well-being of Utah’s families,” said Christopher Thomas, executive director of HEAL Utah. For Bryan Miller, Friday’s ruling was not so much a victory for the environment as for property rights and consumer choice. “This is by no means over. We applaud the commission for taking the reasonable step of having a transparent discussion,” Miller said. “The commission concluded doing a thoughtful cost-benefit study was the right approach. Transparency is the interest of all ratepayers.” Eskelsen said the conspiracy accusations are “overreaching” and said the company’s only motive was “to make sure that rates cover the costs of providing service.” Net metered customers bank credit for the excess power they generate and pump into the grid, then redeem the credit at those times of day when their solar panels can’t meet their electrical needs.

Utilities Balk As Customers Embrace Rooftop Solar

The cost of solar is falling rapidly – down 60 percent since 2011. These days, solar is not only good for the environment; it's becoming more of a smart financial move for households and communities. "Since 2006, solar installations in the United States have increased by 1600-percent, and the overall market is expected to grow by a factor of ten between 2010 and 2016." Utilities aren’t all happy about this trend. In fact, many are fighting against it. That’s because more customers putting solar panels up on their rooftops means utilities will be selling less power to them. Additionally, in most states, utilities are actually required to buy any excess power those customers produce beyond what they are using at any given time, through a system called net metering. "That’s a concern," said Xcel Energy Vice President of Policy and Staff Frank Prager. "That’s why we’re trying to address it today before it gets to be too big a concern." Xcel, and many other major utilities across the country, are members of an industry trade group called the Edison Electric Institute. In a 2013 report called "Disruptive Challenges," the institute said this trend – more customers selling electricity to the utility, rather than buying from them – is simply not a sustainable business model. Even though rooftop solar is such a small share of the nation’s overall electricity production at this stage (far less than one-half of 1 percent in most of the U.S.), EEI suggests the industry supports measures that would discourage more rooftop solar expansion. That’s happening around the country. For example, Arizona Public Service fought hard in 2013 to put in place fees on rooftop solar customers of between $50 and $100 per month. State regulators eventually agreed to a much smaller fee of about $5 per month. In Colorado, Xcel is asking the public utilities commission to cut the net metering credit with both sides of the issue sparring over solar's value. For Xcel, it’s meant a major ad campaign, advocating big fields of solar panels controlled by the utility, not by the customer. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research studies how to bring more renewable power online. President Arjun Makhijani said utilities are entrenched, having traditionally relied on guaranteed rates of return. "They’re not used to new things coming along that would challenge this very comfortable state of affairs," Makhijani said. In Boulder, Colorado, Xcel's customers aren't falling on the utilities' side of status quo. "Xcel either changes to match technology or they're gonna get left behind," said resident Don Dugger while looking out at the new solar installation going up on his roof. The way he sees it, battery technology for storing solar is coming along fast enough. "We won’t need the grid at all!" Dugger said. While that may be far-fetched, changes are coming. Even as utilities try to fight rooftop solar, some are also preparing for its continued advance. Even Arizona Public Service, which fought so hard for those greater fees on solar customers, is jumping into the market itself. APS has announced a brand new program – leasing rooftop solar panels to their customers as an option to bring down electric bills.

Adams County, CO first county in nation to invest in community solar garden

The community solar model is quickly emerging as a viable and desirable source of renewable energy. Adams County, Co. is the next community to invest in the shared solar model, making it the first county in the nation to partner in a community solar garden. In 2010, the Colorado State legislature led the nation by passing the country's first Community Solar Gardens Act to allow customers who aren't able to put solar panels on their homes to buy solar energy from a solar array located in their community. Since then, 16 states from Minnesota to California have developed legislation creating their own community solar gardens programs. Denver-based SunShare, who already has more than 11 MW of community solar gardens built or under development in Colorado, is providing the garden for Adams County. SunShare has projects underway with Colorado Springs Utilities and Xcel Energy with the capacity to serve more than 2,200 homes. SunShare customers who buy a specific amount of energy from the solar garden receive a credit on their Colorado Springs Utilities or Xcel Energy bill.

These 10 States Are Leading the Way in Solar Power. What's Their Secret?

And what can the other 40 states learn from them? Solar power has made incredible progress here in the U.S. According to a new report from Environment America. In the last 10 years, solar panel capacity has increased more than 120-fold. In just 2011 to 2013 alone, solar power has tripled. Incredibly, 10 standout states are responsible for a big chunk of that growth. The Lighting the Way: The Top Ten States that Helped Drive America’s Solar Energy Boom in 2013 report notes that even though these 10 states account for only 26 percent of the U.S. population, they’re responsible for a whopping 87 percent of the county’s solar boom. The states deserving a standing ovation? Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and North Carolina, all of which are doing a massive part in helping the entire country curb its reliance on dirty (not to mention, increasingly expensive) fossil fuels by harnessing the power of the sun. MORE: This Man’s Seriously Bright Idea is Giving People the Ability to Create Power Anywhere Here are some of the most interesting points and lessons (highlighted in bold) from the Environment America report. Perhaps the states that didn’t make the cut should take note. - The report emphasizes that the most important factor of solar success is due to support from state and local governments, who have created policies that push for growth in renewables. For example, the report states that New Jersey has a target of obtaining 4.1 percent of its electricity from the sun by 2028. California has an extremely high renewable energy target — 33 percent — by 2020. - Speaking of California, the Golden State state is also expanding its battery storage technology so residents can rely on the sun’s power even after it sets, the report finds. - Several states in the top 10 also encourage small businesses and individual homeowners to go solar by paying them for the renewable energy they create. For instance, Hawaii’s feed-in tariff pays 21.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for small-scale residential solar projects, the report says. Clearly, it really does pay to be green. - Top-ranked Arizona has the highest solar electricity capacity per capita, with 275 watts of solar electricity capacity per resident — about seven times as much solar electricity capacity per person compared to the national average. So why is Arizona a solar success story? According to the report, the state was the first to require utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their electricity from solar energy. However, the Arizona Corporation Commission (the state’s utility regulator) recently voted to end tax incentives which could hurt businesses and residents who want to go solar, the report points out. - It’s no surprise that sun-spoiled western states rank near the top, but even small eastern states such as New Jersey, Massachusetts and Delaware have made the cut thanks to high electricity prices as well as public concern about pollution and clean energy. It’s clear that many Americans want a clean and efficient energy future, and these states are responding to the call. - North Carolina rounded out the top 10 due to its several large-scale solar energy installations by utilities, which shot the state’s solar capacity per-capita by more than 140 percent since 2012, the report says. The state also allows clean energy companies to compete utilities and lets consumers pick their energy supplier. ALSO: So Meta: Using the Power of the Sun to Create Solar Devices The big takeaway is that these states and their local governments have shown solid support and enacted polices that encourage and incentivize businesses, individuals and communities to make the switch to solar. With the Obama administration’s new limits on emissions, the whole country needs to do their part. Especially since the planet is only getting hotter. Luckily, they can look to these 10 states that are truly lighting the way. Read more: http://nationswell.com/solar-power-top-10-states/#ixzz3AIYFpHA9

Solar Capacity in Colorado Grew by 18 Percent in 2013

Yesterday, Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center released Lighting the Way: The Top Ten States that Helped Drive America’s Solar Energy Boom in 2013, showing strong solar growth across the nation including an 18% increase in Colorado in 2013. The report emphasizes that it is not availability of sunlight that makes states solar leaders, but the degree to which state and local governments have created effective public policy to help capture the virtually unlimited and pollution-free energy from the sun. Colorado’s progress on solar has helped fuel a tripling of solar energy nationwide between 2011 and 2013. In 2013, solar capacity in Colorado grew from 270 MW to 331 MW. “Solar energy is emerging as a go-to energy option here in Colorado and across the country,” said Charlotte Bromley, field organizer with Environment Colorado. “Thanks to the commitment of Colorado’s leaders, this pollution-free energy option is poised to play a major role in helping us meet our carbon emission reduction standards set by the Clean Power Plan.” Solar in the United States increased more than 120-fold in the last 10 years. In the first quarter of 2014, solar energy accounted for 74 percent of all the new electric generation capacity installed in the United States. Ten states with the most solar installed per/capita are driving 89% of the solar installed in the U.S, while, representing only 26 percent of the population and 20 percent of the electricity consumption. “We are so lucky to have so many fantastic days of the year where we have sun, it would be irresponsible if we didn’t take advantage of it,” said Representative Linda Newell, Colorado Senator for District 26. And as the solar industry grows, the cost for installed solar decreases, making it more accessible. The price of installed solar systems fell 60 percent between the beginning of 2011 and the end of 2013. Jobs in the solar industry are also growing rapidly. In 2013, there were more than 140,000 solar jobs in the U.S., including 3,600 in Colorado. “The solar industry provides more jobs than both the coal industry and the steel industry; that rate has grown over 50 percent since 2010 and is at a current rate of about 20 percent job growth per year which is ten times the national average” said Carly Rixham, Executive Director of the American Solar Energy Society. Another major driver for solar energy is that it produces no pollution; including climate-altering carbon emissions. According the report, solar power produces 96 percent less global warming pollution than coal-fired power plants over its entire life-cycle and 91 percent less global warming pollution than natural gas-fired power plants. “Colorado’s solar industry has grown up around favorable state policies so that we now have more than 230 companies providing 3,600 jobs in communities across our state,” said Rebecca Cantwell, Executive Director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association who joined Environment Colorado in the release of the report. “Since Colorado voters became the first in the nation to adopt a renewable energy standard, the solar industry has contributed about $1.5 billion in economic benefits. But this leadership position is threatened. Xcel Energy's attack on the critical solar policy of net metering must be stopped for our state to remain a solar leader.” “Moving towards a positive environment is also moving towards a positive economy, and it’s really important to remember that solar jobs in particular are good, clean jobs with livable wages, and those are the kind of jobs we need to see more of in Colorado” said Newell. Several strong policies adopted by the top 10 solar states, like Colorado, helped encourage homeowners and businesses to “go solar:” 9 states have strong net metering policies. In nearly all of the leading states, consumers are compensated at the full retail rate for the excess electricity they supply to the grid. 9 states have strong statewide interconnection policies. Good interconnection policies reduce the time and hassle required for individuals and companies to connect solar energy systems to the grid. All 10 states have renewable electricity standards that set minimum requirements for the share of a utility’s electricity that must come from renewable sources, and 8 of them have solar carve-outs that set specific targets for solar or other forms of clean, distributed electricity. 9 states allow for creative financing options such as third-party power purchase agreements, and 8 allow property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing. Here in Colorado solar progress is attributed to a number of programs, including Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard, which requires investor-owned energy utilities to produce 30% renewable energy by 2020. “Colorado officials deserve tremendous credit for recognizing the environmental and economic benefits of solar and taking action to make it a reality,” said Bromley. “As more people see the benefits of solar energy, we’re confident clean, limitless energy from the sun will be a growing part of Colorado’s plan to reduce pollution from power plants.”

Xcel Energy: Swiftboating for Solar

Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest investor-owned utility, is attacking net metering once again. Rather than pay solar customers full, fair credit for the energy they put back into the grid, the company would undermine the solar market altogether. To protect its profits, the company is claiming solar is bad for the grid, despite having championed the industry in a former life. Xcel has been trying to cripple Coloradans' energy choices and the state's distributed solar market for years now. In 2011, the energy monopoly poured nearly $1 million into a campaign to stymy the city of Boulder's attempt to municipalize its utility grid - and failed. This past June, Xcel filed a lawsuit to try to block Boulder from implementing its successful municipalization measure. It was not always thus, however. In a simpler, less competitive time, Xcel championed incentive programs. This press release reveals a window into a time long past, when a clear-eyed young Xcel lauded the benefits of solar net metering to all ratepapers. Xcel once danced hand in hand with the Colorado voter down roads paved with solar panels, eager to comply with the state's renewable energy standard. Xcel's response to critics if net metering would impact non-solar ratepayers: Balderdash. As the Denver Post put it back in 2007: "Yet Xcel officials maintain that all customers benefit, because solar systems delay the need to build expensive power plants and reduced prospective future taxes on carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power." This same Xcel currently uses its resources to influence ballots, obfuscates wherever possible to skew data in its favor, and executes on the national utility playbook to stop the growth of rooftop solar. Xcel is helping lead the bandwagon in campaigns against net metering. So what has Xcel swiftboating on solar? Behind all of the company's actions is a thinly-veiled profit protection plan. When the solar market in Colorado was its alone, Xcel was happy to boast its support for rooftop solar growth. When there was no competition to hold Xcel accountable, it lauded the growth opportunities offered by net metering and the environmental benefits of local energy generation. As the nascent solar leasing industry began to pick up steam, however, Xcel changed its tune. This is not to say, however, that the company does not still fly its solar flag high. Lately, it has been sporting a new advertising campaign under the jazzy tagline "Doing Solar Right." Like many other corporations looking to make hay out of the environmental movement, Xcel has been greenwashing with gusto. The new image comes replete with chirpy narration, crisp graphics and opaque accolades. The mercurial utility is hedging. Unwilling to give the free market a chance to decide the best solar model, it would slash net metering credit and take the consumer's choice out of the equation. Thus far, energy consumers have pushed back against reactionary private utilities and preserved net metering in states across the country. Polling in Colorado shows that 78% of voters support net metering and disapprove of Xcel's roll-back of its own incentives programs. With the deck stacked against them like this, Xcel should keep in mind that the American public has typically been unkind to flip-floppers.