And the Cheapest Electricity in America Is … Solar

A Nevada utility and a solar developer have just struck a deal for solar electricity at a price that stands out compared not just to other solar deals, but also to just about any other option for new electricity. Here’s what it and other recent deals say about the future of solar. Costs for large-scale solar projects dropped by 7 percent last year, and are down by way more than half since 2009. Photo credit: John Rogers Costs for large-scale solar projects dropped by 7 percent last year, and are down by way more than half since 2009. Photo credit: John Rogers Bloomberg’s story on the Nevada deal opens with this (emphasis added): Warren Buffet’s Nevada utility has lined up what may be the cheapest electricity in the U.S., and it’s from a solar farm. “Cheapest” and “solar” aren’t words some folks might expect to see together in something coming out of a financial outfit like Bloomberg. But folks who have been paying attention to solar’s incredible recent price drops in recent years know that the times they are a-changin’. Best deal in town NV Energy, part of Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway company, is buying output from a project being developed by solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer First Solar at a price of 3.87 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). That’s probably a lower price than you’d get from just about any other source out there, except for wind or energy efficiency. No doubt about it: this power purchase agreement (PPA) is a deal. A utility analyst at Bloomberg says it’s “probably the cheapest PPA I’ve ever seen in the U.S.” Note the lack of qualifiers: no “solar,” no “renewable energy.” Just “cheapest.” And it’s clear that this deal, for 100 megawatts (enough for more than 15,000 households’ worth of electricity), isn’t a one-off. It’s part of a suite of recent deals that testify to how far solar prices have dropped: Another 100-megawatt NV Energy agreement in the same utility proposal, involving a project developed by PV manufacturer SunPower, came in at 4.6 cents/kWh. Just a week earlier, Austin Energy signed a deal for solar at under 4 cents/kWh. On the solar resource issue, you can remind the naysayers that solar is actually much more widespread than they might think. Some might dismiss these deals by pointing to the sunniness of the states in question or the incentives (federal or state) that are buying down the cost. Don’t let ‘em. On incentives, you can invite them to do the math on what it would cost even without the federal tax credit, for example (still under 6 cents for the lowest-cost ones). And have them look to see what solar is achieving elsewhere—5.85 cents/kWh in Dubai, for example. Or just get them to do the math on what fossil fuels like coal really cost. Keep making it happen And, while the sun might not be getting brighter, the future of solar certainly is. Costs for large-scale solar projects dropped by 7 percent last year, and are down by way more than half since 2009. Even more importantly, maybe, is the fact that a big chunk of cost reductions depend not on dropping the costs of solar panels (which are way down already), but on building up local capacity to install (or approve) such systems. That build-up comes only with experience and installations. That price trajectory could lead some to think about waiting till prices come down even more, but that would be a mistake. Solar may keep getting better, but it’s a good deal now, and even more drops in costs aren’t guaranteed. (Neither is the future of the very successful federal tax credit.) We also need utility leaders to keep signing the contracts that keep getting us to ever-greater scales and ever-lower prices. These contracts are a driving force for the fierce competition in the solar industry. So go forth—sign, build, thrive. And then repeat, repeat, repeat.

FERC Removes Obstacles that Limit Distributed Renewable Energy in Colorado

In a July 1 ruling FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) cleared the way for Colorado’s Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA), along with other electric co-ops, to step outside the bounds of a 40-year power supply contract with Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association and tap into local renewable energy supplies. FERC's ruling, which was unanimous, clarifies what had been deemed unclear wording in PURPA (Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act), as well as Tri-State's regulatory status. The contract DMEA and 43 other electric co-ops had signed with Tristate in 2001 required them to purchase 95 percent of their electricity from Tri-state. In short, FERC ruled that as per PURPA DMEA not only had the right but the obligation to purchase electricity directly from “Qualifying Facilities” (QFs) over and above the five percent cap it's limited to in its contract with Tri-State. With the ruling, FERC opened the door for DMEA and other Tri-State electric co-op members to tap into cost-competitive renewable energy resources right in their backyards. DMEA intends to move forward and contract for electricity from a small-scale hydropower facility to be built on a local irrigation canal proposed by Percheron, DMEA's Manager of Member Relations and Human Resources Virginia Harman said. Greater Use Of Local Renewable Power Enacted in 1978 as part of the National Energy Act, PURPA promotes development of cost-effective small-scale hydropower and other renewable energy resources, as well as energy conservation and energy efficiency, FERC explained on its website. Under PURPA, public utilities are obligated to purchase electricity generated by certified QF as long as they total no more 80-MW of electrical power capacity. PURPA QFs receive special rates and regulatory treatment. "Community support for DMEA was overwhelming," Harman pointed out. More than 70 individuals and organizations, including coal companies, as well as the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and the Aspen Skiing Company, supported DMEA's FERC petition. DMEA CEO Jasen Bronec said that FERC's ruling “is a victory not just for DMEA and its members, but for people and communities throughout Delta and Montrose counties. Purchasing local renewable power will further DMEA's long-term strategic goal of diversifying our power supply, which means more stable rates to our members and lesser impacts from any future power rate increases. He added that the ruling “could also mean serious local economic development, as renewable facilities locate to the area to take advantage of our abundant renewable resources in Delta and Montrose counties." Good News FERC's green light “is clearly good news for the renewable energy world,” University of Denver Sturm College of Law Professor K.K. DuVivier commented in an interview. While FERC came down in favor of DMEA's petition on two of three counts, it essentially sidestepped the issue of whether or not Tri-State should be regulated as a public utility and hence subject to direct oversight by FERC, which it is not at present, she pointed out. The decision gives DMEA and other Tri-State electric co-op members much more flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and meet consumer and community needs by purchasing more electricity from renewable power producers, DuVivier noted. Its broader impact will be limited as there are very few co-ops as large as Tri-State nationwide, however. Energy policy and regulatory oversight in the U.S. is moving renewable energy forward in some cases while holding it back in others, added Jack Jacobs, managing partner at Cleantech Law Partners. “It's certainly a big part of what's happening now with energy in the U.S.” The lack of a strong, persistent commitment promoting renewable energy by federal lawmakers in particular remains an obstacle to growth and development, Jacobs continued. Vacillating Congressional support for renewable energy incentives, such as the wind power production and solar power investment tax credits, have resulted in stop-and-go development binges and hampered what would could have been even more rapid renewable energy development and growth, Jacobs said. Nevertheless the DMEA FERC ruling is one step in the right direction.

A Push For Solar In Colorado's North Fork Valley

A crew of six is working to install mounts for solar panels on a residential rooftop in Delta County. This home sits atop a mesa that overlooks the North Fork Valley. And, it’s the first to get a sun-powered system through a local pro-solar campaign. "Solarize North Fork Valley is a program that was put together by SEI that looks at how we can boost the local solar economy in an effort to create jobs in the industry here," said Kristen O’Brien, an AmeriCorps VISTA with Solar Energy International. The Paonia-based educational nonprofit is spearheading the initiative. "I think the figure is in 2014, over 31,000 jobs were created in the solar industry nationally," said O’Brien. She said SEI hopes to bring some of that success to its local community, an area affected by the downturn in the coal industry. How It Works People who sign up get a free remote site assessment from SEI and an energy audit through the local electric cooperative. O’Brien said the audit tells people how much energy they are using and ways to reduce that consumption. "And, what the remote site assessment does is it looks at your electrical usage history, the space you have available on your roof and your budget for the project," she said. "And, we put that all together and are able to spit out a free estimate for you of how much solar you can fit on your roof, how much of your electrical usage it would offset, and around how much it would cost you." O'Brien said after that process the next step is passing on a person’s information to a solar installer. "Based on the amount of contracts that our installers are able to sign as a result of the leads that we provide them through the program they offer rebates to everyone who participates," she said. O’Brien said an average family in the U.S. would use a 4-6 kilowatt system. The goal for Solarize North Fork Valley is to get 100 kilowatts of solar sold. "That’s [about] 25 new solar systems and 25 new homes in the valley that would be powered by renewables," she said. Bill Bishop, Sarah Bishop Bill Bishop and Sarah Bishop were the first to sign up for Solarize North Fork Valley. Mrs. Bishop is on SEI's board. Credit Laura Palmisano / KVNF Bill Bishop and his wife Sarah, who’s on SEI’s board, were the first to sign up for the program and purchase a system. "We had already been thinking about it for 10 years," said Bishop. "And, so when the cost was shown to us at the SEI meeting we just said 'oh, we can do that'." The Bishops plan on taking advantage of a 30 percent federal tax credit for solar and the rebate offered through the program. "We will pay off the investment in about 12 years," he said. "About 70 percent of our electric will be taken care of by the solar system." Jeff Tobe is with Empowered Energy Systems, a locally-based solar installer. The company he works for got the contract for the Bishop’s house through the Solarize program. "It’s created a real boost in the interest for solar in the valley," said Tobe. "I mean that is very evident. I think it’s also increasing the amount of installations that we are going to do this year by quite a bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if we double the amount of installations." Empowered Energy also hired four workers to help with jobs it landed through the initiative. O’Brien said she’s inspired by another Solarize program that happened last year in La Plata County. "They were really successful," she said. "I think they contracted 100 new systems and that’s not 100 new kilowatts, which is our goal." O’Brien said they’re halfway to that target. The campaign lasts through the end of this month.

Colorado power cooperative looks again at rates after jump in solar customers

The Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) is taking another look at raising its electricity rates — changes that could mean an additional charge of about $20 to $24 per month for new residential customers and existing residential customers who add solar power panels to their homes. If approved, the new rates would take effect December 30, 2015. It would affect new residential customers joining the cooperative after that date as well as residential customers who get a new meter after that date as part of a new solar array being installed on their roofs. IREA officials say they’re worried about the cooperative’s ability to cover its costs when more customers get their power from the sun and get credit off their monthly bills for excess power sold into the grid. IREA’s board is expected to take up the matter at its October meeting. Representatives of the solar power industry say they're still reviewing the proposal, but are concerned that IREA's proposal could put a damper on the appetite for adding solar arrays in the cooperative's territory. The cooperative has seen a big jump this year in the number of residential customers getting solar power systems on their rooftops. “It’s not a large problem at this point, but we’re trying to plan ahead and anticipate the growth of rooftop solar and saying let’s address this deficit and cost recovery before it becomes an issue,” IREA spokesman Josh Liss said Wednesday.

Guest commentary: In Colorado, more jobs, less carbon

Earlier this month, a new report titled "Winds of Change" highlighted the major positive impact Colorado's booming wind energy industry is having on our economy. The report, which was rolled out by the national nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) at the Alliance Center in Denver, found that Colorado is home to nearly 10 percent of the entire nation's wind energy workforce, with more than 2,500 jobs announced in the state's wind sector the past three years alone. These are good jobs at 22 manufacturing plants and nearly 30 wind farms. They're jobs at wind turbine servicing companies like the Boulder-based business that I co-founded. They're jobs running financial analyses to maximize private-sector profits. Jobs like these have led to nearly $5 billion in investments in the state, and they help generate nearly $8 million in annual lease payments for Colorado farmers and ranchers who increasingly think of wind energy as a new cash crop. But the 6,000-plus wind jobs aren't here in Colorado by accident. They're here because we have some of the most sensible energy policies anywhere in the United States. Recently, for example, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law a bill giving "enterprise zone" tax credits for renewable energy. This bill is expected to increase clean energy investments and expand rural Colorado's tax base. And our pioneering Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) was one of the first such standards in the nation when it was enacted in 2004. The RPS has created jobs by ensuring Colorado's investor-owned utilities get 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like the wind and sun by 2020. We're on track to meet this standard, but it's scheduled to expire in five years. So it only makes sense to plan ahead by extending and expanding the RPS. The sooner we establish a firmer, long-term policy, the sooner our state's leaders can give clean energy job creators the market certainty they need to keep their investment capital flowing far into the future. Another policy poised to help grow our state's economy is the federal Clean Power Plan. By mid-summer, this plan will set the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants. Colorado is expected to be required to curb power-sector carbon emissions by 35 percent, helping drive an increase in the development of clean, renewable energy projects across our state while creating thousands of jobs along the way. The Clean Power Plan will also drive more investments in energy efficiency — which lowers our electric bills by cutting energy waste — and again, creates more jobs. Despite the obvious economic and environmental benefits of policies like the Clean Power Plan, a few powerful politicians want to hold Colorado and the rest of the country back from moving forward on clean energy. Last month, for instance, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged governors across the country — including Gov. Hickenlooper — to ignore the Clean Power Plan. In a response letter to Sen. McConnell, Gov. Hickenlooper criticized the suggestion, saying it would be "irresponsible to ignore federal law." Since Gov. Hickenlooper is chair of the National Governors Association, the letter sent a powerful message. As someone who's been in the clean energy business for more than two decades, I have witnessed the private sector's ability to innovate. Technological advances in the wind and solar industries, corresponding cost declines and financing mechanisms like community solar projects and power-purchase agreements for wind farms have all led to a major increase in clean energy projects in Colorado and beyond. Last year, 47 percent of all the new electricity-generating capacity installed in the U.S. was powered by the wind and sun. Over the past three years — 2012, 2013 and 2014 — more than 40 percent of all new electricity-generating capacity that's come online nationwide is from wind turbines and solar panels. During the first four months of this year, those two sources provided more than 80 percent of our new capacity to generate electricity. And in April, all our new electricity-generating capacity came from wind and solar power. None of this surprises me. My career has spanned the wide range of opportunities in our industry — including working in wind turbine manufacturing, at the trade association of investor-owned electric utilities, in power marketing and trading, as a project developer, and now in my current role providing operations and maintenance services. I've seen first-hand how the private sector is ready and willing to innovate and to create jobs to help meet an expanded RPS and the Clean Power Plan's standards. Michael Rucker is president of Boulder-based Harvest Energy Services and a director of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), a national nonpartisan business group that advocates for policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment.

UBS Analysts: Solar Will Become the ‘Default Technology of the Future’

According to a new report from the Solar Energy Industry Association and GTM Research, more solar panels were installed on American rooftops this year than ever before. There were also more residential solar panels installed than natural gas power plants. Forbes reports that while this growth is definitely large in comparison to previous years, it is only just getting started. Based on a new analysis from the investment bank UBS and reported on by Green Tech Media, Solar photovoltaics could account for 10 percent of electricity supplied globally in the next decade. The conclusion of this analysis found that the global installed solar capacity will more than triple between now and 2025. This trend will also continue between 2025 and 2050. UBS estimated that nearly 3,000 gigawatts of solar may be installed worldwide by the middle of the century. To put this into perspective, one gigawatt is essentially equivalent to one large coal or natural gas plant. The future truly is looking brighter for solar energy panels and renewable energy solutions. As UBS predicts in an article for Utility Drive, it seems that solar will eventually become the default technology of the future. “We believe solar will eventually replace nuclear and coal, and [be] establish[ed] as the default technology of the future to generate and supply electricity,” wrote the analysts.

Colorado dispute over solar power reflects national trend

A rate dispute between an electricity cooperative that serves a large swath of Colorado and its residential solar power customers is part of a national conflict between the utilities and the solar industry. The Intermountain Rural Electric Cooperative has agreed to review its proposal to cut residential credits for solar energy. The co-op serves a large swath of Colorado from the Eastern Plans to the central mountains. The review comes after customers complained about cutting the credit and adding new charge based on peak demand. Among them is Tim Edmonson, who said he thought he'd save money when he added solar panels to a new home in Castle Rock. "It completely changes the economics (of solar panels)," said Edmonson, 35, who moved to Colorado from Minnesota in July. IREA officials insist that the current rate structure would lead to a huge subsidy to solar-equipped homes. "A solar grows, it becomes unsustainable," IREA general manager Patrick Mooney said of the rate cuts. Still, after criticism from customers, the IREA board is slated to meet before the end of the month to consider changes to its proposal — including exempting current solar homes from the new rates. The battle is part of a larger war going on across the nation between utilities and the solar industry. "There are cases in 30 states where utilities are challenging distributed solar," said Rick Gilliam, regulatory policy director for Vote Solar, an advocacy group. "It is an industrywide effort." The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has also been holding meetings on the net-metering costs for Xcel Energy, the state's biggest utility. Xcel executives have said that net-metering credits overstate the value of rooftop solar to the system. IREA's Mooney said the cooperative's proposed rate changes are aimed at keeping the system viable and the books balanced. "We do have a business to run, and we are struggling just like everyone else," Mooney told solar homeowners at an IREA board meeting Tuesday. The cooperative's solar homeowners are not convinced. "IREA makes it hard," Edmonson said. "They don't offer any incentives. When I spoke to solar installers and they heard I was in IREA, there were moans and groans." The IREA board will have a working session this month to go over possible changes, Mooney said. The next official board meeting is in July. In the meantime, SolarCity has put on hold all solar projects in IREA territory, such as the one Greg Sorge was set to have installed at his home in Bennett. Sorge, 47, has three big horses and two miniature horses and was hoping to use the panels to help heat the barn and stock tank. "We have some huge electric payments in the winter, up to $350, and we were hoping the solar panels would help even it out," Sorge said. "But now I don't know what's going to happen. It is frustrating."

Energy Access Innovation Out of Grand Junction, Colorado

Over the next two days, Grand Valley Power (GVP), an electric cooperative utility, and GRID Alternatives, the nation’s largest non-profit solar installer, will complete installation of the country’s first utility-sponsored community solar array serving low-income households. The 29-kilowatt array will provide low-cost solar power to eight hardworking families in GVP’s service area and serve as a national model for clean energy access. The installation, which broke ground in March, is being completed during GRID Alternatives Colorado’s Community Solarthon event with help from over 100 community volunteers and job trainees. “GRID is also able to deliver community solar projects with a substantial return on investment. There is a 4-6 year payback in energy savings for the families participating in this program for every dollar invested by Grand Valley Power and our community partners.” “Why are we doing this?” says Tom Walch, GVP’s General Manager. “We believe that solar powered generation is an idea whose time has come. Community solar is the best way to harness this developing technology. Unfortunately, many consumers don’t have access to this kind of clean renewable energy resource, even though they help fund its development for others. Our partnership with GRID reverses the flow of subsidies and incentives. With this project, assistance will flow to folks who need it most.” Each of the eight participating families will see a utility bill reduction of around 50 percent. They will contribute 16 hours of sweat equity to support the project’s development, and pay a small per kilowatt hour fee to help support future projects. With this unique model, subscribers will be able to experience the on-bill savings whether they own their home or rent – no roof space is required. The array is expected to generate over $100,000 in electricity bill savings for participants over the next 20 years, helping families in need while helping the utility meet its renewable energy goals. “When planning to meet Colorado’s renewable energy goals, it is important to keep underserved communities a main part of the conversation,” shares Chuck Watkins, GRID Alternatives Colorado Executive Director. “GRID is also able to deliver community solar projects with a substantial return on investment. There is a 4-6 year payback in energy savings for the families participating in this program for every dollar invested by Grand Valley Power and our community partners.” The model has generated interest from utilities and policy-makers across the country, and Grand Valley Power and GRID Alternatives were invited by United States Congressman Jared Polis to brief a congressional working group on Innovation in Alternative Energies on May 6. GRID Alternatives Colorado is providing the materials, design and program development expertise to build the solar array, with equipment donations from SunEdison, Enphase and IronRidge. Grand Valley Power is providing the site, interconnection facilities and administrative support for the project. Other partners and sponsors include Housing Resources of Western Colorado, which helped identify consumers most in need of assistance, Alpine Bank, NREL, Atlasta Solar, Whitewater Building Materials, and SunPower Corp.

Calling all Volunteers! Community Solarthon Opportunities Available

On May 29th and 30th, GRID Alternatives and Grand Valley Power will continue their strong and unprecedented partnership while installing the first-ever community solar array dedicated 100% to low-income subscribers. Community Solar projects are large scale, ground-mounted photovoltaic system brought about through partnerships with local utility companies. By increasing the size of the solar systems GRID volunteers install, we will better be able to serve greater numbers of clients by reducing qualifications and increasing energy output. To ensure this projects success, we are calling upon you to join us on site! GRID has set aside a limited number of volunteer shifts with no donation required for community members and solar advocates- to reserve your spot on this exciting project, sign up through the Volunteer Portal. These opportunities will be posted directly to the Volunteer Portal on Wednesday, May 6th at exactly 10:00AM. GRID is currently seeking both Event and Construction Volunteers to assist during the two day installation. Community Solarthon Event Information: Install will take place at GVP's existing Solar Garden located in Grand Junction, CO The 29kW ground-mounted array will serve 7 to 10 GRID Alternatives' Clients 100% of the array's output will be dedicated to low-income subscribers Each Install day is broken into 2 shifts: AM shift- 7:30am to 11:30pm PM shift- 12:30pm to 4:30pm Volunteers, community members, clients, businesses, and anyone interested are invited to attend the Solarthon Celebration Lunch taking place on Saturday, May 30th 11:30am- 12:30pm If you have not yet volunteered with GRID but are interested in participating in Community Solarthon, call Bobby as soon as possible to schedule a volunteer orientation! Questions? Please call Bobby at (303) 968-1327 or email rkirby@gridalternatives.org

Nation's First Solar Garden Helping Low-Income Families

There are dozens of solar gardens scattered through Colorado. Grand Junction is soon going to be considered part of that list. However with an exception, as the nation’s first community solar gardens helping low-income families save up to almost 90 percent on their electricity bill. This is a partnership with Grand Valley Power, GRID Alternatives and Housing Resources of Western Colorado. These organizations will be installing a 29kW array or row of solar panels; able to help six to 10 low-income families. This is a four-phase project and Brenda Lange and Herbert Sanders is the first family to sign up for the program hoping to save money. “I’ve checked into solar and it was 15 grand for this house,” said Lange. Sanders owned two companies, however that soon changed. “We based on our revenue on national and international clients and after 9/11 they stopped spending money and after three years of trying to save two companies didn’t work,” said Sanders. After calculating his savings; Sanders says he will probably say $60.00 to $70.00 on his electricity bill, which they will use to fuel their vehicles. The second phase once approved is to install another 29kW array able to power another 33 homes in the Grand Valley. Next year, Grid Alternatives is hoping to expand this low-income program to develop a 1-mega watt of solar electricity capacity able to serve 330 customers. Recently, Grand Valley Power met with other solar and electric energy leaders in Washington D.C. to speak about the program. “So often projects like this just get lost in bureaucracy and one of the things I asked them to do is to consider providing block grants to the states so the states can administer projects like this,” said Grand Valley Power general manager Tom Walch. Organizers will be putting up the solar panels on May 29 and 30 expecting to have 100 volunteers helping. Grid Alternatives is having a Community Solarthon on May 30 at the site located at 714 29 Road Grand Junction. A Solarthon tours will be given from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. there will be a community celebration lunch.

Commercial-scale solar doing well in Colorado county, officials say

LAMOSA — Commercial-scale solar farms want to keep growing in Alamosa County, with companies hoping to beat a December 2016 deadline for a federal tax credit that has been driving substantial solar development in recent years. The Alamosa County Land Use Department has held meetings about expansion with Iberdrola Renewables, First Solar and Next Era, said Rachel Baird, the department's deputy administrator. That's in addition to the multiple phone calls received from other major developers in the last few months, Baird said. Together, the facilities generate 87 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power more than 15,000 homes in Colorado and generate more than $500,000 in tax benefits. In Colorado, it only takes six to nine months to obtain a permit, compared with up to two years in other states, the Alamosa Valley Courier reported. In addition to encouraging development, the county needs to pay for extra services to help the solar companies, Alamosa County Chairman Darius Allen said. Bringing the facilities to the county is a difficult task, requiring extra staff hours to complete the permit process, officials said. Utility-scale solar projects have been generating reliable, clean energy with a stable fuel price for more than two decades, officials said. What distinguishes utility-scale solar is the fact that the electricity is sold to wholesale utility buyers, not consumers. Utility-scale solar plants provide electricity during periods of peak demand when electricity from fossil fuels is the most expensive, supporters of solar energy said.

Colorado Energy Expo

Colorado's second annual Energy Expo is set for Wednesday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The expo consists of 3,000 to 5,000 energy-industry leaders, the general public and students. More than 650 students from high schools all over the Front Range are attending some forums where they will learn about a variety of energy careers and pathways to those careers. The energy industry is an incredible driver of our state's economy. In 2014, the Colorado energy industry accounted for more than 250,000 direct and indirect jobs, with a $15.6 billion economic impact. Colorado is No. 1 state in the nation for wind-energy manufacturing, with over 3,000 Vestas manufacturing jobs alone. Colorado is No. 3 nationally for overall wind-energy employment, with nearly 7,000 jobs. Colorado is a national leader in renewable energy installed capacity, ranking seventh in installed solar and 10th in installed wind. Colorado is a national leader in renewable energy installed capacity, ranking seventh in installed solar and 10th in installed wind. In 2014, Colorado produced an estimated 94 million barrels of oil, which is a new state record and a 45% increase over 2013. In 2013, Colorado ranked eighth in oil production with 64 million barrels, and ranked sixth in natural gas production with 1.5 tcf. Colorado is No. 9 in fossil fuel employment concentration and No. 6 national in cleantech employment concentration. The fossil fuel average salary is $102,470 and the cleantech average salary is $77,350.

The North Fork Valley makes big moves to grow the solar industry

PAONIA, Colo. Solar Energy International launches a project to grow a new energy production industry in the North Fork Valley. The “Solarize the North Fork Valley” campaign aims to convince residents of Paonia, Hotchkiss, and Crawford to power their homes entirely through solar panel technology. By creating of a demand for solar panel installations throughout the area, Solar Energy International believes they can create local job opportunitiesfor this struggling economy. Tara Miller and her husband are experienced solar users and will serve as ambassadors for the campaign. “The sun is going to keep shining, the installation takes labor,” says Tara Miller. The launch of the education program has already created seven positions at Solar Energy International and they hope to see this trend carry over into the installation sector. Residents interested in going solar can sign up for the “Solarize the North Fork Valley” campaign at the Western Colorado Climate Challenge and Solar Fair in Paonia or contact Solar Energy International directly at (970) 527-7657. Other solar campaigns such as the Switch 2020 Contract will also be presented at the solar fair.

WESTERN COLORADO CLIMATE CHALLENGE & SOLAR FAIR, Paonia, CO

The Western Colorado Climate Challenge is a forum where people can learn, engage, devise and take steps to solve local issues related to the climate crisis.No longer can we stand-by without taking responsibility. Neither can we wait until policy and legislation catches up with our circumstances.This is truly the time when the people must lead. The day has arrived when each of us can be responsible for how we energize our lives, how we reduce our own consumption, lessen our own footprint. YOUR IDEAS ARE GOING TO PAVE THE WAY TO REAL CHANGE IN COLORADO! We are bringing a diverse group of people together from all over Western Colorado. We are going to meet, focus on our challenges and hash out a firm action plan to change the course our future. We look forward to you joining us! Friday Solar Fair – Free & Open to Public at SEI ●Hosted by Solar Energy International and launching SEI’s long-awaited Solarize North Fork project ●Exhibits from area businesses and organizations ●Light refreshments, cash bar with local beer, wine, hard cider and organic juices ●Live Music: featuring Brodie Kinder & The Killer Bees and other Special Guests Friday Program (@ Solar Fair) ●Welcome & About the Climate Challenge Weekend – Pete Kolbenschlag, Mountain West Strategies ●Switch 2020 & Colorado Climate Summit – Robert Castellino with Climate Colorado and Switch 2020 ●SEI – Solarize North Fork Valley – Kristen O’Brien with Solar Energy International/Solarize North Fork project ●Western Colorado Climate Challenge – Re-Cap & Introducing the Challenges – Robert, Kristen, Pete Saturday Program: ●Panel Discussion: Breaking Barriers, Creating Collaboration for Local Power Generation Led by John Gavan, Delta Montrose Electric Assoc. with Del Worley, Holy Cross Electric Assoc; Mona Newton, Community Office for Resource Efficiency; ●Presentation: Water, Western Colorado and Climate Change By Dr. Gigi Richard, The Water Center at Colorado Mesa University Saturday Breakouts (4 challenges) ●Switch 2020: Moving Colorado to Renewables and Minimizing Water Use – Climate Colorado Leader: Robert Castellino, Colorado Climate Summit Issue: The Climate Crisis requires decisive and immediate action, which often seems too large and unworkable to address. Challenge: How to motivate individuals, businesses, and governments to make commitments to move toward net zero and drastic reduction in water use? What are the actions and deliverables needed to engage communities across Colorado for these changes to occur within the next ten years? ●Rural Solarization – Solar Energy International Leader: Kristen O’ Brien, Solarize North Fork Project; Ed Marston, Board President Solar Energy International Issue: Rural solarization is impeded by isolated, often economically disadvantaged populations, outdated policy, and a public unaware of available programs and/or financing that makes sense. Challenge: Maximizing opportunities to promote and implement solarization in small, economically diverse, and dispersed rural communities. ●Regional Collaboration for Local Generation – ‘Community Challenge’ Leader:John Gaven, DMEA Board Member Issue: Opportunities abound for local power generation, but outdated federal, state and utility policies, lack of project financing, and other obstacles seem to block development, local innovation and installation. Challenge: What collaborations make local power generation feasible and gets more installed? ●Rivers & People Need Water- Gunnison River & Water Management in the Drying West Leader: Sarah Sauter, Western Slope Conservation Center Issue:In a drying American West, the Gunnison River is a major tributary to an over-allocated resource: the Colorado River. It is also a critical environmental and human resource – already part of the Colorado River Storage Project (Aspinall Unit) and utilized extensively for local irrigation, it also provides recreation, abundant agricultural return, and downstream flows for fish, wildlife and other users. Challenge:How can water users and residents in the Gunnison Basin implement changes to conserve and secure our water resources? http://climatecolorado.org/western-slope-climate-challenge-2015/

Colorado Developer Puts “World’s Largest Planned Microgrid” on the Market

Colorado’s 662-MW Niobrara Energy Park, which calls itself the world’s largest planned microgrid, is now shovel-ready and seeking buyers. Cushman & Wakefield announced early Wednesday that it is acting as exclusive agent for the sale of the northern Colorado project, under development for five years by Colorado land and resouce broker, Craig Harrison. Dubbed NED for short, the project stands apart in the microgrid world because of its sheer size and complexity. While most microgrids serve a handful of buildings, at best, and manage a couple of generation sources, NED has secured permits for 52 data centers, a 200-MW gas-fired plant, a 50-MW solar farm, 50 MW of fuel cells, other energy sources, and a range of energy storage technologies: compressed air, batteries, fly wheel, thermal and hydrogen storage, super capacitators and super conductors. “This opportunity is highly unique in its size, scale and scope,” said Jeffrey Cole of Cushman & Wakefield’s Irvine, California office. “We will be marketing this property to investors on a national and international basis, targeting everyone from data center investors, to users that would require cloud computing, to power company investors, telecom centers, local developers, green energy providers, and even certain Wall Street infrastructure funds.” The developer envisions the microgrid managing retail power within the project’s borders and selling any excess power into the wholesale market. The electricity would transfer at the Ault substation, 22 miles to the south, and be sold at one of Colorado’s busiest interconnects. “It’s an energy park, with the ability to provide its own microgrid,” said Cole. “The on-site energy sources include natural gas and a major electrical infrastructure, and plans call for a multitude of renewable energy sources. It also has its own water rights, as well as transcontinental fiber connection with access to 21 fiber carriers or providers. The project includes within its borders triple 230-kV power lines with dual feed direction from four substations, triple natural gas lines, a fiber-optic backbone with diverse carriers and a private 100 million gallons per year water supply. “With special approvals from the state and county in place, it is very rare to have a property of this size with zoning and energy sources already on-site,” Cole said. NED is named after the Niobrara gas and oil shale formation in northeast Colorado. Niobrara also means running water — which has been found under the site. The project is zoned for the 52 energy and data center uses, as well as Cloud data centers, energy-consuming manufacturing, natural gas power plants, solar, wind, and energy storage, with environmental waivers. Energy-related zoning includes up to 50 MW of solar, geothermal and wind, and unlimited energy storage, as well as up to 650 MW of natural gas plants and fuel cell power plants, and more, according to Cushman & Wakefield. It is located near I-25 and US 85 between urban areas of Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming. “NED represents a unique opportunity to acquire a strategically located shovel-ready site with extraordinary energy and fiber infrastructure along with entitlements and zoning for a broad range of industrial and energy-related development,” said Jeff Cushman, executive managing director, Cushman & Wakefield. “It offers multiple revenue pathways for an investor along with speed to market. There is nothing else like it in the country.

Colorado PUC Considers Distributed Energy Storage Challenges and Opportunities

Against the backdrop of speculation concerning Tesla’s upcoming announcement which is widely anticipated to be a distributed energy storage product, and with continuing industry reports of a burgeoning domestic and international market for both grid-connected and behind the meter energy storage, on April 23, 2015 the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) spent the afternoon hearing from a wide variety of stakeholders about the challenges and opportunities presented by distributed energy storage. The discussion came in the context of the CPUC’s ongoing proceedings related to retail renewable distributed generation and net metering (Proceeding No. 14M-0235E). Beginning in June, 2014, the CPUC has held a series of panel discussions focused on different aspects of the distributed energy resource and net metering issue. In addition to discussing distribution system design and ancillary benefits associated with solar photovoltaic systems, solar PV system sizing and panel orientation, and minimum billing issues, the CPUC’s most recent panel discussion delved into the current costs and economics of energy storage for residential, commercial and industrial customers, the anticipated growth rate for distributed energy storage in Colorado, the relationship between energy storage and net metering, and the regulatory changes needed to encourage energy storage projects. Ben Kaun, Senior Project Manager in the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Energy Storage Program, provided an overview of the varying roles energy storage systems can play including functioning as a capacity resource, supporting the grid through flexible ramping, voltage control, and renewable integration, and providing grid reliability and resiliency services. Mr. Kaun emphasized that that traditional metric of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) is not suitable when evaluating energy storage applications; rather, a lifetime net present value approach should be employed to consider the full range of costs and benefits associated with energy storage. Mr. Kaun explained that when evaluating behind-the-meter energy storage it is important to consider the perspective of both the customer and the utility or grid operator since the incentives for energy storage and the potential uses and benefits of storage systems may differ between these two perspectives. A customer whose primary interest is using a storage system to take advantage of time-of-use rates may not be aligned with a utility that is interested in using aggregated energy storage systems to manage overall load. From EPRI’s perspective, the tools needed to understand the value of energy storage and its grid impacts are still under development; however, ongoing industry efforts, including California’s substantial commitment to energy storage deployment, should lead to rapid maturation of energy storage applications over the next five years. Ryan Hanley of SolarCity spoke on behalf of several distributed solar stakeholders. Mr. Hanley updated the Commissioners on the general trend toward declining battery prices which is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Describing SolarCity as bullish on energy storage, Mr. Hanley stated that the company expects that by 2020 all of its solar PV installations will include a storage component. Mr. Hanley emphasized, however, that policies are needed which recognize the full range of benefits distributed storage can provide and allow participants to realize the revenues associated with those benefits. Furthermore, widespread deployment of smart inverters is needed to fully recognize the multiple benefits of distributed storage. While focused primarily on the potential of distributed generation paired with distributed storage, Mr. Hanley agreed that there is no one “sweet spot” in terms of energy storage system size, location, and technology; rather, a diverse portfolio of distributed and grid-level storage is needed and should be considered as part of utilities’ planning processes. Commissioner Glenn Vaad asked the question that many people seemed interested in, especially given the context of the proceeding in which this discussion was taking place — isn’t distributed energy storage the anti-thesis of net energy metering? Mr. Hanley acknowledged that customer-sited storage could result in no distributed generation being sent to the grid and, therefore, no need for net metering; however, he opined that storage simply provides another set of flexible benefits in addition to the potential load modification benefits of distributed solar PV. Sky Stanfield spoke on behalf of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and presented specific regulatory recommendations from IREC’s February, 2015 report, “Deploying Distributed Energy Storage: Near-Term Regulatory Considerations to Maximize Benefits.” IREC recommended that the CPUC consider appropriate rate designs, including time of use rates and demand charges, to incentivize customer behavior related to energy storage. Consistent with comments from other speakers, Ms. Stanfield explained the importance of energy storage “benefit stacking” and the need to open-up markets for demand response and ancillary services that can be provided by aggregated energy storage systems. This, however, is a particular challenge in Colorado where there is no ISO or RTO to facilitate such market participation. IREC also recommended that the CPUC ensure that both interconnection and net metering policies and standards are clear and make sense when applied to distributed energy storage systems. Similar to a point made by Mr. Hanley, Ms. Stanfield encouraged the CPUC to integrate consideration of energy storage into the broader utility distribution system planning process. IREC’s final recommendation focused on the importance of a coordinated approach to safety in the context of industry codes and standards for energy storage. throughout the discussion, the CPUC Commissioners probed into the various policy and practical considerations associated with distributed energy storage and its potential applications in Colorado. While Colorado presently lacks the legislative mandate that is driving the deployment of energy storage in California, the Commissioners seemed most interested in identifying how regulatory initiatives could help build Colorado’s experience base related to energy storage. Chairman Joshua Epel framed the challenge as how best to “leap-frog” distributed energy storage in Colorado? Based on the panel discussion, it appears the answer will be a combination of regulatory incentives, creative approaches to realizing the system and monetary benefits associated with energy storage, and patience as technologies mature and utilities, customers, and storage providers gain more experience with deployed energy storage

Colorado’s Solar-Friendly Communities Go National

The thousands of solar installers in Colorado – as in many other states – have a hard time developing energy regulation. As with most other green businesses, they are often small shops in a nascent industry. Since the rules about rooftop solar are local (decided by towns or counties), more than half the cost of installation are now the “soft costs” of permitting and inspection, said Rebecca Cantwell, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA). But COSEIA’s Solar Communities program has made strides so far in streamlining the installation process, offering a $500 discount for customers of participating companies. The organization now hopes to expand its program to the rest of the country. Solar Communities is a program sponsored by a Department of Energy grant through the Sunshot Initiative and managed by COSEIA, which works directly with local governments to help them implement 12 best practices for rooftop solar. So far, Solar Communities has certified 16 communities in Colorado as “solar-friendly” cities, ranging from Denver to Lyons. This covers over half the population of the state. “Solar is growing incredibly fast,” said Cantwell. “Cities might not have the resources to deal with them, and companies (working in different towns) might have to learn 50 different ways of doing business. “Right now, putting solar panels on your roof is almost as complicated as a whole custom-home addition,” she continued. “But it should be as easy as getting a new furnace. It should almost be plug and play.” COSEIA’s staff has done a great deal of outreach to local governments in order to make this happen: In some cities, the city council took action, while some towns in Colorado learned about the program from each other. “In each case, it took a champion,” she said. The form is easy to look at online, and towns can start getting recognized by following the first three of the best practices the team developed. COSEIA’s 12 Best Practices for Local Governments (important enough to list all of them!) Provide a checklist of all requirements for rooftop solar photovoltaics and solar thermal permitting in a single online location Offer a standard permit form that is eligible for streamlined review for standard residential or small commercial rooftop flush-mounted systems Offer electronic or over-the-counter submittal and review options for standard systems Issue permits within a specified time frame Charge actual costs for permits and inspections with a cap on the total Replace community-specific solar licenses, if required, with standard certification for installers Provide inspection checklist that explains unique requirements beyond applicable codes Specify a narrow time window for system inspection For efficiency, require only one inspection for standard rooftop systems on existing homes or businesses Adopt ordinances that encourage distributed solar generation and protect solar rights and access including reasonable roof setback requirements Educate residents on solar energy by providing information on financing options and projected economic benefit Show your commitment to being a solar-friendly community by tracking community solar development and provide tools showing solar access in your community Some of the best practices may not seem like a big deal (they wouldn’t list fixing your website if there wasn’t a need), but what they really affect is time. “For installers, time is money,” as Cantwell said, but in this case, time is also the temperature of the planet.

Renewable energy isn’t boosting electric bills study contends

Renewable energy is seen as the culprit behind higher electricity bills by Colorado Republican lawmakers, but a new study contends it just ain’t so. The Colorado Senate passed a bill rolling back the state’s renewable energy standard – which requires that investor-owned utilities get 30 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020 and rural electric coops to get 20 percent — to 15 percent for both. “We want to make sure we’re not pushing the envelope so far that we’re hurting consumers, especially the rural consumers,” said the sponsor, Sen. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction. And handing out graphs of comparative rates, Rep. Dan Thurlow, R-Grand Junction, said, “We’ve gone from being one of the lowest-cost states, to being higher than most of our neighbors in the mountain states.” The bill, however, died in the Democratic-majority House. It is true that Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electricity provider, has had a series of rate hikes over the last few years, but $347 million in increases between 2006 and 2009 were the result of the utility’s new $1 billion Comanche 3 coal plant coming on line. A lot of the rate increases were also driven by Xcel adding long-deferred infrastructure, such as transmission lines. Putting that aside, have wind and solar installations increased the cost of electricity? A study by Nancy Pfund and Anand Chhabara says there is no evidence to show they have. The study “Renewable Are Driving up Electricity Prices – Wait, What?” looks at the top ten states for renewable energy, the ten state with the least renewable energy and the nation averages. “Basically we didn’t find much difference and I think that’s the point,” said Pfund, who is a managing partner in DBL Investors, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm specializing in clean technologies and sustainable products and services. Chhabara, who is working on dual law and business degrees at Stanford University, was a summer associate a DBL. In their analysis the top 10 states in renewable energy had an average increase in retail electricity prices of 3.06 percent between 2002 and 2013. The 10 states with the least renewable energy generation had a 3.74 percent, while the national average was 3.23 percent. The numbers don’t prove anything one way or another, but they don’t particular support the contention that renewables boost rates. On the other, hand they don’t give any sense of what the rates would have been in those leading renewable energy states if they hadn’t add wind and solar. Another part of the analysis plotted rate increases by year and showed that leaders and laggards had similar curves, though in the early years renewable energy states had higher rates and after 2005 lower rates. Xcel has gone into wind energy in a big way. By 2016, 30 percent of its generation will come from wind. One reason is that the utility has gotten very advantageous prices in wind power purchase agreements. Xcel’s average purchase cost for wind since 2007 has been about $42 a megawatt-hour, according to the company. That is cheaper than natural gas generation and on par with exiting coal plants. “And there are no price fluctuations for the fuel – like you see and coal and natural gas – because the fuel is free,” Pfund said. Solar has been more expensive than wind, but Austin Energy, the Texas city’s municipal utility, in July reportedly signed a purchase power agreement for utility-scale solar at $50 a megawatt-hour. Another way of assessing the relative costs of different generation is a “levelized cost of energy” analysis, which tallies up all the costs of building and running a generation source, a coal plant or a wind farm, over its life and then divides those costs by the amount of energy the plant produces. Lazard, the financial advisor and asset management firm – no earnest environmentalists they, have been tracking levelized costs for several years. In their 2014 analysis for the competing types of generation without any consideration of subsidies finds a pretty tight price spread. Lazard gives ranges for costs per megawatt-hour and the range for utility-scale photovoltaic solar is $72 to $86, while onshore wind is $37 to $81. The range for a supercritical pulverized coal plant, the most efficient coal technology, is between $66 and $151. A natural gas combined cycle plant – again the best technology – is $61 to $87. While natural gas and coal might be marginally cheaper on the low side, renewables looked to be more predictable in price. Residential rooftop solar is just about the most expensive form of generation at $180 to $265 a megawatt-hour – even more expensive than nuclear power or coal with carbon capture, according the the Lazard analysis. The only electricity generation more pricey is a diesel at $297 to $332. Looking back at Lazard’s 2012 analysis one finds utility-scale PV at $101 to $149 per megawatt-hour and wind at $48 to $95. At the same time the price for coal has edged-up from 2012 by $4 to $10 a megawatt-hour. “The cost curves are coming down for renewables,” Pfund said. “And they will continue to come down as markets grow and technologies achieve economies of scale. It is a virtuous cycle.”

Colorado's Big Coal Cosuming Utilities Move to Renewable Power

Most of the electricity developed in Colorado still comes from burning coal, but even the state's two largest coal burners are adding far more renewable energy. The Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Platte River Power Authority every single lately announced plans for new renewable energy sources. "We've observed the rates dropping, and we've been in a position to add these renewable power projects," stated Lee Boughey, a spokesman for Westminster-primarily based Tri-State. Tri-State announced this month that it would add a 150-megawatt wind farm in Kit Carson County. Platte River Energy, based in Fort Collins, is set to add a 22-megawatt solar installation near Wellington. "Their current investments in wind and solar represent true progress and are essential methods toward diversifying their power supplies," said John Nielsen, power plan director at the environmental group Western Resource Advocates. Colorado has a Renewable Power Regular that calls for investor-owned utilities to get 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Municipal utilities have a ten % target, and rural electric cooperatives, below a bill in the legislature, would have a 15 percent target. Advertisement Platte River Power and Tri-State are wholesale electricity generators and do not fall directly beneath the standards for renewable power. Tri-State supplies electricity to 44 rural electric cooperatives in four states, such as 18 in Colorado. Platte River Energy serves municipal systems in Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland. About three-quarters of the electrical energy the two corporations generated in 2014 came from coal, according to company figures. And so, though there have been advances in adding natural gas and renewable energy generation, coal remains king in Colorado. In December 2014, 58 % of Colorado's electricity generation came from coal-fired plants, and renewable sources created up 15 percent. By comparison, Minneapolis-primarily based Xcel Power, Colorado's largest electrical energy supplier, reduce its coal-fired generation to 53 % in 2014 from 65 % in 2005. Xcel, an investor-owned utility, projects coal will be 46 percent of generation in 2020 and renewable sources 28 percent. About 26 percent will be natural gas. Still, Tri-State and Platte River Energy slowly are adding renewable sources. Tri-State has added 800 megawatts of renewable resources due to the fact 2008, Boughey said, and 24 % of its electrical energy came from wind and hydropower in 2014. In 2013, for example, Tri-State contracted with the city of Boulder to invest in electrical energy from the Boulder Canyon Hydroelectric facility. The new Kit Carson wind farm is being built by Juno Beach, Fla.-primarily based NextEra Power at a price of $240 million and will sell energy to Tri-State on a 25-year contract. Though the prices for renewable energy are coming down, Tri-State's Boughey said the challenge is adding transmission to tie in these sources. Tri-State is building a 72-mile line in between Burlington and Wray at a projected expense of $40 million. "Developing transmission lines is time-consuming and expensive," Boughey said. Tri-State's member cooperatives also added 54 megawatts of distributed renewable-power resources, and an extra 15 megawatts are under development. Distributed resources are smaller sized generation projects that include things like wind, solar, hydropower and recycled-heat projects, Boughey said. In October, Tri-State put out a contact for proposals for further renewable-power projects and these are now below overview, Boughey mentioned. Platte River Power generates significantly less than 5 % of its energy from wind and, at the moment, none from solar. About 20 % of the authority's energy comes from hydroelectric plants. The authority board, even so, has set a goal for reducing carbon emissions from energy generation by 20 % by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. Coal-fired power plants are the largest single supply of carbon dioxide emissions &mdash about 30 % of the nation's 2014 total, according to the federal Energy Facts Administration. Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas linked to climate alter in several scientific studies. And so, the Platte River Power Authority board's request is aimed straight at the company's three massive coal-fired plants. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has drafted rules that would require Colorado to reduce back energy plant carbon emissions by 35 percent by 2030. Platte River Energy is effectively on the way to raising its renewable energy to 32 percent by 2016, stated John Bleem, the authority's organizing and customer service director. That figure involves hydropower and renewable power credits bought from renewable-energy installations in other states, Bleem said. As for trying to get to the purpose of an 80 percent reduce in carbon by 2050, Bleem stated "we've been crunching the numbers." That purpose has to be met in the context of sustaining reliability of the program and keeping rates amongst the lowest of wholesale suppliers, Bleem mentioned. Platte River Energy sells kilowatt-hours to its municipal systems for about 5.5 cents a kilowatt-hour, Bleem said. That is about half the rate Xcel charges residential buyers. The steps taken by Platte River Power and Tri-State enable them to greater integrate renewable energy on their systems, said Western Resource Advocates' Nielsen. "With this expertise in hand, resistance to these technologies decreases and utilities develop into significantly additional open to acquiring further renewable energy," Nielsen stated. "Our hope is that this will be the case with each Platte River and Tri-State."

Colorado shows growth in residential, commercial solar installations

Led by solid growth in both the residential and commercial markets, Colorado ranked 13th in the nation in installed solar capacity last year, according to the recently-released U.S. Solar Market Insight 2014 Year in Review. In 2014, Colorado added 67 MW of solar electric capacity, bringing its total to 398 MW. That’s enough clean, affordable energy to power more than 76,000 homes. The report went on to point out that Colorado’s biggest solar gains came in residential installations, but commercial installations increased, as well. Of the new capacity added, 42 MW were residential and 25 MW were commercial. Together, these installations represented a $212 million investment across Colorado. From an environmental perspective, solar also helped to offset nearly 450,000 metric tons of harmful carbon emissions last year in Colorado – the equivalent of removing more than 90,000 cars off the state’s roads and highways, or not burning nearly 500,000 gallons of gasoline. “To put the state’s solar growth in some context, the 398 MW of solar PV installed today in Colorado is nearly as much as the entire country had installed by 2006. And frankly, the state is just scratching the surface of its enormous potential,” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “Looking forward, we expect 2015 to be the best year ever for new PV installations across the state, with 100 MW in new projects expected to come online.” Today, there are 380 solar companies at work throughout the value chain in Colorado, employing more than 4,000 people. Notable solar projects in Colorado include: Alamosa Solar Generating Project was completed in 2012 by developer Cogentrix. This concentrating photovoltaic (PV) project has the capacity to generate 30 MW of electricity – enough to power more than 5,400 Colorado homes. Another utility scale project, the Hooper Solar Project, is currently under construction in Colorado and is scheduled to come online in 2016. Several large retailers in Colorado have also gone solar, including Kohl's, REI, Safeway and Walmart. IKEA has installed one of the largest corporate PV systems in the state with 1,120 kilowatt (kW) of solar capacity at its location in Centennial. In addition to a growing commercial sector, the Colorado residential market also showed impressive gains last year, with installed system prices dropping by 8 percent – and down a total of 49 percent since 2010. Nationwide, the U.S. residential market added 1.2 GW of installed capacity in 2014, marking the first time that this growing sector surpassed 1 GW of clean, affordable solar. Residential also continues to be the fastest-growing market segment in the U.S., with 2014 marking three consecutive years of greater than 50 percent annual growth. “Today, the U.S. solar industry employs 174,000 Americans nationwide – more than tech giants Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter combined – and pumps nearly $18 billion a year into our economy,” Resch added. “This remarkable growth is due, in large part, to smart and effective public policies, such as the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), Net Energy Metering (NEM) and Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). By any measurement, these policies are paying huge dividends for both the U.S. and Colorado economies, as well as for our environment.”

GRID's First Community Solar Groundbreaking

The GRID Alternatives Colorado office is embarking on an unprecedented and first-of-its-kind project this spring. Community Solar is a new approach that GRID is piloting in Colorado that will increase access to solar energy for low-income families. Differing from our Rooftop program, Community Solar will be a large scale, ground-mounted photovoltaic system brought about through partnerships with local utility companies such as Grand Junction based Grand Valley Power. By increasing the size of the solar systems GRID volunteers install, we will better be able to serve greater numbers of clients by reducing qualifications and increasing energy output. On Friday March 27th, encouraged by the applause produced by a 50+ person group made up of GRID Alternatives staff, representatives from Grand Valley Power and members of the Grand Valley business community, GRID Colorado’s Executive Director Chuck Watkins celebrated the official groundbreaking on a site that will soon provide 7 families clean, renewable and affordable solar energy. Friday’s groundbreaking was the first event celebrating GRID Alternative’s investment in community solar but it certainly will not be the last. The Grand Valley Power project will wrap up with a two day Community Solarthon event taking place on May 29th and 30th, 2015. During Community Solarthon, over 100 volunteers consisting of community members, solar sponsors and job trainees will participate in every aspect of the instillation process from setting up racking to panel install and wiring. There is still time for you to participate in this landmark event! Please see the Community Solarthon website for sponsorship opportunities or speak to a GRID staff member over the phone at (303)968-1326.

The Innovation That Lets Low-Income People Profit From the Solar Energy Boom

Thanks to net metering—a practice that lets homeowners sell excess electricity generated by solar panels to utilities—Americans in more than 45 states enjoy cheaper and carbon-free power. Yet one group has missed out on the solar bonanza: Low-income families, who are more likely to rent or live in multifamily housing where net metering isn’t available. But just as community gardens allow people without backyards grow healthy food, the United States’ first utility-built community solar farm hopes to plug the roofless into the green-energy boom. Colorado’s Grand Valley Power last week broke ground on a photovoltaic power plant in Grand Junction, a mainly rural, low-income area. Residents will be able to buy electricity generated by the 25-kilowatt solar system, saving an estimated $50 to $75 on their monthly utility bill. The solar farm is likely to be the first of many if state legislation encouraging their construction is approved. “This is different than the other community solar models that exist,” said Kristina Sickles, Colorado development director for GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit that worked with Grand Valley Power on the project. “Many are put together by a for-profit solar developer owned by a larger financing firm.” For Grand Junction resident Brenda Lange, a disabled 58-year-old living on a limited income, that means she and partner Herb Sanders, 62, will be able to save money on their energy bill when the solar farm goes online later this year—with no money down. Lange had looked into going solar as a way to cut the couple’s expenses discovered a that installing a photovoltaic system was too expensive. “Every month our energy bill seemed like it was getting higher, and when you live on a fixed income you can’t have that,” she said. “It’s a good thing for the community, it’s great to produce a cleaner alternative for energy, and it’s helping us out financially.” The 25-kilowatt solar farm will generate enough energy to serve six to 10 families. Those subscribers are still being selected, Sickles said, based on demonstrated need. Each family must pay a $30 monthly fee to access the grid. They also must pay two cents per kilowatt-hour for the amount of electricity consumed, which is a steal compared to the 11 cents per kilowatt-hour Grand Valley Power normally charges. Each family will sign a four-year contract, which is renewable if they continue to qualify for the program. Tom Walch, Grand Valley Power’s general manager, said that the utility, which operates as a cooperative, wanted to take on the project because it’s focused on providing services—not profits—to its member owners. “We operate at the lowest costs we can,” he said. “We have to earn a margin to keep our members satisfied, but the margins we earn are allocated to members based on their patronage.” To keep costs down, GRID Alternatives negotiated agreements with SunEdison, Enphase Energy, and IronRidge to supply solar panels and other components at a discount. And local organizations Atlasta Solar and Alpine Bank made donations to the project. Walch says that several other local electricity cooperatives have approached him with interest in emulating the model. Legislation now before the Colorado legislature could encourage the spread of community solar farms by letting utilities count them toward a mandate that they obtain 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. In the true barn-raising model, GRID Alternatives and local nonprofit Housing Resources of Western Colorado are gathering local community members to help finish construction of the solar farm. “Herb and I will be there,” Lange said. “We may not be able to get up on the roof, but we’ll be helping out in some other way.”

GRID Alternatives and Grand Valley Power Announce Community Solar Partnership to Serve Low-Income Customers

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GRID Alternatives, the nation’s largest non-profit solar installer, and Grand Valley Power (GVP), an electric cooperative utility based in Grand Junction, CO, today announced an unprecedented partnership to develop and produce a community solar garden dedicated exclusively to rate-payers qualified as low-income. The first of its kind in Colorado, the 25kW array will provide clean, renewable power to 6-10 families in the Grand Junction area, offsetting up to 90% of their electricity costs. “This model makes sense. We can make clean energy available to folks who have never had access to it. Everybody benefits. By leveraging GRID Alternatives’ expertise in solar development and working with lower income families, we can successfully serve some of our most vulnerable members” "We have seen a tremendous groundswell of hard-working families wanting solar and the benefits it brings,” says Chuck Watkins, Executive Director of GRID Alternatives Colorado. “Community solar can provide solar to all Coloradans regardless if they’re renters or homeowners. We’d like to see this replicated all over Colorado.” The community solar project is the first in the country to be developed by a non-profit in direct partnership with a utility to provide renewable energy generation to qualifying rate-payers. GVP is a major stakeholder in the project, providing land, interconnection, and philanthropic support for the array, which is being designed and built by GRID Alternatives. The utility will own the solar equipment and provide retail bill credit for participating low-income households. GRID and GVP see this partnership as a model that can be duplicated with municipal and cooperative utilities throughout Colorado. “This model makes sense. We can make clean energy available to folks who have never had access to it. Everybody benefits. By leveraging GRID Alternatives’ expertise in solar development and working with lower income families, we can successfully serve some of our most vulnerable members,” stated Tom Walch, General Manager of GVP. In addition to support from GVP, GRID Alternatives is working with local partners such as Housing Resources of Western Colorado, Atlasta Solar and Alpine Bank, and bringing to the project equipment donations from its national partners SunEdison, Enphase Energy and IronRidge. The pilot development will break ground on March 27, and is slated for completion during GRID Alternatives Colorado’s Community Solarthon event on May 30th, 2015. The project will bring together over 100 stakeholders, utility leaders and community members, and make GVP and Colorado a trailblazer in renewable energy access.

Colorado A New Era For Solar

A solar array is going up on a roof of a home or business in the U.S. every four minutes — by one estimate — but getting them hooked up to the grid can take a lot longer. And as the demand grows for photovoltaic solar panels, the processing, approval and connection is becoming a bigger issue and potential barrier. "Addressing this is critical to widespread adoption of PV," said Kristen Ardani, co-author of a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study of the time it takes to apply for and hook-up home and small-business systems to the grid. Ardani's study — based on data from 87 utilities in 16 states — found that while the average time from application to connection to be 53 business days, in Colorado it was 60 business days. The installation of the panels on a roof took two to four days of that time. Another NREL study warned that permitting, inspection and interconnection delays could become "a market barrier that can deter project completion entirely." Faced with the growing list of homeowners opting for solar, Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest electricity supplier, and the state's main trade group, the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, have taken steps aimed at speeding approvals. "We are growing into a new era of solar in Colorado," said John Bringenberg, a COSEIA board member. "Our systems have to change with it." Rooftop solar is soaring in Colorado and across the nation, which saw a record 6,201 megawatts of installations in 2014, a 30 percent increase over 2013, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Annual home installations in Colorado more than doubled between 2012 and 2014 to 42 megawatts. In May, Xcel Energy launched a new online, cloud-computing-based portal for its customers and panel installers to file applications. The utility's "legacy system" couldn't keep up, said Lee Gabler, Xcel's director of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Parts of the filing are now automated; signatures can be done electronically. High marksSolar installers and industry representatives give Xcel's new system high marks. "It is much more transparent and enables you to track projects," said Dan Yechout, residential solar sales director for Boulder-based installer Namaste Solar. Using the portal, application work and approvals can be done in about two weeks, Yechout said. (Click to enlarge) While applications can be done online for Xcel, municipal applications and those for other utilities are still done on paper, Yechout said. When a customer applies for rooftop solar through the portal, the application goes into a queue for Xcel's Solar Rewards program. Solar Rewards provides an incentive of 2 cents for each kilowatt-hour a customer-owned home solar unit generates and 1 cent for each kilowatt-hour generated by leased systems. The program, however, has a cap of 24 megawatts a year, Gabler said. Since 2006, 24,232 customers have installed 223 megawatts of solar generation under the Solar Rewards program. Even with the improvement in online applications, installers say that there are still problems with Xcel's system. "Sometimes it feels as if utilities are not trying to make this partnership work," said Will Craven, a spokesman for SolarCity, which leases home solar panels in 16 states. SolarCity has 7,000 customers in Colorado, according to the company. In Xcel's Colorado service area, it takes an average of 41 days to complete a residential system, Craven said. That isn't as bad as SolarCity's experience with Maryland's Pepco — 90 days — but it puts Xcel in the bottom quarter, Craven said. Among the best performers, Craven said, are Connecticut Light & Power and San Diego Gas and Electric at five days or less. As Solar Rewards incentives have been cut — and are set to become smaller — some customers are ready to forgo them and just install panels, Namaste's Yechout said. It turns out that is more complicated and time-consuming than applying for a Solar Rewards incentive, he said. "You can't go through the portal. And unless the installer is persistent, an application can languish," Yechout said. "It will be essential for the utility to create a process for these applications because more and more customers will go that route." Xcel plans to add this type of application to the online portal, the company said. Streamlining steps Ardani's NREL analysis found that nationally the largest chunk of time is tied up in the utility application process — an average of 18 days. The second-most-time-consuming step was getting the permission to tie into the grid — 10 to 12 days. "But every state is different, and so are the challenges," Ardani said. The NREL study didn't break out the time for local building permit applications. In some Colorado communities this can take as long as 45 days, Yechout said. In 2012, the state trade group COSEIA launched the "Solar Friendly Communities" program to encourage local governments to streamline permitting. "It is a voluntary program, but the response has been very good," COSEIA executive director Rebecca Cantwell said. The program now covers 16 Front Range counties and communities, with about half the state's population, Cantwell said. "As solar arrays become more standardized, we are trying to encourage local building departments to think of them not like a custom house addition but a furnace," she said. Changes made by Fort Collins knocked two weeks off the city's permitting process, Cantwell said. Denver provides one-day, over-the-counter permits. Once a system is on the roof, the last step is for Xcel to add a second meter to measure the solar electricity it produces. Yechout said this can take 15 to 20 days. San Diego Gas & Electric has an online system where it can take as little as four days to complete the applications and interconnection, said Ken Parks, the utility's customer generation manager. "We have seen a dramatic growth in solar," Parks said. "We have to keep up." In 2012, the San Diego utility approved 5,200 solar arrays. It expects to approve more than 22,000 this year, Parks said. And when all the approvals are in and the panels are up, they are immediately plugged into the grid. "We don't have to add a meter," Parks said. "We have smart meters that we can program remotely, and then they are on."

Will Colorado Xcel Energy Coal Investments Become Stranded Assets?

A machine that no rational person wants to build is one that generates stranded assets — assets that become non-functional long before they have been paid for. Unfortunately, customers of Colorado's largest utility, Xcel, are bound to just such a "stranded asset machine," given the poor decisions that the Public Utilities Commission is allowing Xcel to make. Since the turn of this century, Xcel has spent about $1 billion on the Comanche 3 coal plant in Pueblo to serve the Denver-Boulder area, and now the PUC is turning a blind eye, yet again, while Xcel spends hundreds of millions of dollars on old Colorado coal plants in 2014 and 2015. Under the current system, Xcel fully expects its customers to not only pay for these coal plant expenditures, but to also provide Xcel a return of between 7 percent and 8 percent on the money. In addition, Xcel will pass 100 percent of future coal costs through to customers under the Electric Commodity Adjustment mechanism. This risk-free way of generating profit is good business as long as you can get the PUC to agree to it — which the PUC routinely does. The financial world is abuzz with discussions of "unburnable carbon" and the need to avoid investments in fossil fuel assets that are likely to become stranded given the urgency of addressing the climate crisis. None of this is being discussed as the Colorado PUC stands ready to approve hundreds of millions of dollars of expenditures on old Colorado coal plants as part of the ongoing Xcel rate case. The PUC seems to have an unspoken rule that when you walk through the doors of the commission, all discussion and concerns about the planet and unburnable carbon will be left at the door. In the 21st century, that is not only unconscionable, it is also leading Colorado into a very risky economic situation. Even if there were no concerns about climate change, ocean acidification, boiling off Colorado's precious water supplies to produce electricity, or the copious amounts of air, water and coal ash pollution created by coal plants, it still would be a bad idea to allow large investments in coal plants in the 21st century. First of all, as the costs for wind and solar plummet and storage technologies evolve rapidly, the opportunity to move beyond coal for purely financial reasons becomes ever more viable. Second, resources built in this century should be extremely flexible in their operation to match the variable nature of the wind and solar that Colorado is so blessed with. Flexible is precisely what baseload coal plants are not — and we shouldn't be investing in them. Finally, coal plants need a supply of coal to operate and the truth about coal is that most of the U.S. coal that can be mined at a profit is gone. The U.S. coal industry is running seriously in the red, stock prices have cratered, the largest companies are facing billions of dollars of debt and Wall Street has largely left the U.S. coal industry for dead. Consequently, it is completely unclear who will be mining U.S. coal in the coming years and decades — what's less for the five more decades that Xcel's Comanche 3 coal plant is scheduled to operate. Spending money on coal plants in light of these harsh realities is the height of economic (to say nothing of planetary) folly — but that is exactly what the Colorado PUC is letting Colorado's largest utility do. While the PUC is firmly keeping its eyes covered and its ears plugged to the realities of the 21st century, it is long past time that the state's economic and political leaders took a hard look at the facts that the PUC is ignoring and put an end to Colorado's stranded asset machine.

COSEIA Launches Solar CitiSuns Advocacy Group

Recently at the Colorado Solar Energy industries Association’s (COSEIA’s) Conference: 2015 Solar Power Colorado: The Next 25 Years the organization introduced its new grassroots nonprofit Solar CitiSuns. The new nonprofit is aimed at engaging Coloradans in advocating for clean energy policy and making sure solar remains a viable industry in the state. It was a public unveiling of the new nonprofit, which was first introduced last November. “Without the grassroots support of citizens we don’t have the momentum behind us to advance such policy,” said COSEIA Board President Piper Foster, a vice president at Amaris Controls. “So this year the COSIEA Board of Directors voted to inaugurate a new non-profit for the purpose of cultivating this solar grassroots activism called Solar CitiSuns.” Solar on a home. Courtesy Solar CitiSuns “Stable solar policy is incredibly important to our industry,” said COSEIA Board member T.J. Slocum, a regional sales manager with Sunrun. He observed that in the last year there were at least 21 battles against net-metering across the country. “We won 20 out of 21 of those disputes.” The new nonprofit is based on COSEIA’s previous Million Solar Roofs campaign and is organized to engage Colorado’s residents in a way that COSEIA isn’t. “We’ve organized and had people come out to support solar but its always been a little bit difficult doing that through a network of companies and making sure we’re getting the message out clearly,” Slocum said. He added, “It’s not necessarily appropriate for people to be a member of a business association. Solar CitiSuns, Slocum said, is a way to engage interested people in what’s happening with policy in solar in general. “We’ll have a membership base that’s going to receive a quarterly newsletter and…they can become part of an engaged online community that we can call to action if we need to and get people involved,” he said. The organization started with $3,500 in seed funding at a party in Colorado Springs in November. It has a site at www.gosolarcolorado.org where people can sign up for quarterly newsletters and learn about solar legislation and advocacy efforts.

Grand Junction Community solar garden makes major financial impact

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. A one of a kind energy project in Grand Junction has been in the works for three years and it's now proving to be worth the wait. The solar garden - located on D 1/4 Road - is one of, if not the biggest, in Colorado. With 6,666 solar panels spread across 10 acres of land, it's contributing more than just bragging rights for the county. The solar garden has contributed $70,000 worth of energy to District 51 in the short time it's been up and running. The structure is responsible for powering 25-percent of the school district making District 51 one of the most energy efficient districts in the state. District 51 energy manager Eric Anderson said, "We're doing what we can to conserve energy - to use renewable power where we can - and do that in a way that's efficient and effective." District 51 isn't the only one benefiting. Other entities including governmental, non-governmental, low income and residential areas are taking part in the available renewable energy. Anderson said $50,000 worth of bill credits were expected to come from the garden within the first year, but just in the last couple of months they've already calculated $25,000 worth of credits - so the garden is well on its way to beating that original goal.

Solar Leaders Look Ahead At COSEIA's Solar Power Colorado 2015

The theme of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association's (COSEIA) Solar Power Colorado 2015 conference ostensibly was celebrating the last-quarter century and looking forward to the next one. Most of the industry experts seemed to agree that the outlook extending to 2040 is positive. There was a lot of discussion, however, on how to make it through the next few years, first. "We need to have a bigger vision of the future," said Hank Price, chief technology officer of Abengoa Solar and a member of the opening session panel for solar CEOs and executives. "We need to move the discussion to what is the long-term vision for energy for Colorado, for the country and for the world, what is the path to achieve that, is solar the right technology, and does it have a key role to play." Price added that the developer is already looking beyond 2016 and the end of the federal investment tax credit (ITC). "It takes us longer than two years to build a plant," he said. "So, we are in the post-ITC world." Panel moderator K.K. DuVivier, a University of Denver law professor, started the session by asking what it will take for solar to become the primary energy source. Glen Davis, CEO of RES Americas, said cost and system reliability give solar an advantage. Other factors that can help solar include battery companies developing better storage technologies and a shift from centralized to decentralized decision=making in energy generation. "One of the things about PV is modularity," Davis said. "Whether you build on a roof or you have hundreds of modules in a field, you are not losing economies of scale by going smaller." There are still some challenges, said Paul Spencer, founder and CEO of the community solar developer Clean Energy Collective. “Equipment is down in price and up in efficiency," he said. "That’s a great trend but a smaller piece of the pie in terms of the overall cost of solar. The other costs, such as design, interconnection, permitting, legal fees and finance costs, still need to decrease." One factor that Spencer said is not a threat - although it has gained some attention - is falling oil prices. Most states do not burn oil for electricity, so the only effect oil prices will have will be in shipping costs. Carbon pricing is important though, said Lou Villaire, co-owner of the installer Atlasta Solar Center. "We need to stop fossil fuel companies from polluting for free," he said. Customers of the installer often say they want solar because they want to reduce carbon emissions. "Whatever reason you want to do solar is fine with us," Villaire said. "People want a radically different energy portfolio than they have today." People also want solar installations on their homes to positively affect resale values. Villaire noted that it helps that real estate appraisers are gaining knowledge of how to value a residential solar installation. Community effort Of course, not everyone wants solar on their home, so community solar gardens were a major topic at the conference. During one community solar panel, J.W. Postal, senior vice president of the community solar company SunShare, said he expects the Colorado Community Solar Gardens program, which was created by legislation in 2010, to be expanded. "Community solar has an opportunity to be a game-changer," he said. "All citizens can participate. Consumers will choose the better fuel. That’s the future. It may be disruptive to some businesses, but that’s where the world is headed." Community solar programs are an example of states taking an increasingly important role in solar development opportunities, either through regulation or legislation. "I don’t trust the federal Congress to get anything done, so it comes down to the states," said Jared Schoch, principal at Turning Point Energy, a development, investment and advisory firm. "We can look at rates, from commercial, residential and community solar, and how to make the rate structure work so customers want to do solar. If not, I think we will have a shakeup in 2017. I don’t see us getting around it." The states’ efforts can be a positive force, said Mark Safty, a partner with the law firm Holland and Hart. "There is tremendous justification for hope in this area," he said. "We have a federal government that has certain powers, then 50 states that are generally free, which means at least 50 laboratories for rollout and deployment of this change." Colorado is doing its part with rolling out changes. At another session on solar financing models, speakers covered topics such as power purchase agreements for residential customers, property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing, green banks, credit unions and other methods to finance projects. Moderator Ryan Arney, a partner with the law firm Davis Graham & Stubbs, invited panelists to look at the future of finance. One tool might be a new version of PACE financing, which helps building owners pay for energy improvements. PACE for residential solar installations ended in 2010 with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s rule against the program, although these have been coming back to life, led by efforts in California. Paul Sharfenberger, director of finance and operations for the Colorado Energy Office, said Colorado is getting ready to roll out a commercial real estate version of PACE financing this spring. Connecticut has a commercial version called C-PACE, and New York has the Energize Commercial New York program. "You have building owners who are paying utility bills, but the tenants are enjoying the benefits," Sharfenberger said. "Commercial PACE offers benefits that commercial property owners can pursue. It stays with the property; it's 20-year financing at six or seven percent interest, which is fairly commensurate with other commercial lending products." There are other alternatives, such as credit unions and green banks, said Blake Jones, president of Namaste Solar. But one finance issue must be settled first and foremost: "The number one thing I want is defending net metering," Jones said. "Plain and simple."

Rollback of renewable-energy standards dies in Colorado Legislature

An effort to roll back Colorado's renewable energy standard in the state Legislature died Monday in a House of Representatives committee. Democrats on the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted on a party line over Republican objections to kill Senate Bill 44. The bill, which passed the Republican-majority Senate last month, would have cut the minimum portfolio of energy the state's investor-owned utilities would have to obtain from renewable sources from 30 percent back to 15 percent by 2020, and it would have reduced the same standards for cooperative electric associations from 20 percent to 15 percent. Sponsoring state Rep. Dan Thurlow, R-Grand Junction, said the standards have helped to create a thriving renewable-energy industry but also have raised energy prices considerably in Colorado — to the point where companies are looking twice at the cost of locating here. "If we're trying to attract businesses, one of the biggest things we can do is give them a low cost structure," Thurlow said. But environmentalists and renewable-energy leaders argued that the rollback would send the wrong message about the state's commitment to clean power and that it could hurt a solar-energy industry that now employs 4,200 people in this state. "I'm sending you a message: The business community is very supportive of the renewable energy standard as it stands and does not support a rollback," said Roger Freeman, a partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in Denver and policy chairman for the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association, who noted that no utilities came to testify for the bill.

Appraising Solar Energy’s Value - Solar Panels and Home Values

New research sponsored by the Department of Energy shows that buyers are willing to pay more for homes with rooftop solar panels — a finding that may strengthen the case for factoring the value of sustainable features into home appraisals. The study, conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, examined sales data for almost 23,000 homes in eight states from 2002 to 2013. About 4,000 of the homes had solar photovoltaic systems, all of them owned (as opposed to being financed through a lease with the solar company). Researchers found that buyers were willing to pay a premium of $15,000 for a home with the average-size solar photovoltaic system (3.6 kilowatts, or 3,600 watts), compared with a similar home without one. Put another way, that translates to about four additional dollars per watt of solar power. The study involved more solar property sales than previous research, making this sample particularly “robust,” said Sandra Adomatis, an appraiser in Punta Gorda, Fla., who is considered an expert in “green” valuation and is one of the study’s authors. “This study is important for the buying public and the lending side,” Ms. Adomatis said, “and appraisers can say, here’s some proof there is some value to the system.” More homeowners have been installing these systems as the cost of solar technology has dropped over the last decade. As of mid-2014, more than a half-million homes had solar systems, according to the report. Real estate agents, appraisers and lenders are still trying to catch up with the technology, along with other energy-saving features, in terms of calculating their effect on home values — or lack thereof — in any given market. Fannie Mae has acknowledged the growing proliferation of solar. In December, the government-sponsored institution issued a guideline specifying that if a house has an owned solar system, the appraiser should analyze the system and the market to see if it adds value. The guideline provides “critical verbiage to give us some leverage” with lenders, said Gerard O’Connor, an appraiser in Lindenhurst, on Long Island, who has been trained in green valuation. Long Island’s high electric costs have made it an attractive market for solar. About 40 percent of all systems installed in New York are on Long Island, according to the state’s Energy Research and Development Authority. Buyers are “certainly willing to pay more” for a house with the electric bills to prove the savings attached to its solar system, Mr. O’Connor said. But, he added, most lenders haven’t yet recognized that market shift. Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story Arthur Wilson, a builder developing five homes (all presold) with geothermal and solar panels in Middle Island on Long Island, has had his own issues with lenders. He said that an appraisal of $498,000 for the second house to be completed was recently “shot down” as too high by bank reviewers who he said were untrained in valuing green home features. The lender asked Mr. O’Connor to look at the appraisal, and he said that he believed it was accurate in estimating the value of energy-saving features. “Any new item or feature is always a nightmare in appraising,” Mr. O’Connor said. He noted that, under the new Fannie Mae guideline, appraisers may not add value for leased solar systems, which are increasingly popular because they usually require no money upfront. The Berkeley lab report notes that more research is needed into the effect of leased systems on home value.

Senate Republicans advance renewable energy standard rollback

Colorado State Senate Republicans on Thursday passed a bill that would roll back Colorado’s 2013 Renewable Energy Standard on a party-line 18-17 vote. The measure, SB 44, reduces the requirement to 15 percent of all power generation by 2020. It would mean lowering the bar for clean energy sources 50 percent for large utilities and 25 percent for rural electric cooperatives. The existing standard is 30 percent for large utilities and 20 percent for rural cooperatives. Sen. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction, who sponsored the rollback, argued that the 30 percent standard moves beyond the realm of productive incentive and into the realm of consumer burden. “Rolling back these standards to a reasonable level makes a lot of sense for the people of Colorado,” said Scott. “We’ve done a great job but let’s not get carried away, let’s just leave it alone.” Sen. Matt Jones, D-Boulder, a co-sponsor of the measure that created the standard, vehemently disagreed. “Testimony on this [rollback] bill told us that we’re going to meet the standard and that it’s critical to keep it because renewables are a job creator and cheaper,” he said, pointing out that both large utilities like Xcel and providers for smaller rural cooperatives, like Tri-State, have been choosing wind and utility-scale solar over other energy bids not just because of the mandate but because they’re cheaper. The Renewable Energy Standard has been a political hot potato since it passed, part of a larger partisan war over energy policy pushed by campaigning politicians and messaging groups and fueled by campaign finance realities as well as “old Colorado” versus “new Colorado” economies. Mostly rural extraction industry loyalty, even nostalgia, is pitted against mostly Front Range clean-energy-industry futuristic enthusiasm. On the floor, Jones argued that the inclusion of wind has saved Xcel ratepayers $40 million dollars since 2009 and that the renewable standard has made Colorado the leading state in the nation for clean tech — a 22,000 job, $1.7 billion industry in the state. Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, agreed the standard has seen Colorado move ahead of the pack — but mainly for ratcheting up the cost of energy. “We once had the lowest energy costs in the western United States… now we have the second highest energy rates in the western United States,” he said. On the contrary, said Sen. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins. He said that, in his semi-rural district, expanded renewables have lead to some of the lowest rates in the state. In their back and forth about whether renewables are, in fact, cheaper, lawmakers bitterly argued over tax subsidies. The data they cited on subsidies seemed fungible. At least, they used it to support what they wanted to say. DBL Investors, a clean-and-high-tech venture capital firm, completed a study of a century worth of federal subsidies and found that, on a per-year average, fossil fuels have received about 13 times the amount of federal assistance renewable energy has received. Yes, maybe, said Scott, but in recent years the tables have turned. In 2010, he said, the Energy Information Association found that solar and coal were subsidized at roughly the same level, while wind received nearly four times the subsidies dolled out to coal. Another point of disagreement was about what Coloradan’s actually want. Unsurprisingly, lawmakers from rural, and particularly coal-driven, districts were adamant that the standard is at least indirectly tied to some of the recent, devastating mine-worker layoffs in counties like Delta. Rural-area Republicans resoundingly agreed, emphasizing that even slightly higher electricity costs have an outsized impact on profit-margins in agricultural industries. “We need to listen to the people of Colorado,” said Sen. Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa, who said that his constituents have seen steadily increasing electricity costs. But the Union of Concerned Scientists pointed to the bipartisan Colorado College 2014 Conservation in the West poll, which found whopping voter support for candidates who support renewables: Poll: 76% of Coloradans more likely to support candidates who promote renewable energy @ColoradoCollege https://t.co/c7MVQgwRdP #coleg