Colorado hits lowest renewables and storage bids to date

The growing attractiveness of the U.S. renewables sector was again underlined last week, as a new analysis detailed how wind and solar projects in Colorado are set to undercut the cost of existing coal power even when storage costs are included. Influential think tank Carbon Tracker published a research note last week analyzing a recent Colorado filing from leading U.S. utility Xcel Energy. The filing, known as an Electric Resource Plan, contains over 350 proposals for new renewables projects. Carbon Tracker said the median bid price for wind plus storage was $21/MWh and for solar plus storage was $36/MWh. "As far as we know, these are the lowest renewables plus storage bids in the U.S. to date," the analyst group said in a blog post. The analysis acknowledges that several details relating to the projects "remain unknown," but it calculated that the median bid for wind plus storage appears to be lower than the operating cost of all coal plants currently in Colorado, while the median solar plus storage bid could be lower than 74 percent of operating coal capacity. "Details on the bids are sparse," Carbon Tracker said. "Crucially, the amount of storage is currently unknown. The combination of renewables plus storage bids are $3 to $7/MWh higher than standalone wind and solar bids, suggesting a limited amount of storage. The capacity, if accepted, will also be online by 2023. However, as far as we know, these are the lowest renewables plus storage bids in the US to date. The previously lowest known solar plus storage bid price was $45/MWh in Arizona in May. "These changes highlight the dramatic declines in storage costs and reveal just how uncompetitive coal has become." The analysis came in the same week as new figures from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) confirmed coal use contracted last year and revealed that over the next three years 74 coal units are set to be retired across the U.S., with a total generation capacity of more than 20GW. In their place, just four coal units are scheduled to be built over the same period, representing just 1,927MW of capacity. It means the U.S. will experience a 6 percent net decline in its generation capacity over the period. In contrast, projections for renewables deployment remain broadly positive, despite hostility from the Trump administration, as falling wind, solar and storage costs help drive investment in the sector.

Southern Colorado in running for two large manufacturing plants, including a solar-panel fab

Two large companies, one from India and the other local, received approval for $20.6 million in state economic development incentives on Thursday in return for the construction of manufacturing plants that could employ more than 900 workers in southern Colorado, an area of the state that has struggled economically. The projects were among seven incentive requests worth $38.4 million that the commission approved Thursday from companies looking to bring 1,631 jobs to the state. Project Clear Skies, the code name for a global infrastructure company founded in India in 1988, is considering Pueblo County for what would be the largest build-to-suit solar cell and solar panel manufacturing center in the United States. The company plans to invest $300 million into a new 750,000-square-foot facility, and also is considering locating a 700-megawatt solar power plant nearby. Once it is up and running, the facility will employ 705 full-time workers earning an average annual wage of $52,794. That would help Pueblo, home to a tower manufacturing plant for Danish wind turbine maker Vestas, cement its reputation as a green energy manufacturing hub and draw suppliers to the region, said Michelle Hadwiger, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Pueblo must beat out a long list of rival sites located in Texas, South Carolina, New York, New Mexico, Florida and Virginia. The Colorado Economic Development Commission awarded Project Clear Skies $3.5 million from the state’s Strategic Fund, an amount local governments will need to match, in order to sway a decision in Colorado’s favor. Project 5000, the code name given to a Colorado-based holding company that is more than 100 years old, wants to build a $500 million manufacturing plant it needs to launch a new product line. The company received approval for $14.25 million in enterprise-zone tax credits, which are available in the most economically distressed areas of the state. The plant would hire 205 workers earning an average annual wage of $74,450, which made Project 5000 eligible for $2.8 million in job-growth incentive tax credits that were also approved. Project 5000 sought a higher level of secrecy and did not disclose the specific county it is considering. The company also is seeking to take advantage of a change in state law that allows companies to transfer state tax-credit awards, an option helpful to companies that do not make enough income to take advantage of those credits. “It’s the first time the transferable tax credit and waiver of certification has been used,” said Jeff Kraft, the state’s director of business funding and incentives. He added that the company would not have considered Colorado without transferable incentives. Also on Thursday, an award worth $11.1 million in job-growth incentive tax credits went to Project Aloha, a San Jose technology firm that provides cloud-based solutions for incentive compensation and sales performance management. The privately held company already employs 470 people, including 96 in Colorado. It is considering Denver, Austin, Washington, D.C., and Bedford, Mass., for an expansion that would add 479 additional workers earning an average annual wage of $100,939 a year. Smaller awards went to a precision rifle casing maker looking to relocate from Ogden, Utah, to Routt County; an Australian machine-intelligence firm considering Boulder for its first U.S. office; an infrastructure engineering and consulting firm looking to expand in Larimer County and a local aerospace and aviation manufacturing firm looking to add 80 positions in Arapahoe County to the 450 it already has in the state.

Another U.S. Community Adopts 100% Renewables Goal

The Breckenridge, Colo., town council has unanimously approved a resolution committing the community to shift away from dirty fossil fuels and to transition to 100% clean, renewable electricity by 2035. According to the Sierra Club, Breckenridge joins a growing coalition of mountain communities moving to 100% clean energy across the country, including big cities like Salt Lake City and towns like Aspen. In addition, the Sierra Club has also released a new case study report highlighting 10 U.S. cities that have adopted 100% renewable energy goals. With support from local volunteers, community leaders, The Climate Reality Project and the Sierra Club, the Breckenridge town council will commit to reach 100% renewable electricity community-wide. This announcement comes on the heels of similar pledges made this year by Nederland and Pueblo in Colorado. “The Town of Breckenridge is thrilled to continue our efforts in sustainability by initiating a town-wide goal for renewable energy by 2035,” says Breckenridge Mayor Eric Mamula. “This has been something Breckenridge has been working toward, and I’m happy to see it go into effect. Keeping our town clean for generations to come is important to our community, and I believe this resolution shows our commitment to all our sustainability efforts.” The Sierra Club says Breckenridge’s announcement recognizes the reality of the climate crisis, as 16 of the 17 hottest years on record globally have occurred since the beginning of this century. Experts estimate that by the end of the century, only six of the 19 cities that have previously hosted the Winter Olympics will be cold enough to host again, the group adds. The practical clean energy solutions that communities like Breckenridge can use to help solve this crisis are getting more affordable and accessible every year, especially solar. “I am thrilled that the Breckenridge Town Council has taken this bold step,” says Beth Groundwater, chair of the Breckenridge for 100% Renewable Energy Campaign. “I want to thank the dedicated volunteers and petition signers for our Breckenridge for 100% Renewable Energy campaign, who have come to events and town council meetings, brought friends to the campaign, written letters to town council, and in so many other ways shown that Breckenridge residents and businesses wholeheartedly support this resolution.” “We’re proud of communities like Breckenridge, Nederland, and Aspen demonstrating leadership in our mountain communities,” says Colorado Sierra Club Director Jim Alexee. “Hundreds of residents in these small towns are speaking up to the importance for a just and equitable transition to a renewable energy economy for its benefits of creating jobs, saving energy dollars, and fighting climate change. We look forward to working with our local members, supporters, partners and civic leaders on this transition in the years ahead.” “Climate Reality is proud to work with our partners at the Sierra Club and mountain communities like Breckenridge that recognize the impacts the climate crisis is already having on snow and outdoor recreation,” says Climate Reality’s 100% Committed Campaign Coordinator Lindsey Halvorson. “Together, we are proud to be working toward local solutions that bring us all hope. After months of hard work, the Town of Breckenridge is taking a tremendous step towards a clean, renewable energy economy.” The Sierra Club has released a new report showcasing 10 U.S. cities that have made commitments to be powered with 100% renewable energy and the steps those communities are taking to achieve their goals. This is the second annual case study report from Ready For 100, a Sierra Club campaign launched in 2016 working in cities and towns across the U.S. According to the Sierra Club, nearly 50 U.S. cities and towns have now committed to transition to 100% clean energy, including big cities like San Diego and small towns such as Abita Springs, La. At least five U.S. cities have already achieved 100% clean energy and are powered today with entirely renewable sources, the group adds. “The time for 100 percent clean energy has come, and cities are leading the way,” says Jodie Van Horn, director of the Sierra Club’s Ready For 100 campaign. “Local leaders know first-hand the harmful effects that pollution and the high cost of dirty energy has on people and families. That’s why nearly 50 communities, from big cities to small towns, have stepped up to break away from dirty fuels and committed to go to 100 percent clean, renewable energy.” The Sierra Club says that among the cities highlighted in the report are Atlanta, the largest city in the South to commit to clean energy; Hanover, N.H., the first city to have committed to 100% clean energy by popular vote; and Pueblo, Colo., where high energy costs from gas power sparked a movement for clean energy. The movement for 100% clean energy continues to grow across the country. In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a historic resolution that establishes support from the nation’s mayors for the goal of moving to 100% clean and renewable energy in cities nationwide. In addition, a global report from Ørsted recently found that 8 out of 10 people support 100% renewable energy.

Holy Cross Energy announces new solar array projects in Gypsum and Aspen

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Holy Cross Energy has accepted proposals for two new utility-scale solar projects to be built within its service territory over the next 18 months, and one of those new projects is planned in the Gypsum area. Each 5-megawatt project will produce enough electricity to serve the annual electric needs of 900 homes, helping Holy Cross to further increase its renewable-energy share and reduce future greenhouse-gas emissions. "These two new solar projects are part of our continued commitment to providing reliable, affordable and increasingly cleaner electricity to our members and the communities we serve," said Megan Gilman, chair of the Holy Cross Energy Board of Directors, in a news release. "Not only will these projects help us further reduce our environmental impact, but they will also provide a consistent, cost-effective source of power supply for years to come." NEAR GYPSUM Cypress Creek Renewables, a leading national solar energy company, will build a utility-scale solar array for Holy Cross on 30 acres south of Gypsum. Cypress Creek Renewables works with local partners and community stakeholders to develop, finance, build and operate solar-generating assets throughout the United States, with more than 1 gigawatt in operation across more than a dozen states. Headquartered in California, Cypress Creek has a local office in Breckenridge and is under active development on six projects across Colorado. "Cypress Creek is thrilled to be partnering with Holy Cross Energy and the local community to bring more clean, affordable solar energy to the state of Colorado. It is exciting to see Holy Cross Energy and other electric cooperatives throughout Colorado meeting the growing customer demand for renewable energy," said Cypress Creek Renewables CEO Matthew McGovern. ROARING FORK ARRAY RES Distributed LLC, a leader in the development, construction and operation of wind, solar, transmission and energy-storage projects, will work with Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District to develop a solar array on the sanitation district's land in the Roaring Fork Valley. RES is the world's largest independent renewable-energy company, with a 12-gigawatt portfolio and the expertise to develop, engineer, construct, finance and operate projects around the globe. RES is active in a range of energy technologies, including onshore and offshore wind, solar, energy storage and transmission. "We view this as an opportunity to fulfill our financial and environmental goals while supporting clean power for the entire community. We look forward to finalizing the details with RES and Holy Cross Energy," said Bruce Matherly, district manager of Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District. Holy Cross will make the output from these new solar projects available to its members through an expanded renewable energy purchasing program that provides members with the option to purchase sustainable energy for some or all of their electricity use each month. For an incremental cost, Holy Cross members will have the option to purchase renewable energy from these two local solar projects, in addition to the Colorado-produced wind and hydropower projects previously available. "We're excited to be able to bring these new utility-scale solar projects to our members," said Holy Cross Energy President and CEO Bryan Hannegan. "In addition to providing clean, affordable electricity, these local projects will also use new technologies to help improve the reliability and resilience of our electric grid." The two new 5-megawatt solar projects are expected to come online by the end of 2018, subject to negotiations among the partners. Holy Cross expects to start taking sign-ups for its expanded renewable-energy program within the next few weeks; interested members should visit holycross.com for additional details.

Solar energy is fastest growing source of power

PARIS (AP) — A report shows that solar energy was the fastest-growing source of power last year, accounting for almost two-thirds of net new capacity globally. The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that the rise was due to a boom in photovoltaic panel installations, particularly in China, thanks to a drop in costs and greater support from governments. It is the first time that solar energy growth surpasses any other fuel as a source of power. Coal in particular had continued to grow in recent years despite global targets to reduce carbon emissions. The IEA said solar panels capacity grew 50 percent last year, with China accounting for almost half the expansion. The country has become a leader in renewable energy production, with the United States the second-largest market.

Solar farm reduces utility expenses for low-income Grand Valley users

What started as a simple solar farm turned into a first-of-its-kind community solar program for low-income members of Grand Valley Power and a model for similar projects around the state and nation. After partnering with Grid Alternatives, a nonprofit group that develops photovoltaic systems for low-income households in numerous states, the Colorado Energy Office has completed a two-year partnership designed to show the benefits of community solar gardens for low-income families. The first of those demonstration solar projects, which is located off 29 Road near Interstate 70, has helped low-income people participate in similar solar projects without having to come up with the expensive upfront costs of installing their own panels. At a dedication ceremony celebrating the successful completion of the demonstration project, Grand Valley’s chief executive officer, Tom Walch, said it took a community to make it happen. “On one side you had a bunch of starry-eyed environmentalists who want to save the world, and then on the other hand, you had a bunch of Grand Junction farmers and co-op people who just want to save money,” Walch said. “We were able to work together. We planned this, we came up with the idea, we put the plan together. We worked together side by side.” Each family involved in the project — several rotate through the program in four-year intervals — save about $600 in electricity costs during that time. Originally, the rural cooperative just wanted to create a community solar program to help it meet its renewable energy requirement, which it did back in 2011. At a cost of about $77,500, the cooperative installed 88 panels, and leased them out to cooperative members, allowing them to have solar without having to pay their own installation costs. In 2015, the energy office awarded Grid a $1.2 million grant to partner with rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities statewide to develop solar programs aimed at helping low-income users. Grid then worked with Grand Valley and geared its solar farm to serve those cooperative members who earn 80 percent or less of the median income of the Grand Valley. Since then, Grid has worked with several other utilities, including Delta-Montrose Electric Association, San Miguel Electric Association and Holy Cross Energy, which serves power users in Garfield County. Eventually, the partnership now serves more than 300 households in the state, supplying about 1.4 megawatts of electricity. As a result, the project earned national attention, said Kathleen Staks, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, who attended Thursday’s event. “The two primary goals of this demonstration were to reduce electric costs for energy-burdened utility customers, and to demonstrate the scalability and viability of the low-income community solar model,” Staks said. “In collaboration with our utility partners, we have tested new approaches and created best practices that will guide future state and national expansion. We even have some international interest in this.”

Xcel Energy seeks to add 1.7GW of wind, solar in Colorado

Investor-owned utility Xcel Energy, backed by a coalition of 14 diverse consumer and energy groups, are asking the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to approve a proposal called the Colorado Energy Plan that they say could lead to $2.5 billion in clean energy investments in rural Colorado. Xcel Energy and the other groups — including the City of Boulder — are asking the PUC to approve a process that the company said would augment its portfolio of renewable resources and would not raise rates for Colorado electricity customers. The proposal, called a “stipulation,” would modify Xcel Energy’s current 2016 Electric Resource Plan. In addition to expanding renewable energy, it also calls for the possible early retirement of two coal-fired generating units in southern Colorado. In an Aug. 29 news release, Xcel Energy — the Minnesota-based parent of Public Service Company of Colorado — emphasized that the proposal would be advanced only “if the resulting portfolio of resources reduces, or at least does not increase, the cost of energy to Xcel Energy’s Colorado customers.” Xcel said it plans to issue a request for proposals soon that will target “a mix of utility and independent power producer owned facilities, with Xcel Energy having a targeted investment of 50 percent of the renewable generation, and 75 percent of the natural gas-fired, storage, or renewable with storage generation resources in the portfolio.” Up to 1,000 MW wind, 700 MW solar, 700 MW gas Portfolio estimates are up to 1,000 megawatts of wind, up to 700 megawatts of solar and up to 700 megawatts of natural gas and/or energy storage, Xcel Energy said. Parties to the stipulation include Xcel Energy’s subsidiary, Public Service Company of Colorado; the Colorado Public Utilities Commission staff; the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel; the Colorado Energy Office; the City of Boulder; Climax Molybdenum Company; the Colorado Energy Consumers Group; the Colorado Independent Energy Association; the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, Interwest Energy Alliance; Invenergy LLC; Southwest Generation Operating Company, LLC; Rocky Mountain Environmental Labor Coalition and Colorado Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO (jointly, RMELC/CBCTC); Vote Solar; and Western Resource Advocates. Regulators’ approval sought by year’s end Parties to the stipulation are seeking approval of the proposal from the PUC by the end of this year. Among the major components of the Colorado Energy Plan are: ⦁ Retirement of 660 megawatts of two coal-fired generation units at the Comanche Generating Station, located in Pueblo, Colo., including Unit 1 by the end of 2022, and Unit 2 no later than the end of 2025. Unit 3 would remain in service. ⦁ Issuance of a competitively-bid, all-source request for proposal as part of Phase II of the 2016 Electric Resource Plan. The RFP could result in additions of up to 1,000 megawatts of wind, up to 700 megawatts of solar and up to 700 megawatts of natural gas and/or storage. No coal resource would be added as part of the RFP. Carbon emissions could be reduced by up to 60 percent by 2026, when compared to 2005 levels, under the proposal, Xcel said. ⦁ Utility ownership targets of 50 percent renewable generation resources and 75 percent of natural gas-fired, storage, or renewable-with-storage generation resources in the portfolio; ⦁ Reduction of the Renewable Energy Standard Adjustment, or RESA, bill rider to 1 percent, from the maximum 2 percent allowed, and currently being funded, under state law. The reduction of the RESA would be the subject of future regulatory proceedings and would not take effect until 2021 or 2022. ⦁ Accelerated depreciation for the early retirement of the two coal-fired units at Comanche, also to be addressed in future regulatory proceedings, and ⦁ Construction of a new switching station for a southern Colorado transmission “energy resource zone,” to help foster the further development of renewable generating resources in rural Colorado. Xcel Energy said on Aug. 29 that it planned to issue the all-source RFP “in the next several days” and would anticipate filing a recommended portfolio with the CPUC in the first quarter of 2018. A final decision on the recommended portfolio by the CPUC is expected in the summer of 2018, Xcel said.

Solar Eclipse Viewing Party

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - For the first time in 99 years, a total solar eclipse passed from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast in the United States. Atlasta Solar Center decided that this rare event was cause for a celebration. "We're having an event basically for the community to come out and enjoy the eclipse, some wine from Colorado sellers, as well as some goodies from Homestyle Bakery," said Matt Fowler, Marketing Director at Atlasta Solar Center. They said that there are several indicators that make this event so unique. "There are partial solar eclipses that happen across the US, however, an eclipse with a path of totality is what makes this one so special," said Fowler. While many people geared up to Wyoming to experience the total solar eclipse, Grand Junction residents still had a pretty good view. "In Grand Junction we expect to see 86% of the total eclipse. So, we're 14% from a total eclipse. It's still very good and very noticable," said Fowler. While looking at the large turn out, they said it's clear why the event is such a big hit. "It's a huge event. For most people, this is the only total solar eclipse that they'll see in their life," said Fowler. "I've never seen one and i'd like to see one now. It looks awesome out there," said Antwan Johnson, Mesa County Resident. Not only were parents ecstatic, so were their kids. "Free cookies, drinks, and he's never seen it. He's just so excited to see it," said Johnson. "We'll have another one in seven years in the valley. However, it wont be as large as this one," said Fowler. The next solar eclipse is expected to travel north through Mexico and across eastern United States in 2024.

The Great American Eclipse of 2017

Come Join ASC for a Once In a Lifetime Experience at 10:40am on 21 August 2017, ASC is proud to present the The Great American Eclipse of 2017 featuring an 86% solar eclipse. Festivities from 10am to noon at 1111 S 7th St, Grand Junction, CO with FREE safety glasses for first 50 attendees... ASC is the official Western Slope Sponsor of the The Great American Eclipse of 2017.

Hicknelooper endorses global climate Paris Accord, committing Colorado

DENVER | Colorado’s Democratic governor has added his state to a dozen others endorsing the Paris global accord on climate change as President Donald Trump withdraws the nation from the agreement. Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday the state would also set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from electrical generation while keeping energy affordable, citing cheap natural gas and declining costs of wind and solar power. He says Colorado will reduce vehicle pollution by adding charging stations for electric cars and use state-owned buildings to showcase energy efficiency. Hickenlooper acknowledged that at least some Republicans would oppose his plan but predicted many would come around thanks to the prospect of job creation in the renewable energy industry. The Governor received some early GOP support from Aurora, when the city’s top Republican official, Mayor Steve Hogan, introduced Hickenlooper at the event in Morrison Tuesday. “To me, it doesn’t matter who’s the President and it doesn’t mater who’s advocating for what in Washington D.C. as it relates to much of anything anymore — all they do is fight and nobody does anything,” Hogan said in a phone conversation after the event. “So to have the Governor ask if I would be willing to stand up as a Republican mayor and say that there are things that we can and should do on a state level to help ensure the quality of life that we have, I was happy to do it.” Hogan pointed to several eco-friendly projects and initiatives in Aurora, the majority of which were approved by an overwhelmingly Republican city council. “Whether it is Prairie Waters, or winning the National League of Cities Mayor’s Challenge For Water Conservation three years in a row, or whether it is adding electric vehicles to our fleet, or supporting solar energy efforts, or establishing (Aurora) Solar Technologies, which is still one of if not the largest solar research and development facility in the country — all of those things have been done by a city council over the years, where not just a majority, but a preponderance of the elected officials were Republicans,” he said. Going forward, Hogan said he would like the city’s Intergovernmental Relations Policy Committee to “investigate … how we can assist not just the Governor’s office, but the Colorado Municipal League and potentially the (Denver Regional Council of Governments) in terms of getting them involved.” Current Aurora city council member Bob Roth is the president of the DRCOG board of directors and Councilwoman Barb Cleland is a past president of the CML board. “It seems to me that we ought to take advantage of those connections,” Hogan said. Still, Hogan was once again chilly to the notion of signing a document asserting his own city’s commitment to the Paris accord. “The Governor can sign the piece of paper for the state of Colorado — I didn’t sign it,” Hogan said. “And my conversations with the Governor’s office before I said yes were to make it clear that I was going to talk about how we do things rather than how we sit there and sign a piece of paper, and they agreed. So that’s why I was there.” Colorado Democrats, too, largely applauded Hickenlooper’s announcement. “I applaud the Governor for sending a strong message that Colorado would continue to be a nationwide leader in combating climate change and advancing in the new energy economy,” said state Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, D-Denver. “Colorado has a moral obligation to tackle climate change not only for the preservation and health of our planet, but for the health and safety of our families as well.”

CO Businesses Vow to Reach Paris Climate Goals

Colorado companies including Western Union, New Belgium Brewing and several ski resorts have joined hundreds of U.S. mayors, governors and chief executives, all promising to make good on the nation's commitment to reach climate goals set in Paris. A letter - including signatures from such high-profile brands as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nestle, Target and Wrangler - was released Monday. Rebecca Cantwell, director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, said she isn't surprised President Trump's decision to pull out of the international agreement is meeting a groundswell of opposition "by mayors, by governors, by legislators, by major businesses, showing that - despite what the administration has said - we the people plan to continue to do our part in addressing climate change." So far, Colorado's governor and nine mayors - representing Aspen, Boulder, Breckenridge, Denver, Edgewater, Lafayette, Lakewood, Longmont and Vail - have pledged to continue working to reduce climate pollution. The Trump administration has claimed the Paris accord put the United States at a disadvantage against other countries and that withdrawing will create jobs. From a strictly business perspective, Cantwell calls Trump's decision shortsighted. "Clean-energy sources, especially solar, are dropping dramatically in price," she said, "and really will drive the next great economic renaissance in this country if we seize the opportunity." In Colorado, Cantwell said, solar alone employs more than 6,000 people in jobs that can't be exported or automated. According to U.S. Department of Energy estimates, fossil-fuel power plants employ some 180,000 workers nationally, compared with 375,000 jobs in solar.

Solar, solar, everywhere, so bright it makes you blink

Solar, solar, everywhere, so bright it makes you blink By Guest Columnist Sunday, June 4, 2017 By Tamera Minnick Xcel Energy sends me a check every month. Naturally, I also transfer funds to them for heat and service charges, but it is exciting to cash that $8 to $12 check. I am an energy producer because of the solar panels on my roof. This rebate is due to the foresight of Coloradans passing Amendment 37 in 2004, the first Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) enacted by ballot initiative in the U.S. This amendment, along with subsequent updates, requires utilities to meet between 10 percent and 30 percent (depending on their size) of electricity production from renewables by 2020. Most of that renewable electricity production, in Colorado and nationwide, will be met with utility-scale projects such as wind farms and concentrated solar plants. However, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 37 percent of solar production is from small-scale systems, with more than half of this coming from residential rooftops. Small-scale production is known as distributed energy. Colorado’s RPS requires a portion of the renewable production be from distributed generation. Distributed energy projects avoid the land-use issues that occur with large, industrial solar installations (which is still a smaller footprint than that of a coal power plant supplied by surface mining, and it uses very little water compared to coal, natural gas or nuclear plants). Utilities must use “net-metering” for these distributed systems. Forty-three states require net-metering. Because of net-metering, the little round plate of the old, analog meter ran forward or backward depending on my electricity consumption or production after installing solar. Watching this was electrifying on the first of those sunny days. With new digital meters, little dots to the left or right on the face indicating production or consumption are less satisfying, but the result is the same. Most months I pay only the service charge for electricity. One of the indicators that incentives for emerging technology works is the dramatic drop in prices for a residential solar installation, before any tax credits, over the last decade. Compared to our old house, the solar system on our new house cost 50 percent less for a 50 percent larger system. Prices will continue to decline as economies of scale come into play. Costs to the consumer are further reduced by federal tax credits. There is a 30-percent federal tax credit for installing a solar system on your house through 2019. This credit is scheduled to decrease to 22 percent by 2021. Unfortunately, our state-level programs have not kept pace with other states. We are barely in the top 10 states for distributed solar now. Even New Jersey and Massachusetts, states not well known for their solar resources, surpass Colorado on many measures. The final cost for the system on our new house was $11,900. I estimated the payback time to be about 10 years if electricity costs remain at $0.11/kwh, an unlikely prospect since it generally rises every year. Not everyone is able to afford this kind of investment. However, according to Andy Whipple of Atlasta Solar, about 40 percent of their customers choose a financing option through a company like EnerBank in Salt Lake City. Basically, you get a solar system for no money down and pay the loan back over 12 years by sending the bank a check instead of sending it to the utility company. This is akin to a personal loan, meaning that there is no lien on your home, but with a very low interest rate. A second indicator that incentives work is that renewable electricity production in the US has increased from about 9 percent of total electricity production in 2000 to about 14 percent now. Much of this electricity is from hydroelectricity (44 percent), but wind is advancing (37 percent). Solar is 6 percent of renewable energy production and is growing quickly; solar energy is now the top source of new electrical production nationwide. While the number of jobs in coal extraction and electrical generation has declined to 160,119 nationwide, the number of jobs in solar is increasing rapidly — 373,807 jobs, according to the Department of Energy. It is difficult to mechanize solar-industry jobs since each system requires people for project design and equipment installation. Another reason for increases in renewable energy production is investment into research, including at Colorado’s National Renewable Energy Lab. In 2011, the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative set the goal of decreasing the cost of residential solar energy 75 percent by 2020, from $0.40 to $0.09 per kilowatt-hour, by working with various federal agencies and private businesses. Progress was made on these goals so rapidly that in 2016 they were updated to $0.05/kwh by 2030. Combining public policy and incentives to the private sector has been successful for gaining momentum in the transition to renewable energy. Poor policy choices may slow the inevitable progress, but the future (for wind and solar energy) is so bright, I need to wear shades! Tamera Minnick, Ph.D., is a professor of environmental science and technology at Colorado Mesa University. She is an enthusiastic supporter of renewable energy; she received no compensation from any of the businesses mentioned here.

Colorado Blazes Low-Emissions, High-Employment Energy Pathway

Take Colorado, which is aggressively pursuing energy innovation across the full spectrum of fuels and technologies. Governor John Hickenlooper has crafted a pro-growth, low-emissions agenda that should be a model to other states and to national policymakers. It emphasizes shale gas, wind, solar, hydropower, efficiency and advanced technology in everything from zero emissions electric cars to home net electricity metering. Colorado voters approved the nation’s first Renewable Energy Standard, getting buy-in from citizens who are increasingly aware of the economic as well as environmental benefits of the clean energy revolution. Renewable energy production has burgeoned, growing from 1 percent in 2004 to more than 15 percent in 2014. The state’s largest utility has committed to producing 30 percent of its power from clean sources within 3 years. The payoff in jobs has been significant with more than 62,000 clean energy jobs state-wide. Clean tech was the Denver area’s fastest growing industry in 2015, with the nine-county Northern CO region ranking 5th among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas for clean tech employment concentration in 2015. And the region’s 21,600 clean tech direct employment jobs are high paying--with an average salary of over $76,000 a year – showing that the clean energy revolution has a key role to play in rebuilding America’s middle class. But Hickenlooper has also recognized that shale gas has an important role to play in Colorado’s balanced energy portfolio – as long as it’s produced responsibly. In 2014, he negotiated with citizens, industry, and environmentalists the nation’s first methane leak detection regulations, which became a template for rules at the national level. Data from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission shows that statewide oil production increased more than 21 percent in 2015, the year after Colorado adopted its methane and hydrocarbon rule. Meanwhile the rule is expected to reduce emissions from gas development in the Front Range by 33 percent by the end of this year. Low emissions gas development is especially important because natural gas growth nationally has been a key factor in reducing overall emissions, since gas has half the CO2 emissions of coal, and because fast-ramping gas plants are uniquely adept at integrating with wind and solar when those resources are ramping down. As Colorado pioneers ways to create more energy jobs while lowering greenhouse gas emissions, the Trump administration is headed in the opposite direction. The new White House budget would slash funding for clean energy technology by more than $3 billion, about 18 percent at the Department of Energy alone. This is a recipe for hobbling the United States in the global race for the world’s largest market – the $10 trillion market in advanced energy. Indeed, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, located in Boulder, CO, which has been a lynchpin of the US energy technology innovation for decades, will face the severest cuts under the Trump proposal, unless Congress reverses his shortsightedness. Trump’s penchant for fumbling at the goal line is especially striking on energy and climate issues. Under President Obama, the United States began to decarbonize its economy even as it experienced steady economic growth. American greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by more than 12 percent since 2007, even as the economy grew by more than 15 percent. Indeed, U.S. CO2 emissions fell by 3 percent in 2016 alone, according to the International Energy Agency. Remarkably, this decoupling of economic growth from rising carbon emissions has been accomplished even amid an unprecedented boom in U.S. oil and gas production. America became the world’s largest producer of natural gas and oil in the Obama years, with oil production increasing a stunning 74 percent, and natural gas production growing 34 percent. Yet renewable energy production grew even more rapidly in the same period, with wind and solar production in the United States more than tripling, primarily because the costs of wind and solar came down dramatically. Solar costs have fallen by more than 60 percent in just last five years, and wind energy costs are two-fifths lower today than when President Obama took office. Meanwhile, coal jobs have fallen from 180,000 in 1985 to fewer than 50,000 today. Solar energy alone already employs more than twice as many Americans as coal, and employment in the U.S. solar business is growing 12 times faster than the economy’s overall job creation. Trump’s promise to “bring back” coal jobs rings hollow, since their loss is mainly due to automation and the new influx of cheap shale gas that his policies support. Finally, as Democratic governors like Hickenlooper have shown, the clean energy economy is not only good economics, it is good politics. Under pressure from ultra-green activists demanding fracking bans and keeping shale energy “in the ground,” Hillary Clinton missed an opportunity to more fully embrace the balanced, but high-employment course taken by Democrats like Obama and Hickenlooper. Other Democrats should not make the same mistake going forward, but instead lead the country to creating millions more high-paying, clean energy jobs in the future.

Colorado utility regulators are putting a dollar value on carbon emissions’ impact and will ask Xcel to account for it

State’s largest power utility could challenge a formula that is poised to make natural gas less competitive against solar and wind Colorado utility regulators have waded into new political and economic waters with a vote that requires the state’s largest utility to put a dollar figure on the impacts from carbon emissions tied to future power sources. Last month’s ruling by the Public Utilities Commission, which targets the “social cost” of carbon emissions, won’t cost Xcel Energy and its subsidiary, the Public Service Company of Colorado, anything out of pocket, other than some additional number-crunching. And it won’t show up as a charge on the bills that consumers pay each month. But in the next few years, when Xcel next assesses how it plans to meet demand, a new coal-burning plant will be nearly impossible to justify and it will make natural gas turbines less competitive against wind, solar and other power generation sources with zero emissions. These hurdles could also prompt the utility to challenge the formula — but not the concept — the PUC uses to assess carbon’s social cost. “It is more monumental as a statement of belief and direction than it may be in terms of immediate effects,” said Seth Belzley, an attorney with Holland & Knight and director at the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, which supported adding a social cost of carbon in the utility planning process. The social cost for carbon, which Black Hills Energy will also face, is what regulators call a “sensitivity” or an attempt to plan for a future but unknown cost. “If you are looking at building a (power) generation asset after 2022, you need to count $43 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions,” Belzley said. That price tag goes up to $69 a ton by 2050. Given that the Trump administration is de-emphasizing greenhouse gas emissions as a contributor to climate change, the Public Utilities Commission’s vote also represents a political statement as well as an economic one. Putting a cost on CO2 In 2009, the Obama administration assembled the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases to come up with a hard number on what a ton of carbon emissions costs in terms of impacts. Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and one of President Barack Obama’s top economic advisers, has described the concept as “the most important figure you’ve never heard of.” “We know that carbon pollution impacts people around the world and people in Colorado,” Erin Overturf, chief energy counsel with Western Resource Advocates, told The Denver Post. Droughts, wildfires and reduced crop yields are just some of the side effects that environmental groups and climate scientists argue result from the additional carbon dioxide that power plants, vehicles and other sources release into the atmosphere. And those costs can get personal. Higher summer temperatures lead homeowners to run their air conditioning units earlier in the season and more often. More frequent and severe wildfires in Colorado and other Western states have required more tax dollars be spent fighting fires and pushed up home insurance premiums in some areas. And if climate change reaches the point where it greatly reduces the state’s snowpack, it could irreparably harm the state’s skiing and rafting industries. The social cost of carbon represents a way to put a dollar figure on what economists call an “externality,” or a side effect whose costs aren’t included in the price of a good or service. But some critics of social cost question the calculations behind such a specific dollar amount. Also, those critics say, if greenhouse gases are harming the environment in Colorado, they could be coming from as far away as China or Russia or as near as surrounding states. And there are those who question what impact carbon emissions are having. President Donald Trump in late March issued an executive order to roll back several climate initiatives, including disbanding the Obama administration’s working group on social costs. The executive order, however, doesn’t prevent states from making their own call when it comes to adding a social cost for carbon emissions. The PUC vote puts Colorado in the camp of states such as New York, California and others that have added a finger on the regulatory scale in favor of renewable sources and zero carbon emission sources such as nuclear. Resource plans About every four years, Xcel and Black Hills, the state’s only regulated power utilities, must provide the PUC with an electric resource plan that estimates expectations for future electricity demand and how those will be met. The plan includes details on what generation sources will be retired and added, and calculations on the generation costs associated with those sources versus alternatives. Costs tied to carbon emissions were part of the equation in earlier resource plans, but from a regulatory — not societal — perspective. Since 2007, Xcel Energy has included two different regulatory carbon cost measures in its planning process, said Jack Ihle, director for environmental policy at the utility. The utility initially questioned whether a third carbon cost measure was necessary and whether the commission had the authority to impose it. But in a 2-to-1 vote earlier this year, the state’s utility commissioners sided with the parties wanting to add a social cost for carbon. Given how late the PUC’s change came in Xcel’s resource planning process, the state’s largest utility will use the new social cost measure in its current plan. But when it submits the next one, possibly four years from now, the utility may challenge the math behind the per-ton dollar figure for carbon dioxide. “We want to have a further discussion with the PUC and the commission before we use this in the next round of resource planning,” he said. Unless coal-powered plants come equipped with expensive systems that capture carbon dioxide emissions, they are the most disadvantaged in Colorado under a social cost scenario. Neither Xcel Energy nor Black Hills Energy, the other investor-owned utility in the state under PUC regulation, was planning to ever build another coal plant in Colorado. “New coal is not competitive against natural gas, new wind or new solar,” Ihle said. “We haven’t proposed a new coal plant since 2003 or 2004,” Black Hills has gone a step further and stopped using coal-based power generation sources in Colorado. “We are well-positioned to serve our southern Colorado customers as the first in the state to convert our energy resources from coal to all natural gas and renewables,” said Julie Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Black Hills. Where things get more complicated is in weighing the cost of generation from natural gas versus renewable sources. Newer natural gas plants produce 50 percent to 60 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity generated than a coal plant. But their emissions would still fall under the social cost of carbon for planning purposes. In 2015, gas-powered generation produced about 4 million metric tons in Colorado, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. Although social costs aren’t placed on existing sources, the dollar figure for new turbines would work out to around $172 million. “Any resource that has lower or no carbon emissions is going to look better from an economic perspective,” Overturf said. Compared with other states in the region, Colorado, despite abundant natural gas resources, has shifted a smaller share of power generation from coal to natural gas, and adding social costs into the mix could make it harder to fill the gap. Instead, many utilities in the state have focused on wind farms. Wind generation has come on strong certain hours of certain days, at times producing more than 60 percent of the electricity on Xcel Energy’s system, Ihle said. But when the wind stops blowing, something else needs to fill the gap. Because gas turbines can fire up on short notice, they help balance fluctuations associated with renewable energy sources. That may allow gas to maintain a role even if renewable sources pencil out as more affordable in future resource plans. “Gas is a flexible resource, and it serves an essential function,” Ihle said.

Study Shows National Solar Installers Price 10 Percent Higher Than Local Firms

A recent study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that large solar installer (those that installed more than 1,000 systems in any year from 2013 to 2015) quotes were $0.33/W higher (or 10 percent) than non-large installer quotes offered to the same customer. Large installers offered a higher quote price than a corresponding non-large installer in about 70 percent of pairings. The NREL study is unique in that it uses price quote data versus installed pricing data in order to compare quotes offered to the exact same customer. The study concluded that customers could benefit from obtaining more quotes before deciding to install a system. Drivers of Cost of Solar Difference Between National and Local Solar Firms The study offered several hypotheses on why the pricing difference exists. Large installers may bid higher prices due to imperfect competition in the customer quote collection process. Customers may also attribute benefits to large installers (perceived or real), including higher quality or trustworthiness, or large installers may offer superior warranties or inverter replacement terms. Large installers may also have customer acquisition scale advantages, although Telsa and other large firms recently announced a reduction in acquisition spending. This reduction in spending is likely a key driver to the estimated 41 percent decline in solar in California in the first quarter of 2017. Below is a summary of pricing behavioral differences between large and small firms from the study.

Colorado coal country turns to solar energy, organic farming

PAONIA — To see the worst of the coal slump in Colorado, look no further than the state's North Fork Valley. Since 2013, two out of three mines have closed around Paonia. The region has seen a large exodus of miners and their families as the number of mine-related jobs dropped from 950 in January 2010 to just 220 in January 2017. Workers at the last mine standing in the region, West Elk, met President Donald Trump's executive order with cautious optimism. But travel to the west central Colorado region, and it's clear that the area isn't banking on coal coming back to what it used to be. And the decline is clear. It's meant a few empty storefronts in Paonia, a drop in Delta County School District students, and fewer fully ensured health care patients in the region. And there's another challenge: In contrast to big coal producers such as Wyoming and the Appalachia region back East, federal grant dollars to ease the transition away from coal aren't flowing as freely into Colorado. That's according to Democratic state Sen. Kerry Donovan, who represents Delta County. "I think what's unique about Colorado is it's not thought of as coal country," Donovan said. "Those federal programs have focused on the more traditional West Virginia, Appalachia communities that we think of as coal country. So I think in Colorado it's going to fall more on the shoulders of the state." On the bright side, this means there's new opportunities for economic planning and development. Up around Paonia and Hotchkiss, that's meant a focus on existing industries like solar energy and organic farming. Jim Ventrello, the Delta County School District's financial officer, said there's a fundamental belief that a coal industry revival isn't going to save the region. And efforts to transplant a new industry to the region won't work, either. "Goodyear isn't going to walk in here and build a plant," said Ventrello. "If we're going to continue here and we're going to develop, we're going to have to do it ourselves." The Barack Obama administration sent some dollars to Colorado for rebuilding coal communities, including nearly $650,000 to Gunnison County for job retraining. For her part, Donovan has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation to appropriate $500,000 for communities scrambling to plan forward from sudden mine and plant closures. With planning help from state economic developers, Delta County Economic Development Inc. drew up its future plans in 2016. Here's a look at the key items. SOLAR: With the help of training school Solar Energy International, the North Fork Valley could see more rooftop solar. Delta County's high poverty rate has translated into low demand for rooftop panels. With Solarize Delta County, SEI plans to make the energy more accessible and affordable by spurring more local investment. SEI has also launched efforts to retrain coal workers, although SEI Director of Operations Kris Sutton said the effort has been slow going in the short term: "If coal miners here want to pursue solar jobs. They're going to have to probably move," Sutton said, referring to the fact that most solar installation jobs are along the Front Range. A SPECIALTY FOOD MANUFACTURING INCUBATOR: Delta County School District, which runs the region's technical college, purchased a 22,000 square foot building that will eventually house classrooms, a commercial kitchen and a warehouse. Entrepreneurs could get classes, marketing assistance and a space that helps them create food products out of regional produce from the valley, including organic foods, Ventrello said. "It's value added. Rather than just selling tomatoes, can you make a high end salsa?" ORGANIC FOOD: In Hotchkiss, Big B's Juices has evolved from from a shed that sold organic fruit to an outfit that sells juice and a hard cider line across the country. Ventrello says the incubator could help existing businesses like Big B's expand their business, and hire more folks including out-of-work miners. Shawn Larson, who moved to the area from Utah in 2010 to help start Big B's hard cider line says every extra job helps. "We sell products nationwide. You know, we have that reach, but also affect our community," he said. RECRATION AND TOURISM: In its economic blueprint, the county's economic development group plans to beef up its Gunnison Riverfront property with more access points for water sports, trails and picnic areas. It also calls for a hotel and conference center to make the city more of a destination for travelers. BROADBAND: Delta-Montrose Electric Association will spend up to $125 million on high-speed broadband internet to the region in the coming years, which includes the towns of Paonia and Hotchkiss. Paonia was one of the first towns to be fully wired with the broadband. Mayor Charles Stewart said it will be one key to recruiting new businesses and drawing more residents to the region. "People like those amenities. When you can say to folks, 'Yes, you can live in the North Fork and still have high-speed internet access,' that's a positive," said Stewart. OTHER RENEWABLES: It's not just individual homeowners that could see more solar in Delta County. The region's electricity provider, Delta-Montrose Electric Association, is also seeking to add more solar and hydroelectric power to its grid. Meantime, regional economic development leaders like Tom Huerkamp are eyeing the region's shuttered mines and seeing another economic opportunity: generating power from methane that naturally vents from shuttered underground mines. "If we tap the old coal mines, this community has the ability in the next maybe five to 10 years to disconnect from the grid," Huerkamp said. In addition to the state, Delta County Economic Development Inc. also plans to apply for grant money for its incubator with the U.S. Economic Development Administration, an agency Trump sought to eliminate in his budget. Ventrello said economic development officials are mindful of submitting any applications before next budget cycle. In a purple state like Colorado, economic development officials in conservative Delta County are mindful that economic salvation won't come from one side of the political spectrum. Building more renewable energy will have to stand alongside traditional industries like tourism. "I don't want to be a category," said Tom Huerkamp, vice president of Delta County Economic Development Inc. board of directors. "I want creativity. And I think that is more important than locking yourself into a political philosophy."

Colorado Bill Would Create Bonds to Retire Coal Plants and Finance Worker Retraining

As coal plants and coal mines continue to shut down across the U.S., coal workers are getting hit hard. While the transition has brought lower-carbon electricity and cleaner air, it’s also meant lost jobs, company bankruptcies, and false political promises about revitalizing the industry. One state is looking at a more proactive way to help coal workers transition to the new energy economy -- by using private capital and the bond market. Last week, a new bill was introduced into the State House in Colorado, called “The Colorado Energy Impact Assistance Act,” sponsored by Representatives Chris Hansen and Daneya Esgar (both Democrats). The bill seeks to create bonds that utilities could use to refinance retired and expensive coal plants. The ratepayer-backed bonds would be commercial-grade, with low interest rates, and would enable utilities to save money by retiring coal plants and reinvesting in natural gas, solar or wind farms. Fifteen percent of the savings would be used to help displaced workers and offset lost property tax revenue. “The plant closures that have happened in Colorado have been very hard on the communities, and we haven’t had any resources to help them out. This is an urgent policy need in our state,” Representative Hansen told GTM in an interview this week. Close to half of Colorado’s 11 coal plants, which provide 60 percent of the state’s energy, have retirement dates set. Older coal plants are becoming increasingly expensive to operate, compared with natural gas and clean energy. Colorado has a renewable energy mandate. But utilities haven’t traditionally been incentivized to retire older plants early, even if it’s more expensive and dirtier to run them. That’s because utilities are compensated for the infrastructure they build. Closing an older plant early, before the end of its designated life, is often a money-losing move. The mismatch explains why clean energy advocates have been calling for a bill like Hansen’s -- to help make the energy transition more economic for utilities, as well as communities. Hansen called the bill a “win, win, win,” for utility customers, displaced workers and utilities. Uday Varadarajan, a principal with the Climate Policy Initiative who worked on the analysis behind the bill, said the use of ratepayer-backed bonds has a long history in the U.S., particularly in the electricity market restructuring of the 1990s. “There’s been $50 billion worth of these types of bonds issued over the last 25 years,” said Varadarajan. Currently Duke Energy has been using them in Florida to decommission nuclear plants. Michigan, too, plans to use them for retiring coal plants. “Because these are regulated monopolies, it make sense to make sure that stranded assets are taken care of,” said Varadarajan. If the bill in Colorado is approved and helps out Colorado’s utilities and coal workers, it could become a model for other states to transition their energy markets. “We hope that this bill and ideas like it can be a template for what we might be able to do for other places across the country,” said Varadarajan. The details of the job retraining and support programs for coal workers would be decided by a seven-person board appointed by the governor, as well as a local advisory committee. The Colorado bill is set to go before the House Transportation and Energy committee next Wednesday. It will need to pass the committee, and the House, then the Senate, and finally get signed by the governor to become law. The bill is an example of innovative types of private financing that are being considered to help build out new energy infrastructure. Another example is PACE financing that funds solar panels and energy-efficiency upgrades on homes and commercial buildings through tax assessments. “With the right kind of thinking, novel financing can play an important role in catalyzing the transition,” said Varadarajan. "We’ve got the chance to build new tools here," said Hansen.

Shopping around for solar installers could reap biggest rewards Larger home installers add average of 10 percent to cost, but their longevity appeal to some consumers

When it comes to getting the best deal on a residential rooftop solar array, the size of the installer matters — but bigger isn’t necessarily better, according to a study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. NREL found that about 70 percent of the time, the largest players, defined as those installing 1,000 or more solar systems a year, quoted consumers a higher price than smaller competitors. The premium for going with the brand name on systems purchased for cash was 10 percent on average. That works out to about $3,000 to $5,000 of the typical residential system that can run $30,000 to $50,000 before tax credits. The largest 1 percent of installers put in about 60 percent of all systems, and the largest 10 percent accounted for 90 percent of the systems, NREL said. But thousands of smaller and lesser known vendors are also available to put in solar power arrays. “Price can vary a lot. Consumers should shop around,” said Vikram Aggarwal, CEO and founder of EnergySage, an online site that allows consumers to obtain competing quotes on solar systems. Much of the price information used in the NREL study came from EnergySage, which handled $1 billion in quote requests last year and bills itself as a solar panel world equivalent of the travel comparison website Kayak. Typically, economies of scale allow a larger vendor to offer bigger discounts and win more business. But when consumers are unfamiliar with a product and prices are difficult to compare, that competitive pattern can be disrupted. Marketing and customer acquisition expenses can run as high as a quarter of the total cost of a solar-array system at some of the larger players, who are often under pressure to keep a steady flow of new customers coming in, Aggarwal said. Large firms will spend money to have salespeople cold-calling and knocking on doors to explain the potential advantages of solar power, something most smaller firms don’t have the budget for. “We would never go door-to-door knocking. We don’t have any marketing plan and we don’t do any advertising. Everything we do is word-of-mouth,” said Whitney Painter, owner of Buglet Solar Electric Installation in Golden. Painter said her firm beats much larger competitors by keeping its overhead costs low and entering into the bidding process with what she called “a different flexibility.” Photovoltaic panels, racking systems and inverters continue to drop in cost and improve in efficiency and ease of installation. Another obstacle that’s fading is the growing number of lenders that are comfortable financing loans on solar arrays. Still, fewer than 1 percent of homes in the country and in Colorado have photovoltaic solar systems, leaving a huge potential market. Given the big reductions in hardware costs in recent years, the next frontier will come in reducing soft costs, things like acquiring customers and permitting, said Rebecca Cantwell, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. NREL’s study doesn’t disparage large firms. Some consumers prefer to go with a brand name they believe will have a better chance of surviving for the long haul and standing behind systems that can last 20 or 30 years. “At Sunrun, we are committed to providing our customers the most accurate pricing quotes from the onset,” said Michael Grasso, chief marketing officer at Sunrun, a leading installation firm that’s been around since 2007. “We are able to accommodate these quotes through years of experience and proprietary pricing technology.” Aggarwal argues that pricing transparency will make what is currently an inefficient system easier for consumers to navigate, boosting adoption. “It is a dynamic and changing marketplace. The takeaway is that consumers who want to go solar should talk to several companies,” Cantwell advised.

State will pursue clean energy regardless of Trump executive order, says Colorado governor

Colorado will continue to push ahead with renewable energy despite president Donald Trump’s order eliminating many restrictions on fossil fuels, governor John Hickenlooper has said. Hickenlooper announced during a news conference at the state Capitol yesterday that Colorado will continue to work towards eliminating air pollution – even though the Clean Power Plan is under challenge in the Supreme Court and faces suspension or rescission by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, Colorado is firmly on course to meet its emissions reduction goals under the Plan by 2030 – the deadline for states to cut their emissions by 30%. Even though the Plan may be eradicated in full, and several restrictions on fossil fuels were lifted under the order – including a moratorium on coal-fired plants – Colorado will continue to focus on its environmental goals, Hickenlooper said. "Clean air, clean water continues to be an important part of Colorado's brand," he said. Colorado became the first US state to enact a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by ballot initiative in 2004. The state’s target is to procure 30% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. In 2010, the state enacted a law requiring utilities to replace some coal-fired electrical generating plants with natural gas facilities. However, despite increasing its soalr capacity by 70% last year, Colorado’s solar ranking fell out of the top ten as other states increased their capacity even more aggressively this past year. Despite Trump’s new order, Colorado is just one of many states pursuing business as usual, and carrying on with its clean energy mandate. Industry stakeholders predicted on the back of the order that it would do little do derail existing progress in the sector. Hickenlooper said he doubted that Congress or Trump's administration would attempt to overturn state air pollution rules that are stricter than federal standards. "I'd be pretty shocked if they suddenly said, 'Sure, you're saving your air, it's too clean,'" he said. Hickenlooper joins the governors of California, New York, Washington and Oregon who openly criticised the executive order. “[The] Executive Order by the president pulling back on policies addressing climate change will not deter Colorado’s efforts. Natural gas has become more economical than coal, and Colorado is a national leader on wind and solar energy, which are a boon to our economy, jobs and the environment,” he said in a statement. “Our efforts to clean our air and protect the natural environment are part of what draws young people, families, and businesses to Colorado. Our outdoor recreation industry, which helps create jobs all across the state, is dependent upon cleaner air and water. We have a history of solving complex problems and taking action to move the state closer to meeting its clean air goals, and we have shown that we can have cleaner air and reduce harmful carbon emissions at essentially no additional cost ‒ potentially even saving money for Colorado families. “We will keep building a clean energy future that creates Colorado jobs, improves our health and addresses the harmful consequences of a changing climate.” Tags: us, usa, colorado, renewable portfolio standards, clean power plan, trump, donald trump, emissions, solar pv, renewable energy

More good news for solar as industry jobs in Colorado grew by 20 percent in 2016

Colorado is home to 6,004 solar jobs Despite adding 1,006 new solar jobs in 2016, Colorado’s 20 percent growth is still shy of the national average, which saw a 25 percent increase. Colorado is home to 6,004 solar jobs, clutching on to the lowest seat in the top 10 of states with the most solar jobs, according to a report out Tuesday by the Solar Foundation. Denver County holds the highest concentration of jobs locally, followed by Boulder and Jefferson counties. This is more good news for the industry. A U.S. Solar Market Insight report out in early March found that the state’s solar power capacity jumped 70 percent in 2016. The report Tuesday reiterated earlier findings by the National Solar Jobs Census, which was released in early February. Roughly half of those employed in Colorado’s solar industry are involved with installation, according to the report. The median wage for a solar worker is about $54,080 annual. A solar worker is anyone who spends more than 50 percent of his or her time on solar. Solar jobs across the country have increased by at least 20 percent per year for the past four years. The report speculated that the industry will grow by 10 percent in 2017, increasing to 286,335 workers from 260,077 workers. California leads the nation with 100,050 jobs, according to the report. Massachusetts and Texas come in at second and third with 14,582 and 9,296 jobs, respectively.

Rocky Mountain Region's Largest Solar Conference to Explore Industry Prospects for 2017

DENVER, March 7, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Solar Power Colorado 2017 will explore the theme: Innovation: Making Solar Mainstream through a program filled with more than 70 expert speakers from across the country. The conference begins March 13, 2017 and takes place at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, Co Sponsored by the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA), the conference will help professionals navigate through the tricky times ahead. While solar energy just posted its most successful year ever, with an astounding 95% growth over 2015, the policy signals from Washington are causing concern. Kicking off the conference Monday evening March 13th are Patty Limerick of the Center of the American West, and Kevin Gertig, Executive Director of Fort Collins Utilities. Both are expected to outline the tremendous potential of solar energy in Colorado. After a Tuesday morning keynote by Dr. Martin Keller, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar industry leaders will explore the question "Where do we go from here?" in a panel moderated by Abby Hopper, new president of the national Solar Energy Industries Association. While the new administration is signaling a pullback from clean energy, state and local governments and utilities are leading the way towards greater adoption. Panels exploring state and local policies Tuesday afternoon will examine the trends – from the recent 100% renewable energy pledge by the City of Pueblo to United Power's ambitious solar builds. Additionally, a panel of experts will explore the growing trend of adding battery storage to solar projects and building microgrids, while another panel explores innovative financing methods. Wednesday morning, following a keynote by former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a panel of utility executives and analysts ranging from Xcel Energy to the mayor of Boulder will engage in a lively discussion on how to build innovative utilities of the future. In addition to panel discussions on a wide range of topics Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, Solar Power Colorado will also feature training sessions eligible for continuing education credits in the solar industry. And in a first, Solar Power Colorado will feature a Career Fair Wednesday afternoon where leading company representatives can visit with prospective job-seekers under the auspices of Solar Energy International's Solar Ready Colorado program. Additionally, a large expo hall will showcase the latest solar technologies and services from a range of leading companies. About COSEIA Established in 1989, Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) is the award-winning nonprofit association leading Colorado's solar industry. Our mission is to expand solar markets and to generate jobs and prosperity for the people of Colorado. We work to advance solar policy, remove market barriers, highlight emerging trends, and promote solar outreach and education. COSEIA represents a wide range of solar-related businesses including solar installers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, integrators, financiers, developers, utilities, entrepreneurs and educators. There are approximately 5,000 people working in the Colorado solar industries. Colorado has more than 800 MW of installed solar, ranking the state ninth nationally in installed solar capacity. Contact: Rebecca Cantwell Phone: (720) 209-6000 Email: rcantwell@coseia.org Conference Information and Registration: http://coseia.org/conference/

Colorado ranks 10th in U.S. for solar jobs

Colorado’s solar companies added more than 1,000 workers last year, allowing the state to cling to its top-10 ranking as a hub of solar energy employment, according to the National Solar Jobs Census. The state’s solar employment rose from 4,998 workers in 2015 to 6,004 in 2016, a 20 percent increase. The state ranked 10th in the nation for the total number of solar jobs and 12th for its per capita concentration of solar industry jobs, according to the census, which is sponsored by The Solar Foundation, an industry nonprofit. “The growth of solar was substantial last year in Colorado,” said Rebecca Cantwell, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. Utility-scale solar projects were an important contributor to hiring last year, Cantwell said. Nationally, the census counted more than 51,000 solar jobs added last year, bringing the total to 260,077. The 25-percent increase was the largest measured in a given year since the census started in 2010. The foundation forecasts solar firms will add more than 26,000 jobs in the next year, representing a 10 percent growth rate. California, Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada and Florida have the most solar workers in the U.S., while Oklahoma, Nebraska, Alaska, Alabama and Maine reported the sharpest growth in employment.

Solar Power Colorado 2017 to Explore Innovation in a Fast-Changing Marketplace

DENVER, Jan. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Solar Power Colorado 2017 is shaping up as an invaluable exploration of the growing role of solar energy in a changing political landscape. While solar energy continues its record-breaking growth nationally and in Colorado, the sector faces major uncertainties as the new political order takes shape in Washington D.C., and the conference will be one of the first major professional gatherings of the year to examine what lies ahead. With the theme: Innovation: Making Solar Mainstream, the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) - the conference host - is expecting about 500 professionals from March 13 to 15 at the Omni Resort in Broomfield, CO. Launching the discussions with a keynote address the morning of March 14 will be Martin Keller, PhD., the new director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. As leader of the premier laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for energy efficiency and renewable energy, Keller will be positioned to describe the important work of the lab in advancing solar technologies. His address will be followed by a panel discussion among top solar industry leaders about trends in the industry. and what the changing national political scene means for solar energy development. Bill Ritter, director of the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE), will provide a keynote Wednesday describing developments in states around the nation on building a new energy economy. Colorado's former governor, Ritter will be well positioned to describe the increasing role of states in developing solar policy as national leadership recedes. His talk will be followed by a panel discussion including utility leaders and observers exploring the solar/utility relationship as issues such as energy storage, grid modernization and distributed energy grow more prominent. At a March 15th luncheon in a keynote speech, Dr. Donna Lynne will discuss the importance of solar energy in Colorado's economy. Colorado's Lieutenant Governor previously served as the executive vice president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and as group president responsible for its Colorado, Pacific Northwest and Hawaii regions. Solar Power Colorado will also feature 10 panel discussions with prominent experts in different aspects of solar energy from around the nation. Additionally, nearly a dozen training sessions will be held, providing continuing education credits for solar professionals. Wednesday afternoon, a Career Fair and Networking event called "Solar Ready Colorado" will allow those interested in exploring solar careers an opportunity to talk with top employers including Namasté Solar, Sunrun, EcoMark Solar, Clean Energy Collective, Sunsense and more. Hosted by Solar Energy International, Grid Alternatives Colorado and COSEIA, the event will be the first event of its kind for Solar Power Colorado. Registration is now open for Solar Power Colorado 2017. Please visit http://www.coseia.org/conference. Working media may request media passes. About COSEIA Established in 1989, Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) is the award-winning nonprofit association leading Colorado's solar industry. Our mission is to expand solar markets and to generate jobs and prosperity for the people of Colorado. We work to advance solar policy, remove market barriers, highlight emerging trends, and promote solar outreach and education. COSEIA represents a wide range of solar-related businesses including solar installers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, integrators, financiers, developers, utilities, entrepreneurs and educators. There are approximately 5,000 people working in the Colorado solar industries. Colorado has more than 800 MW of installed solar, ranking the state ninth nationally in installed solar capacity. To learn more please visit http://www.coseia.org.

Colorado 2017: 62,000 jobs in clean energy industry

The state supports more than 62,000 jobs in the clean energy industry, most of which are in the 10 largest counties in the state, including Mesa, according to a report released Friday. The report, written by Environmental Entrepreneurs, also says that the industry is robust, predicting at least 2 percent growth over the next year. That organization, which has offices in Massachusetts and California, calls itself a nonprof-it, bipartisan group of business leaders and investors who push for smart government policies designed to create jobs without harming the environment. Its report shows that the bulk of those Colorado jobs — 65 percent — are in energy efficiency, such as high-efficiency lighting, Energy Star appliance manufacturing and more efficient heating, ventilating and cooling systems in buildings. From 2009 to 2014, the state saw a nearly tenfold jump in solar power generation and a 16 percent increase in wind power, creating about 14,000 jobs in the process, the report says. The report also showed that about three-fourths of the new businesses that have been created in recent years employ fewer than 25 people. “Colorado has been a great place to launch and grow my energy efficiency business, in no small part due to the state’s leadership in clean energy policies,” said RJ Mastic, chief executive officer of Ecosystems Group Inc., a Denver-based energy efficiency business. “We’re hiring at a brisk pace, a new employee almost every other month. But to keep companies like mine growing, and to attract the next generation of entrepreneurs Colorado needs to shore up its clean energy policies now.” While most of those jobs are located on the Front Range, about 5,500 of them are located on the Western Slope, with about one-fifth of that — 1,094 — in Mesa County. Another 467 are in Garfield County, 311 in Montrose County and 166 in Delta County. Other key findings of the report show that 60 percent of vendors who supply the state’s clean energy industry are from outside the state, and 72 percent of Colorado employers in the industry say it is difficult to find workers who are trained enough to do the jobs they need.

Gov. John Hickenlooper fills Colorado Public Utilities Commission vacancies Appointments of Jeff Ackermann and Wendy Moser will be effective on Jan. 9

Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday announced replacements to fill two vacancies on the three-member Colorado Public Utilities Commission. Jeff Ackermann, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office since March 2013, will take one of two open slots created by the departures of commissioners Joshua Epel and Glenn Vaad. Wendy Moser will fill the other. Prior to taking over at the Colorado Energy Office, which focuses on energy conservation, Ackermann was the chief researcher at the PUC, which is tasked with regulating investor-owned energy utilities, telecommunications firms and ground transportation providers. “Jeff has proven to be a skilled leader during his work as director of the Colorado Energy Office,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “We are confident he will bring that same level of integrity and ingenuity to the PUC.” Moser is a senior manager at Charter Communications, where she handled governmental, regulatory and public affairs across several western states. “I’m grateful to be selected for the PUC and will do my best to uphold the laws and regulatory framework for the benefit of Coloradans,” Moser said in a statement. Epel, the PUC chairman, announced last month he would resign halfway through his second four-year term. Vaad, whose term was up, announced his retirement effective Jan. 9. Moser and Ackermann will join commissioner Frances Koncilja, who was appointed to the PUC a year ago. The three will be tasked with some big issues, including a proposed $500 million modernization of Xcel Energy’s grid. Both appointments will be effective on Jan. 9, the day Vaad is stepping down. The Colorado Energy Office is also on the hunt for an executive director to replace Ackermann.

Colorado Solar Industry Sees Rapid Expansion in 2016

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for A Peaceful 2017… from the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. It’s been quite a year and we hope you can take a break from the tumultuous times and enjoy some rest with family and friends this season. We are grateful for your support which has led to another banner year for solar in Colorado and the nation. Colorado climbed up to 5th among states in installed capacity in the third quarter of 2016, which was solar’s biggest quarter ever nationally. The U.S. installed 4,143 megawatts (MW) of solar PV in the third quarter to reach 35.8 gigawatts (GW) of total installed capacity… enough to power 6.5 million American homes, according to GTM Research. Early in the year, COSEIA and other solar advocates were deeply concerned about three major proposals from Xcel Energy. More than 200 people joined us to “Stand up for Solar” on the steps of the Capitol. But we spent all summer negotiating with the utility, and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission issued a written order November 23 approving a landmark settlement between Xcel, COSEIA, and nearly two dozen other parties that we believe will provide a good framework for solar growth. What comes next? COSEIA is appealing one part of the written order to make clear that distributed renewable energy — beyond the three-year plan in the settlement — will be acquired separately from the pending Electric Resource Plan. Many provisions of the settlement will take effect early in the new year. Check out our website for summaries of provisions, copies of tariff sheets, a copy of the entire settlement agreement and a copy of the commission’s order. Some of the provisions are still being worked out. Two new voluntary residential rates will start in a few months after customer education materials are developed… and we will keep you posted. A stakeholder group is still working on hammering out policies for battery storage systems.

San Miguel Power Association, GRID Alternatives, Colorado Energy Office partner on low-income community solar project

San Miguel Power Association (SMPA), GRID Alternatives Colorado (GRID) and the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) today announced the development of a community solar array that will lower the electric bills of qualified low-income residents in SMPA’s service territory. The project is not only part of a statewide initiative to reduce energy costs for utilities’ highest need customers, it is also an effort to turn a limited-use site into a clean energy generator. With an unwavering vision to reclaim a local landfill, San Miguel County worked with its partners in project development to turn a “brownfield” into a “greenfield” and harness renewable energy that will help the local community for decades to come. Project supporters also include Energy Outreach Colorado, the Telluride Foundation and EcoAction Partners. According to SMPA Chief Executive Officer Brad Zaporski, the rural electric cooperative has been looking to increase its local renewable energy generation portfolio in a way that makes the resource available to a larger portion of its members and keeps utility bills affordable. Turning an old landfill into a site of local clean renewable energy generation adds an additional layer of benefit to the community and the environment. “SMPA has long been a leader in energy efficiency and renewable energy,” said SMPA Board President Rube Felicelli. “We are now making home efficiency upgrades and local renewable energy readily available to our lower income members through SMPA’s ‘IQ’ or ‘income-qualified’ Weatherization and Solar Programs. We are excited to join with our partners to reduce our carbon footprint while also reducing the financial burden of high electrical bills on local families in need.” “When we see projects like this, we are filled with optimism,” said Sandy Stavnes, Acting Assistant Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “With this project, community partners came together to turn property that had limited reuse potential into something that will provide energy to community members in need as well as significant environmental benefits. A bonus is the solar panels on top of the landfill will assure the landfill cover is maintained.” This is the sixth low-income community solar demonstration project developed in partnership with local utilities through a $1.2 million grant GRID Alternatives received from CEO in August 2015. Each project is piloting a slight variation on the low-income community solar model to address the unique needs of rural utility service areas and their customers. The projects selected are both affordable and scalable for utility partners and offer great potential to expand across the state. “This project, with its multiple bottom lines—energy cost saving for families, renewable energy, brownfield reclamation, and local solar job training—is a win for the whole community and a model for the state and the nation,” said Chuck Watkins, Executive Director of GRID Alternatives Colorado. “This demonstration project with GRID and SMPA reinforces our low cost approach to community solar, which blends the delivery of clean-generated electricity and assisting our neighbors in need,” said Colorado Energy Office Director Jeff Ackermann.

Chairman of Colorado Public Utilities Commission to resign

Joshua Epel, chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, said Tuesday he will resign from the commission effective Jan. 1. “Joshua Epel has been instrumental in transforming Colorado’s business climate and growing our economy,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said in response. “He helped modernize the state’s regulatory environment with consistency and thoughtfulness, giving Colorado a competitive advantage for any business considering relocating or growing." Hickenlooper appointed Epel chairman of the PUC in January 2011 and reappointed him in 2014. Prior to that, Epel chaired the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, to which he was appointed in 2007. Epel on Tuesday told the Denver Business Journal that he’d been thinking about stepping down from the PUC for three or four months. “There are times when you accomplish what you want to accomplish and I feel very comfortable that’s what we’ve done at the PUC,” Epel said. “We’ve had major dockets this year and it’s time to try a new adventure.” Epel did not say what "new adventure" he has in mind. The commission oversees the regulation of some aspects of public transportation, such as taxis and ridesharing companies Uber Technologies and Lyft; electricity issues and the state’s two investor-owned utilities, Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) and Black Hills Energy, part of Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH); and telecommunications, including land-line telephone service. During Epel’s tenure, the PUC oversaw the entry of Uber and Lyft into the Colorado marketplace, and during the last several months has been reviewing Xcel’s multi-pronged effort to update its technology and add more renewable energy. Epel said the major work done this year by the commission included the PUC’s approval of Xcel’s request to build the 600-megawatt Rush Creek Wind Farm, which will be Colorado’s biggest wind farm, as well as a sweeping settlement involving Xcel and the solar power industry to add more solar power in Colorado, and a decision in November on Black Hills Energy’s request to raise electric rates. “Commissioner Epel’s service to the state is appreciated. We wish him success in his future endeavors,” Xcel said in a statement Tuesday. The PUC also reformed state telecom regulations during Epel’s time as chairman. In 2012, it removed state limits on rates that local companies can charge for local landline phone service in areas found to have multiple competing carriers. The changes let the market determine the rates for residential landline service in Front Range cities for the first time. Epel also championed shifting state subsidies reimbursing telecoms for rural landline service to supporting high-speed internet in underserved rural areas. Epel serves on the PUC with Glen Vaad, who began his appointment in January 2014 and whose term expires in January 2017, and Frances Koncilja, whom Hickenlooper appointed in January 2016. Some of the commission meetings have been contentious in recent months, onlookers have said, including one in late November that ended with the PUC cutting Black Hills’ request to raise electricity rates. Black Hills, which serves customers in southeastern Colorado, had sought an increase of $8.5 million a year. The commissioners approved a rate increase of less than $2 million a year over complaints from Koncilja, a Denver lawyer and Pueblo native, who wanted more cuts and said the state commission has been too agreeable in past rate requests from the electric utility, according to a story about the decision in the Pueblo Chieftain. Epel said the conflicts didn’t contribute to his decision to move on. “You look at what I have accomplished — or we, the group effort at the commission — and there are certain things that I’m proud of, like the decarbonization of the economy, putting on cost-effective renewable energy and cost savings for the state,” he said. “That is what I set out to do and it’s time to try something different. I’ve been doing this for six years,” Epel said. John Nielsen, the clean energy program director for Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates, in a statement said Epel had a distinguished career, both in the private and public sector. “Under his leadership, the Colorado PUC has continued to advance Colorado’s position as a national clean energy leader. Over the course of Chairman Epel’s tenure, Colorado utilities have acquired significant new renewable resources, encouraged thoughtful expansion of the rooftop solar industry, and undertaken significant investments in energy efficiency. We thank him for his service to the state,” Nielsen said. State Senate President-Elect Kevin Grantham (R-Canon City) said that the Senate's Republicans "will ensure that any new appointee to the Public Utilities Commission is firmly committed to making the well being of Colorado ratepayers their top priority. "Our most vulnerable citizens and small businesses rely on affordable energy. We also believe the Public Utilities Commission should be prepared to participate as a full partner in a broad regulatory reform agenda moving forward,” Grantham said. The Senate must confirm the governor's appointee.

Colorado regulators sign off on new solar agreement with Xcel Energy

Earlier this year, Xcel Energy and a broad group of community and renewable energy advocates reached an agreement on a plan that should increase the use of solar energy and lower bills for some customers. Wednesday, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission signed off on that deal. Here are the major features of the plan: A pilot program to test two new strategic billing models. One would charge more during peak times, such as morning and early evening. The other would charge more based on an increase above typical use, regardless of the time of day. These programs give customers ways to reduce their bills while helping Xcel better manage power demand. It keeps net metering, which allows customers who have solar panels to get credit against their electric bills for the power they generate, without adding a separate grid charge to make up for some of Xcel’s costs to maintain system infrastructure for all customers. (Solar advocates were really against the grid charge.) It expands Xcel’s solar energy offerings by adding up to 342 megawatts of new solar power between 2017 and 2019. Xcel had 440 megawatts of solar capacity in its system at the end of last year, including 190 megawatts of utility-scale solar installations. Another 522 of utility-scale solar is scheduled to come on line this year. It offers customers the option to voluntarily pay more on monthly bills to support solar power, similar to its existing wind energy program, Windsource. It reduces wind energy premium pricing from $2.16 to $1.50 per block of 100 kilowatt hours. It includes plans to work with the Colorado Energy Office to make solar more accessible for low-income customers. It proposes to come up with standards to connect batteries capable of storing energy for a home or business to the grid. It calls for a tariff — or price structure — for recycled energy projects in Colorado to take advantage of waste heat generated by manufacturing. The entities that signed off on the agreement include the cities of Denver and Boulder. In a press release about the decision, the PUC emphasized the importance of solar being competitive with other sources of electricity. “While the settlement expands the development of solar energy in Colorado, the Commission added protections that limit the cost impact to ratepayers and preserve the ability of the PUC to determine in the future the fairness of proposed changes to how ratepayers will pay for the energy they use,” the PUC said. “The Commission also emphasized that future acquisitions of renewable energy should be proposed through the Electric Resource Plan (ERP) process, where resources have to be bid competitively and evaluated against other potential resources.” In recent years, Xcel has been able to add solar and wind above and beyond the state renewable energy requirements as the cost for those power sources comes down and becomes competitive with gas and coal. “The decision today is great for all of the parties that participated in this process, but it is particularly beneficial for our Colorado customers,” Xcel Regional Vice President Alice Jackson said in prepared statement. “The decision will allow us to give our customers more control over their energy choices, one of the key components of ‘Our Energy Future.’ The settlement also meets our other goals, as it will bring more renewable and carbon-free energy to Colorado through the use of new technologies, and it will provide affordable and reliable energy to further power the state’s economy.” Western Resource Advocates also praised the deal. “Plain and simple this means more clean and affordable energy for Coloradans,” President Jon Goldin-Dubois said in a press release. “Today’s decision also breaks the stalemate between utilities and rooftop solar interests by advancing fair rates for rooftop solar, customers, and the utility.”

Wind generating a double-digit share of Colorado’s power supply

Wind energy is climbing across the United States, with 11 states in 2015 getting at least 10 percent of their total electricity from wind farms, according to the U.S.. energy Information Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy. Just five years ago, only three states had at least 10 percent of their electricity produced by wind farms, the EIA said. In Colorado, 14 percent of the power produced in the state came from wind, the EIA said in a report Wednesday. The leader was Iowa, which had 31 percent of the state’s power coming from wind farms. In Texas, the state where 24 percent of the nation’s wind-based electricity is produced, saw renewable energy make up 9.9 percent of its overall electricity generation in 2015. Nationwide, the percentage of wind-based power in the portfolio has risen every year since 2001, the EIA said. During 2015, wind power reached 4.7 percent — more than double its share in 2010, when the percentage hit 2.3 percent. And it’s still climbing this year. Through July, wind has produced 5.6 percent of the nation’s electricity, the EIA said. EIA credited the increase in U.S. wind power to “a combination of technology and policy changes.” The technical improvements have been seen in the wind turbines themselves, which can produce more power, and also via increased access to transmission capacity to carry the renewable energy from rural areas that host the wind farms to urban areas where the electricity is used. State and federal policies have also helped, such as the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Wind Production Tax Credit, the EIA said. State level policies, including renewable energy goals such as Colorado’s 30 percent by 2020 goal for its large, investor-owned utilities, also have led to more wind farms being built. Other renewable energy sources also produce a lot of power in some states. Hydropower, which in 2015 was still the most common type of renewable energy, made up at least 10 percent of electricity supplies in 10 states in 2015, including more than two-thirds of Washington state’s power supply.

Xcel's Colorado solar settlement nets broad support as regulators eye approval next month

The PUC is still considering the settlement, announced in August, but advocates say it has broad support and regulators did not raise major concerns at a recent hearing. “The settlement’s low-income solar provisions really demonstrate Xcel Energy and Colorado’s national leadership on energy access and equity issues,” GRID Alternatives Colorado Executive Director Chuck Watkins said in a statement. If approved, Xcel will expand low-income customer access to solar energy by by dedicating a portion of its rooftop and community solar garden capacity and Solar*Rewards Program to serve that segment. Other low-income provisions include additional consumer protections, rebates and incentives to reduce bills, expanded job training and efficiency. “The new programs would reduce the energy cost burden of our most vulnerable ratepayers and generate co-benefits like job training opportunities in the fast-growing renewable energy sector," Watkins said. The plan adds 225 MW of solar to the utility's Solar*Connect program, which is a green energy rider that will be renamed Renewable*Connect, and provides for development of 105 MW of community solar gardens with capacity set aside for low-income customers. But the Renewables*Connect program is one area where not everyone is in agreement. Erin Overturf, a senior staff attorney for Western Resource Advocates who helped shape the settlement, expressed doubts over the impact of the green rider program to Utility Dive earlier this year. “The Renewables*Connect (R*C) program is one of the big things Xcel got in the agreement and but solar advocates still argue the regulated utility is trying to compete in the unregulated market,” Overturf said. “It may in some ways compete with some solar developers’ products but it is also distinguishable in other ways. Only time will tell if customers see value in it.”