There is a bill making its way through the Maine state house that could harm the emerging solar industry by making major concessions to monopoly utilities. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s a common theme in states across the nation. Sensible and proven market structures, designed to protect rooftop solar consumers … [continued]
Originally posted at ilsr.org. Unfortunately for utilities, new technology and commercial opportunities in the coming years are only increasing the threat to the 1.0 business model. Solar energy is growing exponentially as costs have fallen 28% per year from 2009-2013, and electricity from rooftops is approaching or passing parity with … [continued]
When Robert Nohavec of Park City, Utah; Jabbar Graham from Cherry Hill, New Jersey; and Don Born, of Waldoboro, Maine installed solar on their homes, they had something unexpected in common. They were all giving back to their electric company and their community. That’s because solar energy systems tend to … [continued]
Originally posted at ilsr.org In his Sunday Wall Street Journal commentary on May 17, Brian Potts suggests that cost is the bottom line in the electric customer shift to solar, and that rooftop solar costs too much. But his defense of the utility’s view of energy costs leaves a big … [continued]
Rocky Mountain Institute. Renewables scored a major victory recently in the natural gas heartland that is Texas. In a resolution adopted by the Austin City Council on August 28, the city declared solar energy its default generation resource, in part noting “that solar energy represents a cost-competitive means of securing … [continued]
Solar has been taking off in Georgia. In fact, Georgia is ranked 7th for solar according to SEIA. However, solar continues to be an entertaining and sometimes confounding topic in Georgia. Join me as I interview former Georgia Public Service Commissioner Bobby Baker and we discuss the current hot topics … [continued]
Here’s another cleantech news roundup. I’m making it a short one since I’m *trying* to start doing these once a day again. Wish me luck! Cleantech News Pie (i.e. solar + EVs + other) I was interviewed for another podcast recently. The interesting thing about this one is that it … [continued]
By Brian Orion Utilities across the country have been fighting to curtail net energy metering (NEM) programs in favor of value of solar tariff (VOST) programs, claiming that NEM results in a cost-shift to non-solar customers. However, NEM programs may actually undercompensate solar customers for the true value their systems … [continued]
Originally published on PV Solar Report. By Rosana Francescato Solar advocates around the country express varying views on the Value of Solar Tariff. Being proposed as an alternative to net metering, the policy has its pros and cons — but some worry that it imposes a tax on solar customers … [continued]
In this week’s TalkSolar/CleanTechnica podcast, Beth Bond chatted with John Farrell, Director of Democratic Energy at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Regular readers are very familiar with John’s work, as he has been contributing on CleanTechnica since 2011. Nonetheless, it was great listening to John talk about distributed renewable energy benefits, net metering, … [continued]
