Utilities in many states have undercut competition by playing “hide the peanut.” Instead of sharing their avoided cost publicly, as required by Congress and state laws, utilities have hidden them behind a “trade secret” designation. This illegal shield––if left in place by state and federal regulators––requires prospective clean energy developers to lawyer up in order to extract a fair priced contract from the utility company.
Today, there’s a battle brewing across the US to reinvigorate a little-used law and bring it into alignment with a modern marketplace riper than ever for small-scale renewables. Like other policies that present compelling local economic value — among them net metering and community solar — PURPA lives or dies by its implementation.
A federal policy enacted nearly 40 years ago has breathed life into an ongoing argument at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission over utility opposition to a wind-solar hybrid project proposed in the rural city of Red Lake Falls.
File this one under “E” for “Elections have consequences.” Former Republican North Carolina Governor and fossil fuel fan Pat McCrory lost his 2016 re-election bid in stunning fashion to Democrat Roy Cooper, who leveraged public enthusiasm for renewable energy during his campaign. As a result, the state’s renewable energy activity is set to accelerate. On July 27, Cooper signed HB 589 into law, putting new regulations in motion aimed at reaching a statewide solar target of 6,800 megawatts by 2020 — more than double what it has now.
Solar companies created thousands of jobs on the back of a decades-old law. Now, the the state’s utility wants to rewrite it.
As state regulators restricted the ability of home and business owners in Nevada to receive sufficient compensation for solar on their rooftops, some large companies started looking towards other options.
Originally published on EIA. North Carolina surpassed states with more favorable solar resources to become the state with the second-highest amount of installed utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity owned by independent power producers in 2015, behind only California. Utility-scale—one megawatt (MW) or greater—solar PV growth in North Carolina has been … [continued]
Originally published on DeSmogBlog. By Ben Jervey There are solar battles blazing all across the west right now, as utilities anchored to fossil fuel power plants strain to avoid the inevitable spread of solar across their areas of operation. Not a month goes by without a story of some assault … [continued]
Americans are voicing more and more concern about unreliable and usually rising petroleum costs and the effects on climate of burning fossil fuels. In response this past week, Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) and six other Senators introduced a bill in Congress that might alleviate these threats to economic and environmental … [continued]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled against the Chicago-based energy producer Exelon in its dispute with Southwestern Public Service Company over pricing for power provided by the company’s Texas Panhandle wind farms, according to recent reports. The rejected claim for “favorable” pricing means that Exelon … [continued]
