By [email protected] You won’t have to look far to find a renewable energy market worth tracking next year. As more countries establish gigawatt-scale markets for renewables and storage, the global picture is getting much more diverse. Experts helped GTM identify at least 29 countries where wind, solar and energy storage prospects will be worth keeping…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent New England is one of the hottest solar areas of the country, with New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts getting all the attention. Unfortunately, New Hampshire may not be joining them after their governor vetoed a bill designed to raise an arbitrary 1 MW cap on net…
By Kelsey Misbrener The N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) released its Q3 2018 edition of The 50 States of Solar. The quarterly series provides insights on state regulatory and legislative discussions and actions on distributed solar policy, with a focus on net metering, distributed solar valuation, community solar, residential fixed charges, residential demand and…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent For all of Nevada’s struggles with solar energy – the inexplicable, precipitous shutdown of net metering that destroyed the rooftop industry for almost two years comes to mind – they are trying hard right now to bring about its renaissance. First, they reinstated net metering. Now they’re…
By Lisa Rosen Thursday, October 18, 2018 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT New utility rate structures like time of use (TOU) rates and net metering variations like California’s NEM 2.0 are becoming the new norm in many markets. To remain competitive, solar contractors need to understand how to maximize their customers’ savings under nontraditional rate…
By Kelsey Misbrener The Arizona Corporation Commission rejected a request today by two Arizona utilities to subject new solar customers to large monthly fixed charges that would undermine the economics of rooftop solar. As part of their recent rate cases, Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP) and UNS Electric sought to stifle the growth of rooftop…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Duke Energy is asking the South Carolina Public Services Commission to reinstate retail net metering until a compromise can be reached on raising the current 2% cap, an issue that has roiled the South Carolina solar industry over the past 12 months. The utility has joined a…
By Kelsey Misbrener Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) hit its 2% net metering cap for the year in early July. Now, the utility has requested that the SC Public Service Commission revive net metering in DEC territory until a permanent solution can be worked out. Below is a press release from Ryan Mosier at Duke Energy:…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Could the Utah solar market be cratering just one year before Solar Power International heads to Salt Lake City. No. The answer is no. Despite breathless reporting over the weekend that implied that Utah’s market has hit the skids, most observers believe the market is simply correcting…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent What’s happening in Nevada right now is frankly amazing. If you had told most observers that Nevada would ever hit net metering caps after its Public Utilities Commission ended the program without warning at the end of 2015, they would have told you that you were crazy….
By Kelsey Misbrener The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) commented on the Massachusetts Legislature’s passage of a bill that requires the state’s largest electricity utility to refile its plan to charge extra fees to solar adopters and raises the state’s renewable energy goal. The bill addresses a decision by the Massachusetts’ Department of Public Utilities…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” That’s how Massachusetts solar advocate Sean Garren characterized on Twitter the whimper of a clean-energy bill that made its way through the Massachusetts legislature on its final day. The Senate voted 36-0 to pass the legislation, while the House…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent With five days left in the legislative session, Massachusetts is running out of time to solidify and expand its burgeoning solar industry, and activists in the state are ramping up the pressure in an attempt to try to get something done before the end of the month….
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Last week during Intersolar North America, Duke Carolinas announced it had hit its 2% net metering cap in South Carolina for residential solar installations, meaning anyone that installs after August 1 will be compensated under less generous net metering rules. And low and behold, a week later,…
By Frank Andorka By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent DTE Energy has a love-hate relationship with renewable energy. On the one hand, they’ve pledged to be coal-free by 2040, at least in part through investments in wind and solar. On the other hand, they’ve suggested a replacement for retail net metering that has solar advocates screaming…