Position description and application instructions here (pdf).

This bill represents one of the most significant solar victories of the 2013 legislative session. We want to congratulate the advocates up in Minnesota who worked so tirelessly to pass this bill: Fresh Energy, Sierra Club, MNSEIA, and many other organizations. They deserve tremendous credit for kickstarting a solar economy in their state. Consider sending them a shout-out tweet at #cleanenergyjobs.

To read all about this bill, check out our article on greentech media.

If you live in Minnesota and want to join the solar advocates up in Saint Paul for a well-deserved victory lap, contact Doug Niemela, Campaign Manager at Minnesota Clean Energy and Jobs Campaign at doug@cleanenergyjobs.mn. They are hosting a Happy Hour on Tuesday May 21st at 4pm at Sweeney’s in St Paul.

New state solar programs

New York is our biggest market-building campaign in the East. Last month the Senate unanimously passed legislation to extend the successful NY-Sun program for 10 years and build 2.2 GW of local solar – on to the Assembly! Between the Senate vote and the Governor introducing similar legislation of his own on Earth Day, there’s serious momentum for major solar policy coming out of New York this session.

Minnesota, where the men are good looking, the women are strong, and the House just passed a bill to require 4% solar in the state (h/t John Farrell).  The Senate’s version requires 1% solar; now on to conference committee — here’s hoping they are above average.  Congrats to the great group of local advocates for this strong work.

Florida: Good news — the Sunshine State will no longer be taxing the sun. Florida just passed a bill exempting property taxes for residential PV systems.  This means that when homeowners make solar and other renewable energy investments to bring their utility bills down, their property taxes won’t go up.

Shared Solar

We are putting a lot of effort into expanding opportunities to participate in the solar economy. Shared renewables arrangements do that by making solar accessible to renters and others who don’t own suitable roofs. Exciting stuff.

In California, we are working on two big shared renewables bills — SB 43 and AB 1014.  Both made it through their first policy committees and are headed for floor votes by the end of this month. We think both are good options for connecting more Californians with the clean energy they want by allowing them to participate in off-site systems. We’d like to be sure the resulting program will also prompt clean energy developers to be innovative and allow customers to choose to invest in a specific clean energy project. The utilities are jumping on board with proposed programs of their own, creating more momentum for shared solar in Sacramento  – stay tuned for next steps.

California’s not the only state eyeing exciting new shared solar programs. You can track policy progress around the country here.

Grid Integration

Success begets success…and sometimes, a new set of problems.  In places that have successfully built lots of renewable energy generation, integration challenges are being cited as a barrier to continued progress.  Clearly, running a grid at with a lot of variable resources (like the sun and wind) will require operational and physical changes.  Our goal is to make sure that’s done in a way that maximizes the carbon reductions and minimizes the costs.  One path is through coordinated regional grid operation (including use of regional “energy imbalance markets”). And another is through effectively using all the available tools, including rooftop solar, energy efficiency, demand response, and storage.  See our update here.

Financing

Add Arkansas and Utah to the list of states that have passed enabling legislation for commercial PACE programs.  And, fingers crossed, Texas may soon join as well — the House just passed legislation, and the matter goes on to the Senate.  Go, Texas.

In the meantime, the status of residential PACE programs is still in play.  Read about our efforts with FHFA here.

And, if you missed it, some great news out of Iowa.  After a long legal battle, Iowa became the 23rd state to allow third party solar purchases.

Net Metering and Rate Design

In the face of increasing customer adoption of solar, utilities across the country are working to put the brakes on continued growth – primarily by undermining successful net metering programs. A major priority for us is combating these utility efforts and ensuring that solar customers continue to get fair value for the clean, reliable solar power they deliver to the grid for others to use.

In California, there are two processes currently underway.  The first is a cost/benefit analysis of net metering.  We commissioned a study from Crossborder Energy that shows that at the current cap on net metering (about 5 GW of customer-owned solar generation), net-metered solar systems would provide an annual net benefit to utility ratepayers of over $90 million a year. It’s been widely cited — most recently by the Wall Street Journal, in the context of victory in Louisiana. We are now waiting for the CPUC to release their study.

California has also started a docket on residential rate design — and read this article from GTM on the importance of rate design to the value of a solar system.  Proposals are due in early June, and that’s when it gets real — we’ll get insight into what utilities think the future of solar should look like.

In Arizona, we are intervening on the Tucson Electric Power rate case to try and ensure that solar owners get fair value for their solar generation. The settlement should be announced soon.  And in Arizona Public Service territory, we are participating in a utility-initiated workgroup that’s looking at the value of distributed generation. The problem is that APS has severely undervalued rooftop solar from its customers. We’re fighting back hard.

We are helping local advocates with similar net metering efforts around the country. Check out recent victories in Louisiana and Texas . We’re working to help get a win in Idaho too.

Wholesale Distributed Generation

Lots of good news here, with Los Angeles Department of Water and Power implementing a 100 MW Feed-in Tariff, and the Long Island Power Authority looking to expand its program as well.  The first projects from California’s Renewable Auction Mechanism are now coming online — some of the world’s cheapest solar.  The 1 GW program has now been expanded to 1.3 GW, with the 5th auction planned this summer.  Try it at home!  Here’s our guide to replicating this model.

Senate backers used shady tactics and a disputed voice vote to resurrect the bill in a committee. Turns out that acting against the interests of the state and its people is a lot easier if you don’t have to worry about counting real votes. If this bill gets passed into law, it would mean lights out for renewable energy investment in the state. Now that’s scary.

North Carolina’s renewable energy goal has provided a bright spot of economic growth in an otherwise lagging economy. It’s made the state a leader on solar, with 1,400 employed in the growing solar workforce and enough installed to power 22,000 homes. All that solar success is now under attack from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other fossil industry baddies who are behind this zombie bill.

Radical special interests shouldn’t outshine real North Carolinans. If you live in NC, urge your lawmakers to kill this anti-renewables bill once and for all!

More of this kind of policy leadership is what Florida needs to start making good on its nickname. According to our friends at SEIA, the Sunshine state currently ranks third in the nation for solar potential, but all the way down at 17th for solar capacity installed in 2012. More solar power would mean more consumer control over power bills, more local energy investment, and a healthier environment for us all. Go Florida go!

We’re writing with an update, and a request to take action to help clean energy solutions in America.

The update: after FHFA prohibited Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from purchasing mortgages on PACE homes and issued statements threatening potential foreclosure on participants in residential PACE programs, a number of entities sued FHFA, claiming their action was not lawfully done. The court forced FHFA to go through a rulemaking process to justify its position, and over 40,000 people and organizations provided comments, data, and analysis in support of PACE. Nonetheless, FHFA appealed, and — in a turn of events as shocking as a long-lost identical twin recovering her memory to identify the true killer — the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the order and dismissed the case.

What does this mean? We don’t yet know whether the plaintiffs (State of California, Sonoma County, Placer County, City of Palm Desert and the Sierra Club) will appeal the decision.  But if this were to stand, as far as we can tell the FHFA could dispense with the rulemaking process, and we are back to the status quo before the lawsuit.  That is, FHFA would be free to follow through on their threats to foreclose on participants and redline communities that offer PACE programs.  Harsh! Like finding out that you were accidentally switched at birth and are actually a Kardashian.

Or…there’s a no-drama solution.  FHFA could listen to the 40,000 people, companies, organizations, and elected officials that want to see effective clean energy financing solutions. FHFA could continue to engage in constructive rulemaking to develop best-practice program guidelines and fair underwriting standards.  The FHFA could also incorporate new findings into their thinking, such as this University of North Carolina study showing that owners of energy efficient houses are 32% less likely to default on mortgages, and work constructively on a solution that simultaneously reduces default risk and makes the world a better place.  A happy ending!

So here’s our call to action. We want you contact FHFA and encourage their better angels.  Can you be Bold and Beautiful, and provide a Guiding Light for FHFA?

These are the Days of Our Lives, and we can’t afford to waste them in inefficient homes.  Do it for All My Children.

Image credit SolarWorld, via Earthtechling.com

For those that need a primer, the RAM is a 1.3 gigawatt program to procure renewable projects under 20 MW in size.  In the first RAM solicitation (there have been 4 so far, with a 5th planned), Southern California Edison received 92 bids from 28 companies, totaling over 1,200 MW in offers.  That’s some robust competition.  Of these, they  selected 7 contracts, totaling 67 MWs of PV projects.  Details here.

Even though these contracts are not required to come online until October 29, 2013, two of the projects are already up and running: Solar Electric Solutions’ SEPV8 and SEPV9, built by SolarWorld, and recently sold to Duke Energy.  They are now called Highlander 1 and 2.  Press and pics here and here.

What’s the price of these solar projects?  Well, we don’t know exactly — the contract terms are kept confidential.  However, the CPUC did release some information: the weighted average of the highest executed contract price from each of the three California utilities for RAM projects is 8.9 cents/kWh (see page 44 of this report, and note that price is pre-Time of Delivery adjustments).  Each individual contract is definitely lower than that…and potentially much lower.

So there you have it.  Some of the world’s cheapest solar, now online and working for ratepayers.

What are the keys to the program?

1. Standard contracts.  Keep the playing field level and predictable, let developers put time into developing, not lawyering.  Fair, financeable contracts also keep the cost of money low.

2. Strong project viability requirements.  In order to deter speculators, it’s important to ensure that participants have the ability and intent to deliver.  In this case, winning bidders had to have advanced interconnection efforts, and posted significant development security ($20/kW for projects < 5 MW, $60/kW for projects 5-20 MW).

3. Scale.  A good-sized program, with many market opportunities, has project developers bringing their A-game and allows them to amortize fixed costs over more projects.  One-off projects, and short term or itinerantly scheduled programs will not receive the same kind of attention, or produce the same results.

We’ve developed a guide of best practices in implementing competitive wholesale distributed generation programs.  Check it out, here.

Solar doesn’t have to be expensive.  All you have to do is develop a program to get some.

But not everyone is happy with so many Arizonans going solar. The state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service (APS), is currently working to slow down rooftop solar growth by rolling back its net metering policy.

Arizona’s rooftop solar growth can largely be attributed to the state’s ‘Grade A’ net metering policy. This wonky-but-critical policy ensures that Arizona’s renewable energy customers receive fair credit on their utility bills for excess clean power they deliver to the grid. It is one of the most important state policies for clearing the way for customer investment in solar. And it’s becoming even more important as other market-building solar programs wind down.

The solar industry projects that the price of rooftop solar energy in Arizona will hit the elusive ‘grid parity’ mark in 2013, just as utility incentive programs for rooftop solar are set to end. As long as net metering is kept intact, Arizona’s rooftop solar adoption will continue apace without incentives (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Arizona solar growth trends

But continued rooftop solar adoption is not what the utilities want to see, and so the net metering rollback efforts have begun in earnest.

In November of 2012, APS proclaimed in comments to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) that net metering is a subsidy rather than simply a compensation program that offers solar customers fair credit for their valuable excess power.

APS’s unsubstantiated claim about the costs of its net metering program is clearly at odds with its own analysis of the benefits of distributed energy completed by consultant RW Beck in 2009. That year-long analysis found that rooftop solar resources provided real economic value to APS ranging from 7.91¢ to 14.11¢ per kWh.  Compare those figures with residential electricity rates of about 11.6¢, and commercial rates of about 10.6¢. Turns out that retail net metering was doing its job: fairly compensating APS customers for the value of their excess solar power.

APS argued to the ACC that the RW Beck study was ‘completely outdated,’ so Vote Solar and other stakeholders urged the ACC to undertake a new cost- benefit study, like we did in California. The ACC agreed to a new study, but instead of overseeing the process at the Commission, the utility was given the reins to control the study process.

In February, APS convened a series of technical meetings to allow stakeholders to review the APS commissioned and controlled cost-benefit study. As part of the most recent workshop, APS’s consultant SAIC (which had acquired RW Beck a few years ago) presented its updated findings. According to APS, they had followed the same general methods used in the original 2009 study. However – not surprisingly – the results were far less favorable than the earlier study.  SAIC found that the bottom line value of the expected solar PV installed on homes and businesses for APS is 8.2¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2025. Discounted to today, the alleged value to APS is only 3.5¢.

This pittance is a far cry from the findings of similar studies performed outside of Arizona, which ranged from 12.8¢ (Austin Energy, Texas) to 19.3¢ (California) and higher to 25-32¢ (New Jersey and Pennsylvania).

There are a number of areas in the SAIC analysis that are ripe for debate, and Vote Solar will be fighting for rooftop solar’s many benefits to be fairly valued during the remainder of the technical conference process and in the subsequent Commission docket.

The more we engage in dockets across the country to determine if net metering is a ‘fair’ credit mechanism for that power – we become convinced that net metering is not a ‘cost-shift,’ it is a ‘cost-gift.’ Net metering benefits solar and non-solar customers alike. First and foremost, it encourages private investment in valuable mid-day power generation – that reduces the need for the utilities to invest in expensive power infrastructure. Studies in California and elsewhere have shown that these ratepayer benefits actually outweigh the utilities’ lost revenues from those customers buying less energy from the utility.

That’s before adding up the many environmental and economic benefits of a robust rooftop solar market: 119,000 jobs in communities across the country, $6B in economic activity last year, 3.9 GW of clean, local solar power that’s literally saving lives by reducing harmful emissions and offering hope in the fight against climate change. Let’s put a price tag on that!

Solar is really shining in Albany’s Earth Day activities this year. Yesterday the New York State Senate unanimously passed legislation to extend the successful NY-Sun program for 10 years and make New York a real solar powerhouse – on to the Assembly! Between the Senate vote and the Governor introducing similar legislation of his own earlier this week, there’s serious momentum for major solar policy coming out of New York this session.

With enough solar to power 27,000 homes, New York currently ranks 12th in the country for total installed solar capacity. That’s pretty good, but New York wants to do better. NY-Sun was established to do just that by quadrupling the amount of customer-sited solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity added between 2011 and 2013. This kick-starter program is already delivering strong results in the form of a growing local solar industry and affordable solar energy for New York homes, schools and businesses. In 2012, $257 million was invested in New York to install solar on homes and businesses – representing a whopping 91% increase over the previous year.

With the NY-Sun program quickly delivering on its promise, focused turned to expanding it and establishing the kind of longer-term policy certainty that it takes to build a world-class solar market and a robust local industry. As anyone in business will tell you—certainty creates confidence and confidence creates the opportunity for growth. In his 2013 State of the State address, Governor Cuomo committed to extending the NY-Sun Initiative through 2023 in his State of the State address. The legislation passed by the Senate yesterday – the New York Solar Bill (A.5060/S.2522) – would solidify that 10-year extension in statute, ensuring that New Yorkers benefit from a stable and predictable long-term incentive program.

The bill will bring all kinds of benefits to New York State:

• Build 2,200 megawatts (MW) of solar, enough clean, reliable electricity to power 400,000 New York homes.
• Create thousands of new local jobs in New York.
• Save New Yorkers billions by reducing the need to fire up our dirtiest and most expensive fossil power plants.
• Spur millions of dollars of investment in the state’s growing clean energy economy.

In short: at a time when the state faces the dual challenges of an economy still in recovery and failing energy infrastructure, this solar bill can help build a stronger New York. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, New Yorkers understand all too well the urgent need to build that stronger, cleaner and safer energy future.

No surprise then that the proposal has support from a bevy of businesses, trade associations and environmental groups, including: Alliance for Clean Energy – New York, Borrego Solar, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Environmental Advocates of New York, EDF Renewable Energy, E.ON Climate & Renewables North America, Mainstream Energy Corp., NRDC, The Nature Conservancy, New York League of Conservation Voters, New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), NYSEIA, Nexamp, Pace Energy & Climate Center, REC Solar, SolarCity, SEIA, Solar One, Sierra Club, SunEdison, Sungevity, SunPower Corp., Sunrun, Trinity Solar, and . . . us.

A big thanks to both Governor Cuomo and Senate bill sponsor George Maziarz (R-C, Newfane) for being solar champions! We’re looking forward to working with leaders in Albany and our fellow stakeholders to deliver comprehensive solar policy to Governor Cuomo’s desk this legislative session.