The bill squeaked out of the House earlier this spring, but never gained enough steam in the State Senate to get a floor vote, thanks to an outpouring of opposition from Vote Solar members, solar companies and others. Thousands of emails and phone calls went to legislators, reminding them that approving the bill would send a message that the state wasn’t serious about being a clean energy leader and would be bad for the state’s economy. A huge high five to everyone who participated in stopping a disaster in its tracks!

Overall, this was a great year for solar legislation in Arizona, despite ardent efforts from clean energy opponents. As we noted in an earlier blogpost, Governor Brewer signed two pro-solar bills into law in April: HB 2830 removes the 2013 sunset date on school districts’ ability to install solar and other energy-saving measures, and SB 1229 clarifies that the sale of Renewable Energy Credits is not taxable – and also clarifies that customers who are reducing their energy bills through net metering pay sales tax only on the power they DO buy from the grid, not on the power they DON’T buy.

We’re teaming up with an incredible group of organizations to do just that at free community events up and down the state. These New York Solar Jobs Days will feature fun solar demos, training from solar job experts, opportunities to talk with local solar companies, and plenty of ways to show your elected official that you care.

Get some sun at the New York Solar Jobs Day nearest you:

• May 21 on Long Island
• May 24 in Buffalo
• June 7 in New York City
• June 11 in Albany

New York Solar Jobs Days are a joint project of Vote Solar, Natural Resource Defense Council, Pace Energy & Climate Center, Alliance for Clean Energy New York, Solar Energy Industries Association, New York Solar Energy Industries Association, Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, Workforce Development Institute, Apollo Alliance, New York League of Conservation Voters, Renewable Energy Long Island, Vision Long Island, The Alliance for a Greater New York, People United for Sustainable Housing, Center for Working Families, Sierra Club, Environment New York and Environmental Advocates of New York.

Without strong state policy providing a clear roadmap for growth, solar currently accounts for far less than 1% of New York’s electricity. Even so, it’s provided many New Yorkers with clean energy, bill savings, and a rare bright spot of economic opportunity through the recession economy.

Just imagine what could be accomplished with real leadership from Albany. The New York Solar Jobs Act proposal, for instance, would make the Empire State a clear solar leader with a goal of deploying 3,000 MW by 2021.

Join us in calling on our lawmakers for solar action. In this fight, there’s nothing as powerful as the voices of real New Yorkers.

P.S. – Can’t make it to a New York Solar Jobs Day in person? Send a little virtual sunshine to lawmakers with an email of solar support here.

“Sunny Los Angeles has enormous potential to lead the state in solar energy, and in recent months city leaders have done a commendable job of putting L.A. in a position to harness that homegrown renewable resource,” said our own Southwestern Solar Advocate Susannah Churchill.  “Our poll shows that this is the kind of solar progress that Angelenos overwhelmingly want to see in their community.”

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) accounts for 10 percent of California’s electricity demand. The utility currently gets less than 1% of its power from solar generation, falling behind much of the rest of the state. Their online power content label actually has solar power at 0% of their portfolio. Right now, L.A. solar is a rounding error. Clearly, sunny L.A. has a whopping untapped local solar opportunity.

Looking to put that rooftop potential to good use, Los Angeles has recently taken steps to expand its use of local solar power. In September 2011, LADWP reopened its Solar Incentive Program with a goal of installing 125 megawatts (MW) of net metered solar to meet on-site power needs at homes and businesses. And in April 2012, the City Council and Mayor authorized LADWP to move forward with a new feed-in tariff program called CLEAN LA that will add 150 MW of rooftop solar power to the city’s electricity mix. It’s the biggest municipal feed-in tariff in the country – pretty exciting! Together these programs will result in about five times the amount of solar currently installed in L.A. and generate enough electricity to power more than 60,000 homes.

“Local solar power puts our energy dollars to work building a healthier and more prosperous L.A. An expanded solar program would put more boots on roofs and create more jobs in areas that need them most,” said Bill Gallegos, Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), a leading environmental justice organization.  Poor communities often get the worst of the fossil fuel energy system.  It is only fair that they enjoy the environmental, health, and economic benefits of the clean energy system.

“In addition to proving hugely popular among L.A. residents, expanded use of local clean energy can reduce the city’s dependence on out-of-state dirty coal power,” said Evan Gillespie Sierra Club, America’s largest grassroots environmental organization. “City leadership has set an exciting goal of getting LADWP off dirty coal. It just makes economic and environmental sense to harvest our homegrown solar resource, creating more local jobs and economic development for Angelenos.

Which brings us back to the poll: findings confirmed that Los Angeles voters stand behind the kind of solar leadership recently demonstrated by the city and would support further solar investment. An overwhelming majority feels that the city should have its eyes on the target of 1,200 MW of solar – that’s LADWP’s share of Governor Brown’s statewide local clean power goal. 1,200 MW of rooftop solar would generate enough clean, reliable electricity to power more than 260,000 homes and make Los Angeles a real solar powerhouse.

Key poll findings:

• A large majority of voters want LADWP to use more electricity generated from renewable sources like solar (87 percent) and wind (79 percent).
• In fact, a large majority want LADWP to use MUCH more renewable electricity: 73 percent want at least half of the city’s electricity mix to be renewable.
• Three-quarters (76 percent) of respondents specifically feel that LADWP should be doing more to expand the use of local rooftop solar in Los Angeles.
• Four out of five (81 percent) support LADWP increasing its local solar goal to 1,200 megawatts, LADWP’s portion of Governor Brown’s statewide goal for local clean power. Support for this goal remains strong across the political spectrum, with majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters all expressing support.

Methodology:

From March 14-18, 2012, FM3 completed 400 telephone interviews with registered voters who are Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) customers.  Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of +/- 4.9%.

A memo detailing the survey and findings is available here.

Can we send 40,000 emails to the CPUC by May 15? We say YES!

The utilities are now fighting tooth and nail against your outpouring of pro-solar messages. They are walking the halls of the CPUC every day – even spreading false and misleading information in their attempts to restrict California customer access to fair solar net metering. Our grassroots voices can counter their influence.

Net metering gives solar customers fair credit on their utility bills for valuable clean power they put back on the grid. It’s like rollover minutes for solar. There is a cap on the amount of net metering that utilities must make available to customers – beyond that cap, there’s no guarantee that utilities will continue to allow new solar customers to net meter. California’s law sets the cap at “5 percent of aggregate customer peak demand,” but does not specify how utilities should calculate that number. And guess what . . . some utilities are using a more restrictive methodology that results in almost half the amount of net metering than the original law intended. Not good.

Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Since being appointed to FERC by President Bush (W, not HW), Chairman Wellinghoff has focused the power of his office on building the infrastructure – policy and physical – necessary to support the transition to renewable energy.  And who hasn’t seen his great presentations on how electric vehicles can provide revenue to owners and services to the grid?  Before FERC, Wellinhoff worked at the state level, and principally on renewable energy.  He was the primary architect of Nevada’s RPS.  And we worked on some of the largest renewable projects in the country. He’s been a visionary in articulating the vision, and done more than most in helping to bring it to fruition.  Thanks, Chairman, for all your hard work.

The Honorable Jennifer Granholm.  In her eight years as governor of Michigan, Gov Granholm primed the state to see – and take advantage of – the connection between transitioning to renewable energy and jobs.  Her work has build markets and momentum in a state that can really use the help–according to the regulators, new renewables are cheaper than coal in Michigan.  And have you seen her show?  Check it out on CurrentTV.

Thanks, Governor, for your leadership.  It’s not by accident that the citizens of Michigan see the benefits and want more renewable energy, and are taking matters into their own hand to get it.

The 2012 Utility Solar Champion is CPS.  San Antonio’s municipal utility has been a leader in transitioning from old school fossil power to new school renewables, and is piloting an innovative manufacturing initiative. CPS took a look at the cost of upgrading its coal fleet to comply with EPA rules (and, incidentally, to stop poisoning its customers) and decided to shut the Deely coal units down by 2015, eighteen years earlier than planned. That’s 851 MW of generation.  Whats going to replace it?  Instead, they are investing in renewables–wind, and increasingly solar.  With a prolonged heat wave straining the grid at exactly the best solar generating times (driving wholesale prices to $3000 MWh in ERCOT), and prolonged drought forcing the shut-down of some fossil generators, and lower prices than ever before in history, solar makes sense.  CPS went to bid for 50MW, and liked the prices so much they quadrupled their order to 400 MW.

But that’s not all!  They are getting maximum gain out of their 400 MW investment by requiring the winning bidder to also build a local manufacturing facility. It’s an innovative approach that avoids legal pitfalls of local sourcing, and gives all parties what they need.  The utility gets solar at a low price, because of the scale (400 MW in this case).  The city gets installation jobs–where most of the jobs are in the solar value chain–as well as the manufacturing plant.  And prospective manufacturers get a guaranteed off-take agreement, which is the kind of market certainty that gives them what they need to make a big investment in building a new facility.

For thinking big, being bold, and planning smart, we are pleased to award CPS our 2012 Utility Solar Champion Award.

Thanks to all for their leadership and hard work.

Thanks, Senator.  Very kind of you.  And may we say: right back at you.  Back when the Senator was a SF City Supervisor, he lead the charge to get Prop B, the original solar bond initiative, on the ballot, and then campaigned tirelessly to get it across the finishline.  Without Senator Leno, there would have been no Prop B, without Prop B, there would have been no Vote Solar.  It’s been 10 years of a lot of fun and a lot of progress, and it wouldn’t have happened without that initial spark.  So, thanks again for all your leadership over the years.

The Mayor thanked solar supporters including the LA Business Council and the Sierra Club, who have worked for years to build the case for a FIT in LA. The LA Dept of Water and Power plans to hold workshops next week for those interested in participating in the program (learn more about the workshops here). To start, the utility will accept competitive bids in a 10 megawatt pilot program, and will use the bid information to determine a standard FIT price. Congratulations to LA leaders on a huge step forward in harnessing the sun!

Mayor Villaraigosa, Council Member Garcetti and FIT supporters

Here’s how: Net metering works like “rollover minutes,” with customers receiving credits on their bills for the excess power they generate that is put back on the grid. There is a cap on the amount of net metering that must be made available to customers – beyond that cap, there’s no guarantee that utilities continue to allow new solar customers to net meter. California’s law sets the cap at “5 percent of aggregate customer peak demand,” but does not specify how utilities should calculate that number. Consequently, utilities are using a more restrictive methodology that results in almost 50 percent less net metered solar and renewable energy than would otherwise be allowed. Chairman Peevey’s proposed decision clarifies that utilities should use the cap calculation methodology that results in more Californians having access to the energy bill saving benefits of net metering. Hooray!

Take action to support this proposed decision. Remember the full Commission still has to approve it! TAKE ACTION HERE.

Here’s what our allies and partners had to say:

“When we crafted California’s original net metering law, the goal was maximize the amount of clean distributed energy on the grid,” said former Assemblyman Fred Keeley, author of California’s net metering law  “By proposing this methodology, the CPUC is complying with the original legislative intent and helping California lead the way toward a clean energy economy.”

“The PUC’s proposed decision is a positive step in maintaining the growth of solar in California by clarifying the amount of net metering allowed under current law,” said Joseph Wiedman, a partner at Keyes, Fox & Wiedman LLP who represents the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). “If adopted, this decision will ultimately allow more ratepayers to benefit from net metering — creating even more job growth in one of our state’s thriving industries while lowering costs for solar users and all energy customers.”

“Unlike the current cap calculation methodology, which overestimates the amount of solar on the grid, the CPUC proposal is in line with the original intent of California’s net meeting law,” said Carrie Hitt, Vice President of State Affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “Adopting this proposal will help to maintain California’s place at the top of one of the fastest growing industries in America.”

“This is about choice,” said Vote Solar Initiative Executive Director Adam Browning. “Do we want to allow Californians to generate their own electricity using clean, renewable power or stay beholden to the utilities? Do we want to allow people to put panels on their own roof and get fair credit for that power?  Schools across the state are already saving $1.5 billion on their electricity bills thanks to net metering. Do we want more of that, or less?  This proposed decision comes down on the side of more.”

“This decision is good for our health, good for our wallets, and great news for the California workers who rely on solar installation jobs to feed their families,” said Jim Metropulos, Senior Advocate with Sierra Club California. ”Now, more California families who want to use the free solar power that falls on their roofs to lower their energy bills can do so, and benefit from the savings.”

Solar is by far the largest and one of the fastest growing segments of California’s new green workforce – employing more than 35,000 Californians today, according to a report by the Solar Foundation. Established in 1995, California’s net metering policy has helped make the state the nation’s solar leader. Net metering ensures that solar customers receive fair credit for any excess electricity they put back on the grid for the utility to sell to other customers. The policy makes solar more affordable to Californians in low and middle class zip codes, where solar adoption has been largest in recent years.

In place in 43 states nationwide, net metering one of the most important policy tools for empowering homes, businesses, schools and public agencies invest in solar.

I am bouncing along in the back seat of a little white van being driven on a dusty, pothole ridden, dirt road on the way to the small municipality of Boucan Carré in the Haitian central plateau. We are on our way to a hook-up with Bill Clinton, a small delegation and a larger number of UN troops there to examine a new solar powered fish hatchery.  This is a project of the Clinton Global Initiative and the trip is co-hosted by David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy. Together, we are touring sites in Haiti’s Central Plateau to view the progress of solar power installations funded by the $1 million commitment made through the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) by NRG and their implementing partner, the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) to demonstrate how solar power can be a significant enabler of social good and economic empowerment in Haiti.  I have heard about SELF’s work for a long time now, and I am curious to see the solar panels at work.

Bill Clinton & PIH cofounder Paul Farmer arrive at the Mirebalais teaching hospital

During a whole week in Haiti, I end up seeing many solar installations, in urban settings and far-flung rural locations.   Before I continue, I have to admit to a strange sort of envy: while in Haiti, my cell-phone has never shown less than four bars.  This country, often cited as the poorest in the Western hemisphere, has managed to leapfrog over an old school wired telecom network to a modern wireless one which would be the envy of any Bay Area resident.  It occurs to me that we are possibly about to see the same leapfrog play out in Haiti’s electric sector.  The purpose of President Clinton’s trip here is not just to highlight the important philanthropic impact that solar energy can have – the other   equally important purpose of the trip is to bring focus to the significant business opportunities that could come from a renewable energy boom that emulates the profitability of the established wireless revolution.

When we finally get to Boucan Carré, and find a spot for our van among the many, many UN vehicles, the Lashto Fish Farm immediately catches our eye and we join the delegation to learn about the project.  The fish farm is a hatchery for tilapia consisting of half a dozen ponds which produce juvenile fish that local fish farmers will raise in cages in the nearby river and harvest for sale.  The energy backbone for this enterprise is a 14kW solar panel system with battery backup, whose main function is to pump and filter water from the river for the fish hatchery.  The system also aerates the water in the tank, which enables a dramatic (something like 5-fold) increase in the number of tilapia fingerlings that can be supported by each tank  The Lashto Fish Farm is providing livelihoods as well as an important source of protein for the local citizens and patients at nearby medical facilities of Partners in Health.  It also keeps a water tap available for all comers which has been an important source of clean water, especially during last year’s cholera epidemic.

Next on our itinerary is the Bon Berger De Doman School, a Digicel-funded school (Digicel is one of the main cellular providers here) which now also has solar power thanks to CGI, NRG and SELF.  This smaller system will provide light for students to study at night and for a community center.   The community is clearly quite excited to have the panels.   The final stop on our travels with President Clinton today is the new Partners in Health (PIH) teaching hospital in Mirebalais, and entirely different scale of project!

The Mirebalais teaching hospital represents a significant landmark for PIH and Haiti.  Under the leadership of Dr. David Walton from PIH and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the hospital will bring state-of-the-art medicine to rural Haiti while training its future medical professionals. Also when completed this July, the hospital will have the largest solar installation in the country and will operate almost entirely on solar power.

The entire system will consist of a 400kw roof-top PV system, a 350kw backup generator and has entered into a hybrid net-metering agreement with Electricité d’Haiti, buying and selling power at 35c/kWh.  The hospital estimates that the solar system will save  $379,000 per year in operating costs!  The solar system uses programmable inverters (which put the PV system on and offline as needed ) and capacitor banks that will help keep the hospital power stable , while supporting a local grid which experiences  local, moment-to moment voltage fluctuations of 18% (are we seeing the beginnings of a micro-grid?!).   All this work is being done on a contract with Sullivan and McLaughlin, New England’s largest electrical contractor and the principal provider for electrical services for the Boston teaching hospitals. The complete field installation includes having electricians on-site, in partnership with the IBEW union, and staff includes volunteer technicians and retirees, all of which support the additional project goals of training local electricians.

After touring the teaching hospital we have a chance to hear from President Clinton, Paul Farmer and others in their group.  To set the context: in Haiti at present about 70 percent of its population has no access to electricity. In areas with coverage, service averages 10 hours a day but is plagued by outages (notice how the Lashto Fish Farm picture has some power poles in the background). Available generation capacity stands at less than one-third of the estimated 500 megawatt demand.   Electricite d’Haiti (EDH) is an autonomous government agency that is responsible for electricity in the country. EDH’s utility bills cover less than 50% of electricity generated.  President Clinton stresses that Haitian electricity rates are the highest of any country in the Caribbean, a region with the most expensive electricity in the world.  The reason, he says, is the importation of heavy fuels.  This is an insane situation but renewables offer a real promising alternative.  Once again President Clinton stresses the real business opportunity at stake.

Solar panels power an irrigation pump

Apart from this day with the Clinton Global Initiative, I get a chance to see solar power in action elsewhere.  On our first day in Haiti, I see at least three different types of solar street-lights (including one manufactured in Haiti) providing lighting in the J/P HRO camp that offers refuge for thousands of residents of Port-au-Prince displaced by the calamitous 2010 earthquake.  Later in the week, I see how a small panel installation helps support  earthquake refugees who have chosen to make a go of it as peasant farmers.  Four panels provide just enough juice to run a small irrigation pump.  Even covered with a layer of dust, the panels are performing well and providing a valuable service!

As I leave Haiti, Paul Farmer’s words from a PIH letter he wrote reflecting on the two years since the earthquake come back to me.  In the letter he discusses how the health-care community in developing countries has been “socialized for scarcity,” too busy with the algebra of cost-benefit used to divide the resource pie to think about how to expand the pie.  I think this lesson applies just as well to energy.  Some of the resistance to limiting dangerous climate disruptive emissions on a global scale comes from those that claim that poorer countries need energy from fossil fuels and their associated emissions to properly assure their development.  We’ve been socialized to accept that development means burning stuff, but I firmly believe that the next big leap-frog in technology for developing countries will be renewable energy.  Ironically the poorest among us, who have the least contributed to global emissions but will suffer the most from climate change, could lead the way to a better energy future because they have no legacy infrastructure and already pay way too dearly for energy.

Click here for more stories of Vote Solar’s team putting solar to use in the developing world.

In 2010, as part of a campaign to get a big piece of solar policy over the finish line in New York, we got a billboard near the capitol and crowd-sourced pro-solar messages.

One of the winning tag-lines was contributed by Colin Murchie (who works for SolarCity and is one of the funnier people in the solar business–or any business, for that matter):

“When there is a huge solar energy spill, it’s called a ‘nice day’”.

For some reason, it’s recently gone viral.  We’ve seen it pop up all over the internet.  And people are asking us if they can use it for their own purposes.

So here’s the deal.  After consultation with the phrase’s originator, we are going to assert a Creative Commons copyright, for attribution and non-commercial purposes.  That is to say, you can use it for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to Vote Solar.

Under these terms, go forth and spread the solar love.

Stay tuned for t-shirts and bumper stickers with the message.  Working on them.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.