Signing LA's feed-in tariff ordinance

On the heels of signing several large contracts for solar, The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power recently established a feed-in tariff program to source solar power closer to home.

Some thoughts on the program details and development:
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An update on the City of Palo Alto’s progress towards meeting its 33% renewable energy standard:

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Amid the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy, we’re glad to share some good news from New York . . .

The Empire State is at it again, making moves towards ensuring that solar energy is a significant part of its energy landscape. Having increased the state’s commitment to solar development with the NY-Sun Initiative in early 2012, Governor Cuomo and his team are back to work expanding the legacy of this program. » Read the rest of this entry «

In 2008, Southern California Edison made headlines with an ambitious proposal to build and own 250 MW of solar PV on customer rooftops.  The proposal drew both praise and controversy — the praise for thinking big on distributed generation, and controversy because SCE made the case that not only could they do solar more cheaply than anyone else, but that other programs, such as customer-owned solar, should perhaps go away.
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With passage of California’s 33% renewable energy law (RPS) in 2011, the state’s publicly owned utilities were obligated to meet the same renewable requirements at the major investor-owned utilities (PG&E, SCE and SDG&E) for the first time. That’s no small step forward for renewables in the state! Together the state’s 10 largest publicly owned utilities deliver approximately one-quarter of all the state’s electricity needs.

Our friends over at the Union of Concerned Scientists released a new report today that ranks those 10 publicly owned utilities on their clean energy progress, and we’re not entirely surprised to see that the biggest — Los Angeles Department of Water and Power — did not earn top marks. » Read the rest of this entry «

It’s a no-brainer that sunny Los Angeles should be a solar leader, but the city’s utility has historically been very reliant on coal-fired power from neighboring states. However, LA is making new strides on renewables, as evidenced at a celebratory event at Los Angeles City Hall yesterday. Mayor Villaraigosa held a press conference to sign an ordinance approved by City Council authorizing the city’s municipal utility to move forward with a feed-in tariff program of up to 150 megawatts in size (see the picture below, with Vote Solar’s Susannah Churchill smiling in the background. Credit: LABC). » Read the rest of this entry «

The Finance Committee of the City of Palo Alto will take up their feed-in tariff proposal on Feb 7.  » Read the rest of this entry «

Apparently, city leaders want to spend a little more time considering it, and the program, initially to become operational this month, will be delayed.  There will be a discussion at the next city council Finance Committee meeting, which we’ll attend.  Stay tuned.

Details here.

Today, more action in the on-going saga of FERC and feed-in tariffs. The brief backstory goes like this: The California Public Utilities Commission, in response to a state law, proposed a feed-in tariff for combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Anticipating legal action from utilities, the CPUC filed a Petition for Declaratory Order asking for input from FERC, parties (including Vote Solar) intervened asking for more flexibility, the FERC issued a decision, then the CPUC filed again asking for further clarification, at which point the FERC totally reversed itself with a new decision.  Then the utilities requested rehearing, which is still pending.  In the iterim, the CPUC–relying on the latest FERC decision–went forward with the implementation of the original CHP FIT in a decision approved on December 16, 2010. » Read the rest of this entry «

A look at the arc of solar policy development in Spain can shed some helpful lessons for policymakers.  The upshot: if a government is uncomfortable with unlimited cost exposure and sets caps on the amount of development, that decision triggers additional policy considerations.  The implications are important for the project development process, as capped programs inevitably work very differently than uncapped programs. » Read the rest of this entry «