By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The new battle lines are being drawn, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave consumers a victory yesterday as utilities struggle to come to grips with customer-sited energy storage. For years, utilities have tried, using various methods, to treat solar consumers as a separate class of customer, giving them the right to charge extra fees (among other mechanisms) that they charge to no other customer in their ratepayer base. These efforts, by and large, have been met with appropriate scorn by public utilities commissions around the country and have been rejected. Now, however, a new front is opening, and it concerns energy storage consumers and curtailment, and the utilities are at it again. In this specific case, Southern California Edison (SCE) brought its curtailment plan to FERC and asked if it could treat storage consumers differently than other consumers by charging an additional fee for "wholesale distribution access." FERC, appropriately, said, "Greedy utilities say what now?" Through our invaluable friends at Utility Dive, we get this from FERC:

SoCal Edison has failed to demonstrate why it is just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential to curtail one class of interconnection customer’s load (in this case, an energy storage device’s Charging Demand) without providing an opportunity to have the energy storage device’s load studied and to pay for the system upgrades needed to allow its load to have the same curtailment priority as other wholesale loads."

In other words, get the heck out of here with that weak nonsense. Of course, SCE has 30 days to get its ducks in a row and try again (say, by doing the study that FERC says is necessary), but the initial finding protects energy storage customers from being targeted by utilities looking to recoup losses from other investments, and it protects distributed-generation options for the moment. Kudos to FERC for doing the right thing. More: FERC says SCE can't treat storage customers differently in service

The Big Deal, 100% For California. Let’s let this sink in. By a 2 vote margin, the 100% renewable energy future for California has passed the California Assembly. This isn’t a State saying, let’s aim for a carbon free electricity future, this is California, the 5th largest economy in the World. The economy that the world looks to for innovation and direction when all other things look like politics and rhetoric are ruining everything. Senator De Leon pushed hard for this policy last year and fell short, instead of letting it go, they went for it all once again with success. Governor Brown could sign the legislation by the end of the week just prior to the arrival of global dignitaries arrive in San Francisco for the Global Action Climate Summit. Hats off to the policy folks that worked overtime and the millions of people that pushed their legislators to get this done. Climate policy is moving in the wrong direction in many political arenas around the world and while Trump goes for all things coal, California stands up and gives us all hope! Go California and Go Solar!

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The Wells Fargo is coming down the street, and it's got $5 million in it for the GRID Alternatives Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund, which is an extension of its National Tribal Program. Under the program, GRID Alternatives has already built more than 600 projects on tribal land, and the new funding will allow them to continue funding projects for the next three years. The National Tribal Program, which has installed nearly 3 MW of projects, began in 2010. GRID estimates the exisiting projects will generate $23 million in lifetime energy costs savings “Many tribes are looking to renewable energy to address both environmental and economic challenges in their communities,” said Adam Bad Wound, Vice President of Development for GRID Alternatives in a release announcing the new funding. “Access to funding is often the biggest barrier to achieving their goals, and we’re excited to be able to partner with even more tribes to move their solar PV projects forward.” Wells Fargo has been a major supporter of GRID’s state- and national-level programming since 2012. “Our strong relationships in Indian Country and with our Native American customers are a point of great pride at our company,” said Mary Wenzel, head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Wells Fargo. “We are pleased to have such an effective working relationship with GRID Alternatives and to provide the seed funding for its Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund. We sincerely believe that providing no-cost solar and job-training opportunities in tribal communities will address critical needs and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.” GRID's tribal program works primarily in Western states, including California, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington and South Dakota, but it is not geographically limited. GRID has worked with the Standing Rock tribe in North Dakota, and the Shinnecock in New York, among others. The Spokane Tribe in Wellpinit, Washington, will be the first to benefit from the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund, with a grant that will unlock third-party investment capital and $1 million in matching funds from the Department of Energy for a 637 kilowatt solar project. When complete, the project will provide clean power and reduced energy bills for 14 tribal buildings, including elder housing, community facilities and tribal administrative offices. Other projects slated for funding in 2018 will be announced in the coming weeks. An open application process for 2019–20 will launch early next year.

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Yesterday, we wrote about how utilities didn't seem all that enthusiastic about the new rules the Trump Administration had laid out to weaken regulation on coal plants. In fact, most of the utilities discussed in the article reaffirmed their commitment to growing their renewable portfolios at varying speeds. And today we have another real-life example of the shift that is coming in utilities' attitudes both toward traditional coal plants and renewable energy. Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, won approval from the Public Utilities Commission to ramp up its investments in renewable energy to to the tune of nearly 2,000 MW of solar and wind and 300 MW of battery storage. Oh, and in the process, they've also pledged to close nearly one-third of their coal plants, according to an article in The Denver Post. As The Post notes:

As part of the plan, Xcel, Colorado’s largest electric utility, will phase out its Comanche 1 and 2 coal-fired plants in Pueblo about a decade earlier than the original target date of 2035. Xcel says the plan will invest $2.5 billion in eight counties and save customers about $213 million, thanks to the declining costs of renewable energy.

The breakdown of the renewables is as follows:

• 1,100 MW of wind
• 700 MW of solar
• 275 MW of battery storage

Company officials were delighted by the PUC's decision and said they looked forward to a clean-energy future for Colorado. “The Colorado Energy Plan Portfolio is a transformative plan that delivers on our vision of long-term, low-cost clean renewable energy for our customers, stimulating economic development in rural Colorado, and substantially reducing our carbon emissions,” Alice Jackson, Xcel Energy Colorado president, said in a written statement. “We are excited to move forward.” Colorado has long been a renewable energy leader. It was one of the first states to experiment with community solar, and its solar and wind development has continued apace, even when policies didn't ideally line up with the overall renewable energy goals. Now with Xcel Energy making such a large commitment, you'll likely see other state utilities get on board, which could drive Colorado further up the list of solar-friendly states in the country. One can only hope these developments spur that kind of reaction. More: Colorado regulators green-light Xcel’s plan boosting renewables, cutting coal