By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
Knoxville, Iowa, has been working on developing a solar plan for the city that would save it nearly $400,000 over the lifespan of a 30-year power-purchase agreement (PPA). But when it came to the final vote, MidAmerican Energy - the city's utility - came in and tried to lobby against it. The last-ditch attempt to keep solar from the citizens of Knoxville failed on a 3-1 vote, according to reports in the Knoxville Journal-Express.Renewable energy is something I care deeply about, so I know how some of these things work. [The utility] didn’t present us with any data that said this wasn’t a good choice for the city. This shows people in our community that we are progressive. We’re excited about renewable energy. We’re taking a leadership role in providing some solar capacity for our city facilities.Even with Knoxville council's blessing, the deal with Red Lion Renewables isn't a 100% done deal. As the newspaper reports, the developer:
...needs to raise $150,000 for the most visible array, to be built as a parking shelter on a city lot just north of the firehouse at 308 S. 3rd St. It would power City Hall, Knoxville Fire & Rescue and the Knoxville Public Library, but nothing will happen if the money doesn’t emerge soon....If MidAmerican read SolarWakeup, they would know they're going to struggle to convince Iowans that renewable energy is not the way to go (although part of their argument was that they weren't against renewables; they were just against non-MidAmerican owned renewables). As we've been reporting recently, one of MidAmerican's competitors, Alliant Energy, has already agreed to pay to shut down a nuclear plant and eliminate coal from its portfolio by 2050. Plus, the last-minute nature of their appeal is suspicious. Council meetings are public record, and you can be sure this issue didn't just crop up on the most recent council agenda. So why were they rushing in at the last minute to attempt to scuttle the deal? Only MidAmerican can answer that question - but Knoxville's city council didn't bite at their argument - and if the money comes through, it looks like Knoxville, Iowa, will become the next city to add solar to its electricity-generation portfolio outside of the utility's grasp. More: City solar plan survives power struggle with utility>
I’m Keeping SolarWakeup Private. If you missed the fun yesterday, Elon announced via tweet that he is thinking about taking Tesla private. The talking heads quickly went to SEC violations, Elon’s desire to burn short traders, or the ability for Elon to pull it off. But when you combine the shorts in the stock, the accounting nightmare that solar can cause to GAAP accounting and what Jim Cramer says about Vivint Solar makes you realize that Tesla would be much better off as a private company. Changing the world is hard and takes time, time that Tesla’s investors are willing to let the company have.
Talking Solar In Politics. I like all my interviews, but talking to Jon Carson was a personal high for me. Jon is now leading a solar development firm, Trajectory Energy Partners, which made the interview relevant for our audience. But prior to solar Jon helped elect Barack Obama to the White House and that’s a story I wanted to hear. Aside from his solar development tactics, which were great, I asked Jon about how solar plays at the highest levels of DC politics. Check out the interview here.
Maryland Forward Motion. Frank gives you some details about yet another pilot project in Maryland. Solar could be so much bigger than it is and yet Maryland still struggles with its politics that tries to play the middle. It’s time for the legislature to act on strong policies that enable a sustainable solar market which will lower the costs of energy for consumers.
Bring Your Solar To MS. A 9% increase in rates for Mississippi energy customers means they’ll pay an all in $0.139/kWh for electricity. In 18 months, expect rates to rise drastically once again which means that solar companies will see a great reason to go there now and build some solar homes with storage. Absent strong policies, use the technology price declines to enable MS residents to make their energy choices.
Solar Wall Of Shame. You’ve been sending me great solar pictures, keep doing that and make sure to add your logo to it and send it along. Some of you have been sending the worst of the worst as well. Let’s put some sunshine on the bad solar installs, I’ll be aggregating this and work with SEIA and others to make consumers ask the right installation questions. Send your worst of the worst install pictures and we’ll see who gets on the wall of shame.
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By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor In this episode of the Energy Wakeup podcast, we sat down with Jon Carson, founder of Trajectory Energy Partners, to discuss early solar project development in Illinois—and the politics of solar. Carson has spent nearly a lifetime in Illinois politics, first running Tammy Duckworth’s successful Congressional campaign and then was the field director and then national field director for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. So he knows a little about politics and how solar fits into our current political atmosphere. Carson discusses the importance of grassroots campaigning in early stage solar development—meeting with citizens in the area where you want to do development but going far beyond politicians. He describes the hours he’s spent crisscrossing the Land of Lincoln in his car, doing his best to talk solar to the people that will be affected by the installation of a solar farm: abutting neighbors, influencers and other townspeople. And, Carson says, when he puts in the time to make these connections, it turns out solar is a pretty easy sell in most areas of the state. Listen to the whole fascinating discussion to hear Carson talk about where solar is in the national political discussion and how we can do an even better job of bringing our issues to the forefront—and how he is effectively entering the burgeoning Illinois market, one project at a time.
By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor In this episode of the Energy Wakeup podcast, we sat down with Jon Carson, founder of Trajectory Energy Partners, to discuss early solar project development in Illinois—and the politics of solar. Carson has spent nearly a lifetime in Illinois politics, first running Tammy Duckworth’s successful Congressional campaign and then was the field director and then national field director for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. So he knows a little about politics and how solar fits into our current political atmosphere. Carson discusses the importance of grassroots campaigning in early stage solar development—meeting with citizens in the area where you want to do development but going far beyond politicians. He describes the hours he’s spent crisscrossing the Land of Lincoln in his car, doing his best to talk solar to the people that will be affected by the installation of a solar farm: abutting neighbors, influencers and other townspeople. And, Carson says, when he puts in the time to make these connections, it turns out solar is a pretty easy sell in most areas of the state. Listen to the whole fascinating discussion to hear Carson talk about where solar is in the national political discussion and how we can do an even better job of bringing our issues to the forefront—and how he is effectively entering the burgeoning Illinois market, one project at a time.
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
Maryland today launched a six-project community solar program that is looking for subscribers, according to an article in today's Baltimore Sun. Community solar programs are now all the rage, as solar continues to spread and solar companies are realizing that it can go beyond individual homeowners and businesses putting solar arrays on their roof. It's the perfect hybrid of utility-scale solar providing electricity for residential and consumer customers. The program has been in place since 2015, when the Maryland legislature authorized it. But writer Scott Dance asserts that it hasn't taken off because of NIMBY-ism combined with arguments over where the appropriate placement for the arrays are.People are very much in favor of going for a lot more renewables, for whatever reason. That support comes to a screeching halt when land that is perceived to be valuable for other things, whether a historic viewshed or farming, suddenly becomes a target of a location for this new project.Now, the conflict between farming and solar is a real concern in Maryland although, as we wrote about yesterday, perhaps it should be less of a concern than it is. But such concerns have halted development in many Maryland counties, as the Sun reports:
Such concerns have at least temporarily stalled the momentum for solar across the state. Anne Arundel County had at least five small community solar projects in the pipeline in December when officials decided to pause development for eight months. Baltimore County officials imposed a four-month moratorium on solar development before passing an ordinance last year to limit the size and number of solar farms.It remains to be seen if such concerns outweigh the hunger for community solar in a state that has been among the leading states in the Mid-Atlantic region for solar development. The six new projects the government has launched should give everyone a better picture of how much work still needs to be done in those rural areas to bring these farms to fruition. (To hear an excellent recap of how similar concerns are being overcome in Illinois, listen to the latest edition of the SolarWakeup podcast, where Jon Carson of Trajectory Energy Partners outlines his strategy for bringing more community solar to rural areas.) More: Maryland launches community solar program, creating new green energy opportunities — but also potential conflicts