By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Damn, that was cold – although you have to admire solar’s opponents in South Carolina for employing an obscure legislative sleight of hand to kill a bill that would have eliminated residential net metering caps.

• After the utilities raised all holy hell about how removing net metering caps would COMPLETELY DESTROY THEIR BUSINESS RIGHT NOW, the cowards in the South Carolina House of Representatives reclassified the bill as a tax increase, which mean it needed a 2/3 majority instead of a simple majority.
• So…solar advocates in South Carolina can kiss the expected industry expansion goodbye, at least for now.

SolarWakeup’s View:  Those of you who know me recognize me as one of the most cynical human beings in the world, especially when it comes to the Wild-West world of politics. But even my breath was taken away by how brazenly South Carolina’s utility monopoly stole a solar-expansion bill out from under the industry with an obscure legislative maneuver that twisted the bill’s purpose into something unrecognizable, even to its own sponsor.

Remember that article I wrote all the way back on Friday? About how the South Carolina House of Representatives had voted to lift residential solar net metering caps, a move destined to expand the state’s burgeoning solar industry and bring it more in line with its northern neighbor? Remember how I suggested that we not celebrate quite yet because it still had to pass the Senate before becoming law?

Little did I know the utility monopolies would buy their way back into the House to kill it there before it even had a chance to be debated in the upper house.

Through a legislative sleight of hand, the bill – which passed with a majority just last Friday – magically became a “tax increase” bill, which requires a vote of 2/3 of representatives instead of a majority. As a result, another vote was taken, and the bill failed to get to 2/3 by nine votes.

I mean…wow. Just. Wow.

The gobsmacking chicanery in South Carolina highlights a question that is central to whether solar will continue to thrive in this country: Will we continue to let state-supported utility monopolies continue to keep the United States from modernizing and updating our electric-generation system? Or will the people – who, as I wrote about yesterday, want a distributed-generation solar future – finally say, “Enough is enough.”?

It’s time to hold state representatives who decide to side with utility monopolies over their constituents accountable. Let’s vote the bastids out.

More:

South Carolina House kills pro-solar bill after last-minute rule change

The Latest: Solar Energy Bill Killed in Legislative Surprise

South Carolina Sends Solar Soaring With Cap Removal

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Greentech Media reports that the commercial/industrial (C&I) sector now has $250 million in new money to purchase operational assets, thanks to the efforts of CleanCapital and CarVal Investors, the investment arm of industrial giant Cargill.

• According to GTM, CleanCapital has purchased mroe than $100 million in distributed generation projects in the past several years. focusing entirely on the C&I sector.
• The money will also allow CleanCapital to increase its focus on segments such as energy efficiency, storage and new construction solar.

Daughters of the American Revolution Hall
Photo courtesy of Standard Solar

SolarWakeup’s View:  OK, I must admit I was mildly confused by Greentech Media’s story on the joint-venture fund for the commercial segment, so indulge me a bit of insider baseball of the journalism sort.

The headline says the funds will be used to finance “C&I Solar,” but the body of the article doesn’t mention C&I solar at all in the body of the piece, which left me scratching my head. What I think is going on here is that the writer assumed solar when it was not in evidence, and that the funds will actually be used for a broader set of projects than the article implies.

Still, $250 million earmarked to fund energy efficiency, storage and new-build solar projects in the commercial segment is nothing to sneeze at, especially since (as the CEO of CleanCapital told GTM) the commercial segment has struggled to find money for such projects.

“I see a bulk of our capital going towards our continued growth in acquiring operating assets, while continuing our innovation this year to get to C&I projects with unrated offtakers,” President Jon Powers told SolarWakeup.

Powers also told SolarWakeup that it’s their vision to expand the C&I market beyond municipal and rated credits, something that can be challenging for traditional lending operations to understand.

I understand that inancing commercial solar is complicated, given the relative youth of the segment and the perceived instability associated with it. But the wariness of traditional lenders means that I agree with Powers: There is an untapped market in C&I waiting to be exploited if the money was there.

It’s always a good thing to see money coming into the C&I sector, given that it is the one segment of the solar industry that hasn’t had its boom yet. It’s time for C&I solar to have its day in the sun.

More:

CleanCapital and CarVal Investors Team Up on $250 Million C&I Solar Fund