Time Running Out On Massachusetts Solar Legislation, So Act Now

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

With five days left in the legislative session, Massachusetts is running out of time to solidify and expand its burgeoning solar industry, and activists in the state are ramping up the pressure in an attempt to try to get something done before the end of the month.

Yesterday, in an effort supported by advocacy group Vote Solar and others, city leaders from across the state joined forces to send a letter to the legislature urging them to pass the clean energy legislation currently pending before it, which is designed to accomplish three things:

eliminiate the arbitrary net metering cap (or at least raise it by at least 5%);
repeal Eversource Energy’s (the state’s largest utility) “demand charge” on solar customers; and
raise the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by at least 3% a year.

[wds id=”3″]

The letter quotes at least 20 municipal leaders in support of the legislation like Framingham City Council Member Adam Steiner:

As a City Council Member and a solar homeowner myself, I have seen the power of solar to benefit families, communities and our environment. Solar is a critical part of our local economy and our commitment to making our environment cleaner, but we need continued leadership from our state leaders to keep solar on track. We hope they will heed our letter and act quickly on these important solar policies.

As New York, New Jersey and even Pennsylvania start pushing into the clean energy future with aggressive plans to increase the solar industry, Massachusetts has been shockingly reticent and retiring about playing a significant role in growing the solar industry in the Northeast. It’s mincing steps toward a solar future are a mystifying anomaly, and one that its legislators can fix right now – but time is running out. The legislative session ends on July 31.

Massachusetts was one of the primary drivers of the American Revolution – and it’s time they assumed their leadership in the Solar Revolution, too.

Michigan Advocates Decry Utility’s Net Metering Successor

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

DTE Energy has a love-hate relationship with renewable energy.

On the one hand, they’ve pledged to be coal-free by 2040, at least in part through investments in wind and solar. On the other hand, they’ve suggested a replacement for retail net metering that has solar advocates screaming “Foul!” from the rooftops.

[wds id=”3″]

Midwest Energy News reports that DTE Energy has suggested a new reimbursement scheme that would compensate its solar customers at the lower – often significantly lower – wholesale rate of power. In addition, they have discussed imposing fixed fees on solar customers to fulfill the mandate that every utility has to toss up the fake “cost-shift” subterfuge to maintain their membership in the Utility Club.

(The Utility Club is not a real thing. But this lie, this ridiculous slander, about the cost shift, is unfortunately all too real.)

For those of you who have not heard me rail against this before, here it goes:

The argument goes like this: Retail-rate net metering, a program under which solar customers are reimbursed for the excess electricity they produce, pushes extra costs on to non-solar customers because solar customers aren’t paying for grid upkeep.

What the utilities don’t want you to notice, of course, is that solar customers also relieve congestion on the grid during peak production times, which saves strain on the transmission and distribution lines. So while they may not be paying for upkeep directly, solar production saves wear and tear, which ultimately saves the utility money in the form of repair costs.

You’re welcome.

I should note here that while there is a minor cost-shift, a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory indicates the shift only happens when a state passes the 10% mark for solar-electricity generation. And I should also note that even at more than 10%, the shift is so small you’d need the Berkeley Lab’s $27 million electron microscope to see it.

My good friend Becky Stanfield, senior director of western states with Vote Solar, summed it up pretty succinctly for Midwest Energy News, saying:

DTE Energy is clearly using the distributed generation tariff to try to discourage people from going solar. It’s pretty outrageous.

Yes it is, Becky. Yes. It Is.

More:

Advocates call Michigan utility’s net metering replacement ‘outrageous’

NRA And Greenpeace Reach Historic Agreement: Solar Rocks

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It’s our distinct pleasure to announce that the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Greenpeace have come to a historic agreement. And that historic agreement is this: Solar. Rocks.

According to a new survey by Swytch, a blockchain platform that tracks, verifies and rewards those reducing the global carbon footprint, 75% of both NRA and Greenpeace members believe businesses that switch to clean energy should be rewarded – and NRA members are more than twice as likely to own solar electrical systems than the general public.

[wds id=”3″]

Those are the headlines from the new survey, but they are not the only evidence that solar and clean energy support crosses party and regional lines. There’s this significant finding, too:

The survey also found that an overwhelming majority (92%) of Americans believe that renewable energy is either very important or somewhat important to the world’s future and more than 81% of respondents believe that solar power is the most important.

It’s the second part of that finding that should hearten solar advocates from coast to coast. It’s long been considered a settled fact that at least 90% of American support solar, but as far as SolarWakeup can remember, this is the first survey to show Americans have a marked preference for solar over other clean energy solutions. The survey solidifies the idea that the Solar Revolution is here to stay, something that could be proven only anecdotally through stories of the industry’s spread to non-traditional solar states.

The survey also had two more interesting findings about the motivation behind decisions to go solar and what might encourage more people to do so:

Roughly 48% of respondents stated their primary motivation for switching to clean energy would be to save money and more than 37% would switch to reduce their environmental impact.
Almost 92% of respondents would be more willing to install solar if they had a battery to store the extra energy produced and 88% would be more willing if they could sell the extra energy produced

Those last two findings are important. It shows solar advocates that the way to potential users’ hearts is through their wallets, and it shows that net metering and battery storage are critical to the spread of the Solar Revolution.

Connecticut Catastrophe, Part 2: Solar Consumers Are NOT Utilities

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Yesterday, I promised you more information on why pending legislation in Connecticut that would eliminate net metering would be a disaster for the solar industry.

Yesterday, we dealt with the idea of “simultaneous consumption” argument (a compensation scheme so complicated you need an accounting degree to figure it out). Today, we’ll deal with the idea that solar consumerss are utilities.

The worst part of it is, the legislative session ends next Wednesday, so there’s little time to scuttle this monstrosity (fire up your phones and get dialing is what I am saying).

The level of awful in the Connecticut solar bill that is careening drunkenly toward passage as the session comes to an end is breathtaking in scope and stupidity.

SolarWakeup’s View: Yeah, the genius just keeps coming from what I’ve decided to dub the “Connecticut catastrophe,” which in case you aren’t aware is Senate Bill (SB) 9, a bill hellbent on destroying the solar industry in the state once and for all.

For today’s lesson in bad solar ideas, let’s discuss the…SPECIAL idea that because solar consumers are generating electricity, they should be considered regulated utilities.

Yep. That’s a thing supposedly “serious legislators” are discussing.

[wds id=”3″]

At issue here is something called the “average cost” calculation, which is how utilities set their rates. SB 9 wants to make the Connecticut catastrophe worse by lumping all solar generators – including residential installations – in with other massive electricity producers like utilities. The problem, of course, is that this puts an unreasonable burden on solar consumers to keep up with the reporting procedures and other regulatory hoops through which utilities must jump (I should say must RIGHTLY jump, given that their profit is guaranteed by the state).

Subjecting solar consumers to the same regulations as the utilities destroys the entire underlying rationale for homeowners to install solar arrays. As The Alliance for Solar Choice writes,

Pursuing an “average cost” approach instead of the standard value-based approach will undervalue solar energy, reduce consumer choice and jeopardize the viability of residential solar businesses. This may cause some residential solar businesses to shut down, particularly smaller, local solar companies with costs that are above-average.

This backwards approach could particularly impact low-income and middle class residents who rely upon no-money-down financing options to go solar. Most solar customers in Connecticut are below the median income level thanks to these financing options, which the new tariff could threaten.

Had enough yet? Wait until you see what this Connecticut catastrophe does to the community solar side of the business.

I can’t urge you strongly enough to get on the phones and tell Connecticut legislators not to destroy the state’s solar industry by passing this bill. No, seriously. Do it now. You only have six days left to stop this Connecticut catastrophe from moving forward.

More:

How To Screw Up Solar With One Horrid Bill (Connecticut Edition)

Here’s this asinine bill:

SB 9