Tag Archives: policy
Illinois Net Metering Update
Last year during the veto session SB 1652, ComEd Smart Grid, passed and included language regarding net metering. The new net metering language increased eligible system size from the previous 40 kW to 2 MW, but added the caveat of non-competitive customer class in order to qualify for 1:1 kilowatt-hour credit and free net meter [...]
NREL Releases New Utility-Scale Solar Reports
Utility-scale solar is still something of a novelty in the renewable energy ecosystem. Large-scale deployment of these multi-megawatt (MW) installations has only recently been enabled in the United States by two key pieces of federal legislation and state-level implementation of renewable energy standards. The market boomed in 2011, adding more than 760 MW of capacity [...]
Does Mitt Romney Get Energy?
It’s time to set the record straight. When it comes to Mitt Romney’s energy policy, all you’ll need to remember is “oil and gas.” It is clear that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is dedicated to the big oil interests that are helping his campaign. Let’s get some background on Mitt Romney before we delve [...]
Vermont: Taming the Solar Permitting Beast
The state of Vermont might have solved the problem of solar’s ‘soft costs’ — as well as provided an impetus for increased solar penetration with a re-vamped feed-in tariff. Solar pricing in the U.S. is driven by materials costs, as it is everywhere. But the states in the U.S. possess an inconsistent, time-consuming, and costly [...]
Coal’s Double Standard
There is a story in the New York Times that just came across the wires titled, “Even In Coal Country, The Fight For An Industry.” But now, coal is in a corner. Across the United States, the industry is under siege, threatened by new regulations from Washington. So when the operator of the Big Sandy plant [...]
Solar: Powering 50% of Germany
Europe’s ‘economic powerhouse’ can add solar to its epithet. Germany’s solar power plants reached a generation milestone of 22 GW of electricity per hours. That is the same as 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity. According to a Reuters report, that amount of electricity fed into the national grid on Saturday (May 26) met [...]
Rooftop Solar Ceiling Lifted in California
California raised the ceiling on the amount of rooftop solar that qualifies for net metering – where utilities pay building owners for sending excess energy back to the grid. In a unanimous decision, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) lifted the maximum capacity of rooftop solar systems from the current 2400 megawatts (MW) to 5,200 MW, enough electricity to supply about 2.1 million homes. [...]
Morocco Beefs Up Solar Effort
As reported in Reuters, Morocco is planning on accelerating the tender processes for developing its 2,000 MW solar energy plan, beginning with awarding a contract for 160 MW using concentrated solar technology. According to the chair of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy Mustafa Bakkoury, a winning consortium will be announced by the start of [...]
Chinese Evading Solar Tariffs!
A recent decision to impose substantial anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar cell manufacturers shook the solar world. The intention of these duties is to prevent unfair “dumping” of Chinese solar products in the US market, which hurts American manufacturers. Those in opposition to these tariffs feel that they have created anxiety within trade relations and [...]