January 14, 2010

January 2010 Connecting to the Grid Newsletter

Editor: Laurel Varnado NC Solar Center, NC State University HOW TO SUBSCRIBE The Connecting to the Grid newsletter is published electronically every month by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC) and the North Carolina Solar Center at North Carolina State University. This is a free publication. Click here to subscribe. FORMAT While customer-sited net…

Editor: Laurel Varnado
NC Solar Center, NC State University

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

The Connecting to the Grid newsletter is published electronically every month by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC) and the North Carolina Solar Center at North Carolina State University. This is a free publication. Click here to subscribe.

FORMAT

While customer-sited net metering and interconnection are primarily state issues, they are also becoming important on a regional basis. This newsletter has been designed to capture any subtle, emerging regional trends. The state news is presented in geographic categories, primarily because the standard NERC and/or RTO/ISO regions do not always align with state boundaries. Please direct comments and questions about the newsletter to Laurel Varnado.

 January 2010 Connecting to the Grid Newsletter (PDF)

January 2010 Connecting to the Grid Newsletter (MS Word)

WHAT’S NEW AS OF JANUARY 2010

Note from the Editor: Celebrating the Year’s and Decade’s Achievements

The New Year always provides good opportunity for reflection, so in keeping with “Best of” traditions, I thought I would highlight the major achievements that we witnessed in 2009 for Net Metering and Interconnection-related policies.

  1. Several states improved upon their interconnection procedures, increasing the system cap to 10 MW or greater, including D.C, South Dakota, Virginia and Oregon.
  2. After a brief legal battle, Missouri relaxed its insurance requirements for interconnecting DG systems.
  3. We saw a surprising number of states that enacted or adopted policies for the first time, including Kentucky, Nebraska, Alaska, Kansas, and South Carolina
  4. Several states formalized rules for shared system net metering including Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts. Rhode Island also passed legislation allowing virtual net metering for up to 10 accounts owned by government and certain other classes of utility customers.
  5. Aggregate participation caps also got a boost in several states: New Hampshire (saw a small increase to 1%), Delaware (5%), Utah (for Rocky Mountain Power: 20%), and North Carolina (removed the cap altogether)
  6. Delaware and California allowed indefinite rollover of net metering credits.
  7. Michigan, North Carolina and West Virginia are working on REC tracking platforms
  8. Several states are working on fixed price offerings or feed-in tariffs (FITs) including Hawaii, California, Oregon, Maine and Wisconsin

But wait, let’s not stop there! Not only was it the turn of a new year but it was also the turn of a new decade.  Recently, I came across a net metering map that had been created by the folks at DSIRE, of course, showing states with net metering policies in the year 2000.  Only 22 states were shaded.  If you compare that to today’s DSIRE map you will see a remarkable difference; almost twice as many states have net metering now than did ten years ago. [Continued in Newsletter]

 

State News in Detail:

 

Northeast States

Connecticut utilities issue report on interconnection to networks

New York PSC expands RPS to 30%

Maine PUC adopts best-practices interconnection procedures

Massachusetts launches comprehensive solar program

Vermont PSB staff issue proposal for setting renewable energy FIT prices

Mid-Atlantic States

Maryland Governor accepts proposal to increase incentives for renewable energy in the state

New Jersey separates NM and IC rules, lifting 2MW cap on interconnection; proposes lifting 2MW cap on net metering.

Pennsylvania PUC issues policy statement in support of solar projects

Midwestern States

Kansas public utility voluntarily adopts net metering, interconnection

Missouri PSC sends Renewable Energy Standard proposal to Secretary of State for approval

Wisconsin PSC notes that all utilities are meeting or exceeding RPS goals

Southern States

North Carolina’s Duke Energy begins second phase of Solar Distributed Generation Program

Western States

Arizona ACC rules on third-party arrangement for school districts

CPUC provides standard contract for CHP generation delivered to the grid

New Mexico PRC upholds ruling on third-party sales

Oregon PUC posts FIT workshop information

Washington UTC files NOPR on smart grid work

 

Miscellaneous News

China Increases Renewable Energy Goal

California to allow tradable RECs to meet RPS compliance

A Round-up of Feed-in Tariff news from Around the World

Conferences and Events