July 2012 Connecting to the Grid Newsletter
WHAT’S NEW AS OF JULY 2012? Note from the Editor Retail or Wholesale: Who Decides? At a basic level, the electric distribution system is not that different than the rest of the U.S. sales economy: Distributors buy products in bulk, at wholesale, and sell them to end-user consumers at retail prices. Net energy metering…
WHAT’S NEW AS OF JULY 2012?
Note from the Editor
Retail or Wholesale: Who Decides?
At a basic level, the electric distribution system is not that different than the rest of the U.S. sales economy: Distributors buy products in bulk, at wholesale, and sell them to end-user consumers at retail prices. Net energy metering (NEM) fits into the retail side of that equation, as an exchange of kilowatt-hours between the distributor and the end-use customer.
One of the most important policies in the solar world, NEM is fundamentally an end-user, retail policy that allows electric customers to offset their own electric consumption by producing it through alternative means like solar or wind generation. Instantaneous excess energy flows back onto the grid for use at a later time so, essentially, the grid serves like a giant battery back-up system for distributed net metering systems everywhere. Despite the exponential growth of solar over the past few years, the total amount of U.S. solar generation still only accounted for about 0.2 percent of the net electricity produced last year.
State News in Detail
Northeast States
Massachusetts ramps up DG interconnection working group
Mid-Atlantic States
Virginia SCC seeks comments on Dominion’s solar rate proposal
Midwestern States
Indiana utility to stop providing onsite generation incentives
Southern States
Florida PSC notes significant increase in net metering
Western States
California PUC initiates interconnection reform proceeding; State passes significant solar milestone
Other States
Hawaii enacts interconnection reform and reliability standards bill
Upcoming Events
Miscellaneous News
FERC eases burdens on variable energy resource providers
Western energy corridors to be revamped under new settlement
Download the full newsletter as a PDF: July 2012 Connecting to the Grid Newsletter
FORMAT
While customer-sited net metering and interconnection policies are primarily addressed at the state level, they are also becoming important on a regional basis. This newsletter has been designed to provide state-level policy updates and capture emerging regional trends. Connecting to the Grid is a free, electronic newsletter published each month by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC). Click here to subscribe.
Editor: Laurel Varnado
