March 13, 2012

March Connecting to the Grid Newsletter

WHAT’S NEW AS OF MARCH 2012?   Note from the Editor Governments may not always be able to change course as quickly as the private sector, but once they put their policies behind an idea, they have the ability to make things happen on quite a large scale. Such has been the evolution of government…

WHAT’S NEW AS OF MARCH 2012?

 

Note from the Editor

Governments may not always be able to change course as quickly as the private sector, but once they put their policies behind an idea, they have the ability to make things happen on quite a large scale. Such has been the evolution of government initiatives to source more power from renewable energy resources.  Over the last decade, government agencies have worked to put in place a number of renewable energy policies and goals; now I think we are about to see a few of them change course in a major way.

Military agencies are a good example.  A joint initiative formed between the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DoE) in 2008 led to a task force to examine the potential for net-zero energy military bases, which would produce as much on-site energy from renewable resources as the bases consume.  The near-term Army goal is to have 25 net-zero bases by 2030, and the Army is well under way toward this goal.  If the Army continues along this path, the result could be a massive deployment of renewable technologies.

[Continued in Newsletter]

 

State News in Detail

Northeast States

Massachusetts DPU establishes DG working group; issues net metering order

New York Solar company asks for net metering tariff update

 

Mid-Atlantic States              

New Jersey passes DG standby charge bill; prepares for SREC updates

 

Southern States    

Alabama Army Center issues draft RFP for $7B, 30-year renewable energy contracts

Arkansas PSC debates indemnification provisions for DG

Texas utility proposes tariff with a solar penalty

 

Western States                      

California PUC issues friendly net metering reminder

Colorado utility and city debate over long-term DG incentives

  

Upcoming Events

 

Miscellaneous News

New Report Assesses the Rate Impact of Net Energy Metering

ARPA-E Issues Call for Transformational Energy Technologies

NREL Technical Paper Examines Capacity Screen For Interconnection Procedures

 

 

Download the full newsletter as a PDF: March 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