News from DSIRE: 1/7/13
COLORADO – Black Hills Energy Suspends PV Rebates
Black Hills Energy temporarily closed its PV rebate program on January 1 while the Colorado Public Utilities Commission considers changes that Black Hills Energy has proposed to the program.
COLORADO – Colorado Springs Slashes PV Incentives
Colorado Springs Utilities announced fresh changes to its PV rebate program for 2013. The program budget has been reduced from roughly $1 million to just over $600,000, and the rebate level has dropped from $1.80/W to $1.50/W.
FLORIDA – Gainesville PV FIT Emerges from Hibernation
GRU is accepting new applications for its Solar Feed-in-Tariff Program until February 5. GRU purchases energy and RECs from PV systems at a set rate under a 20-year contract. For contracts executed in 2013, the fixed rate for the life of the contract is $0.21/kWh, $0.18/kWh or $0.15/kWh, depending on system size and application.
IOWA – Methane Property Tax Incentive Vaporizes
Iowa’s Methane Gas Conversion Property Tax Exemption has expired for new systems other than publicly-owned sanitary landfills. Other qualifying systems placed in service before December 31, 2012, are still eligible to receive the exemption for 10 years.
MICHIGAN – Consumers Energy PV Incentive Back in Action
Phase 10 of Consumers Energy’s Experimental Advanced Renewable Energy Program is now open. This program currently offers a fixed rate of $0.249/kWh for residential PV generation under a 15-year contract. The application deadline is February 6, 2013.
MICHIGAN – Net Metering, Interconnection Procedures, Forms Finalized
After several rounds of comments, the Michigan Public Service Commission has adopted final interconnection and net-metering application forms, agreements and procedures for systems up to 150 kW. Procedures and forms for larger systems will be addressed in the future.
NEW YORK – LIPA Doubles Maximum Rebate for Non-Residential PV
LIPA’s Solar Entrepreneur Program is offering rebates of $1.30/W with a maximum award of $130,000 for business-owned PV systems, and $1.75/W with a maximum award of $175,000 for PV systems owned by non-profits, schools or government entities. Formerly, the rebates were capped at $65,000 for business-owned systems and $87,500 for systems owned by non-profits, schools and government entities. LIPA also correspondingly increased the maximum capacity of a system eligible for a rebate from 50 kW to 100 kW per 12-month period.
NEW YORK – NYSERDA Funds Available for Dairy Biogas Systems
In December 2012, NYSERDA issued a program opportunity notice (PON) offering revised incentives for new anaerobic digesters 100 kW or larger that use dairy farm waste or dairy processing waste for at least 50% of the feedstock input. This program offers a complicated mix of fixed and variable up-front incentives for different system components, and a performance incentive of $0.025/kWh for up to 10 years of electricity production. The maximum total incentive for any project is set at $2 million. The deadline for this PON is January 31.
OREGON – Revised Tax Credit Rules Kick in
Finalized, revised rules are now in effect for Oregon’s Residential Energy Tax Credit. Incentive structures and rates changed for energy efficiency tax credits, but incentive levels for renewables remain the same.
OREGON – Energy Trust Revamps Solar-Thermal Incentives
Energy Trust has announced new solar-thermal incentive levels that took effect January 1. Commercial solar water-heating rebates for gas customers have dropped to $6/therm, and residential incentives have been converted to a flat-rate incentive based on customer location. Residential customers can receive between $550 and $1,200 per system.
PUERTO RICO – Tier I Incentives Postponed; Tier II Grant Deadline Passes
Puerto Rico’s Green Energy Fund Tier II grant program opened January 1, with an application deadline of January 5. Funds were available for PV and wind systems exceeding 100 kW but not exceeding 1 MW. The Tier I program, which offers rebates for smaller systems, is now scheduled to open February 1 (instead of January 1). Regulations for both programs were revised in November 2012.
