November Connecting to the Grid Newsletter
WHAT’S NEW AS OF NOVEMBER 2011? Note from the Editor A Veritable Feast of Community Renewables For this month of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d bring you an update on one of our most neighborly news topics: Community Renewables and Meter Aggregation. There’s been so much happening lately that it’s difficult to keep up with…
WHAT’S NEW AS OF NOVEMBER 2011?
Note from the Editor
A Veritable Feast of Community Renewables
For this month of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d bring you an update on one of our most neighborly news topics: Community Renewables and Meter Aggregation. There’s been so much happening lately that it’s difficult to keep up with all of it. There are also a lot of ongoing dockets pertaining to community renewables, so even after the laws get signed, there’s still quite a bit of work to do before tariffs are in place and it’s legal to engage in these fun, new policies. There are as many variations on community renewables as there are policies, but I usually consider Community Renewables to include most types of net metering expansions such as joint billing, meter aggregation and virtual net metering, among others. A few recent regulatory updates of note:
Colorado Solar Gardens – Back in June of last year, Colorado enacted the Community Solar Gardens Act, which defined a solar garden as a community-owned solar array with at least 10 grid-connected “subscribers” within Xcel or Black Hills Energy territory. Each subscriber would own or lease one or more solar panels, and receive credit for electricity the panels produce. The Public Utilities Commission still has yet to finalize rules for this legislation but that hasn’t stopped towns and cities from going ahead with their own version of solar gardens. Colorado Springs recently announced the approval of a solar garden to serve its city’s residents and several other Colorado cities, towns and counties including Boulder, Antonito and Saguache County are also in the solar garden planning process.
State News in Detail
Northeast States
NY utility seeks to modify net metering tariffs
Mid-Atlantic States
Maryland Governor seeking to include renewables in RFP
Virginia SCC to hold hearing on stand-by charges for net metering customers; Dominion asks SCC to approve community solar pilot
Midwestern States
Illinois takes one step forward and five steps backward with net metering
Michigan PSC notes another rise in net metering customers
Southern States
Georgia Commissioner calls for more solar
Western States
California’s SDG&E appeals for network use charge which could penalize net metering customers
Nevada PUC begins rulemaking for net metering changes
Other States
Hawaii to host smart grid/renewables test facility
Upcoming Events
IREC News
Freeing the Grid 2011 – Download your copy today!
Miscellaneous News
Assessing the Role of Distributed Power Systems in the U.S.
Report: Reviving PURPA’s Purpose
Download the full newsletter as a PDF: November 2011 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) and the North Carolina Solar Center at North Carolina State University. Click here to subscribe.
Editor: Laurel Varnado
NC Solar Center, NC State University
