November 15, 2011

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.

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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