Although it may seem straightforward to integrate energy storage into state energy markets, the characteristics that make storage so valuable and attractive also make it challenging to address in policy and regulatory contexts.
Up Front: The IREC Blog 
2020 Clean Energy States Honor Roll
This year’s Clean Energy States Honor Roll notes states to keep an eye on in the year to come for more promising developments in 2020 and beyond.
Tagged with: 2020 Clean Energy Honor Roll, decarbonize, energy efficiency, energy storage, Governor Jared Polis, interconnection procedures, New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, performance-based regulations, Roadmap to 100% Renewable Energy by 2040 & Bold Climate Action, solar for low to-moderate income households, Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target, state clean energy policies
Encouraging Interconnection Rules in the Age of Distributed Energy
Interconnection procedures are the rules of the road for the grid. Without common rules and predictable processes, gridlock and costly projects can result. In IREC’s recently released 2019 Model Interconnection Procedures, we take the first steps toward defining a clear interconnection process for energy storage systems to provide a useful starting point for states navigating these issues.
MN Utility Commission Pushes Xcel Energy to Improve Grid Transparency Tools
Over the last three years, IREC has been involved in proceedings before the Minnesota Commission focused on tools to enhance the transparency of Xcel Energy’s distribution grid.
What Grid Transparency Looks Like
With little fanfare or attention, the main investor-owned utilities in California released their first Integration Capacity Analyses (ICA) and supporting distribution system maps at the beginning of 2019. IREC has done an in-depth exploration of the capabilities of the maps and advocated for ongoing improvements, encouraging the commission to establish a process for ensuring the utilities remedied both the data quality and usability issues.
States Preparing for New Standards for a Smarter Grid
Over the next few years, states and utilities across the U.S. will have to implement new national standards for interconnection of clean energy technologies, which will transform how solar, wind, energy storage and other “distributed” energy resources function on the grid. Here’s a look at what some early states are doing to prepare.
#2MillionSolarStrong: 4 Things That Have to Happen to Get to 100% Clean Energy
Today IREC proudly joins the collective voice of advocates and industry celebrating a milestone we have worked for 37 years to witness: two million solar installations now in the U.S. What better timing than in a year when children and governors, presidential candidates and corporate CEOs are all making headlines about the urgency of climate change action.
IREC Vision Summit: the need for movement is urgent
The collective power of experience and passion assembled in one room was by any measure extraordinary. It was a day of robust exploration of the challenges, opportunities and details, and the not so distant milestones necessary to get us there – ultimately to 100 percent clean energy. The words “urgency” and “collaboration” and “equitable” could not have been louder.
Top 5 Criteria for a Winning State Shared Renewables Program
How can states create a community solar program that benefits more consumers and their communities? In this blog, we bring together our top five list so states can learn from policies in place in other states – to ensure that new programs are the best they can be – for all consumers!
100 Percent Clean Energy Goals: What will it take to get there?
As published in Renewable Energy World
Here we are in 2019, with more than 100 U.S. cities and 140 large corporations having established 100 percent clean, carbon-free and/or renewable energy goals. In several states, newly seated governors campaigned on goals of 100 percent renewable energy, and congressional representatives have arrived in Washington positioning for a like-minded national proposal. The question is: what really has to happen to get from here to there, and what are the benefits such a transition will bring?
