IREC’s leadership before the California Public Utilities Commission has again resulted in a landmark ruling, marking an important milestone for grid transparency and fair grid access, not just in California but for all states.
Up Front: The IREC Blog 
Innovative Partnership Bridges Gap Between At-Risk Youth and Solar Careers
A new video geared to at-risk youth features AJ, who found out about the growing solar industry from his Job Corps advisor. Students throughout the country can learn about AJ’s journey to a rewarding career in solar, thanks to an innovative partnership between IREC and Home Builders Institute (HBI).
South Carolina Ruling on Duke Interconnection Proposal Protects Consumers and Preserves Fair Grid Access
Recently, IREC helped to shape and inform South Carolina policy that would allow eligible DER projects to bid into a program in neighboring North Carolina without unduly impacting projects already connecting to the grid in South Carolina, and without imposing costs on South Carolina ratepayers (absent evidence that such costs are in the public interest).
Key Lessons from the California Integrated Capacity Analysis
For the deep dive you’ve been waiting for on hosting capacity, search no further. Herein you will find an overview of hosting capacity analyses, why they matter, a summary of the key findings from the California Working Group effort and important insights that are transferable to other states seeking to enable a more modern grid.
The Evolution of Hosting Capacity Analysis as a Grid Modernization Tool
For anyone in the distributed energy industry, the term “hosting capacity analysis” is one to know. Hosting capacity analysis (HCA) is a new analytical tool that can help states and utilities plan for and build a cleaner electric grid that optimizes customer-driven distributed energy resources (DERs), such as rooftop solar and energy storage.
States continue to lead the way for clean energy: Maryland and Minnesota make strides for customer-driven distributed energy resources
Numerous states continue to forge full speed ahead on clean energy policy, and many have doubled down on their efforts. Within a week of each other, both Maryland and Minnesota adopted more nuanced regulatory reforms that will increase clean energy access for more consumers, while supporting clean energy jobs and investments. From the trenches, IREC offers a ground-level view of these two important state regulatory reform efforts.
Smart Inverter Update: New IEEE 1547 Standards and State Implementation Efforts
At Intersolar in San Francisco, IREC hosted and participated in a panel discussion on the State of Smart Inverters: Adoption and Considerations for Implementation. From this discussion and IREC’s work on these standards, I provide an update and overview on the state of the IEEE 1547 standards and recent developments in California, with an eye to considerations other states would benefit from keeping in mind as they look to capitalize on the potential of smart inverters.
How New Grid Transparency Tools Are Improving Distributed Generation Siting
Now that numerous states and utilities have adopted grid transparency tools that enable customers to get information about the grid at a particular point of interconnection in order to help inform future interconnection applications, the question is: how well are they working? Exactly what are these tools, and what are the stakeholder experiences using them to get distributed renewable energy projects connected to the grid faster, cheaper and easier?
Minnesota Overhauls Interconnection Standards to Streamline Clean Energy (Some Decisions Deferred)
On May 24th, Minnesota made new strides for clean energy and became the third state in the Midwest in the last three years to adopt wholesale reforms to their state interconnection procedures – creating a more transparent and effective interconnection process for customers. The updated rules are the result of more than two years of work at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), by IREC, in partnership with Fresh Energy and the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC).
Gold Star To The Silver State For Landmark Energy Storage Regulatory Settlement
Recently, the Silver State set itself apart from the pack with a landmark regulatory decision on interconnection rules for energy storage to explicitly allow distributed energy storage systems to connect to the grid and clarify the process projects would undergo as they seek interconnection. IREC played a leading role in advancing these reforms and negotiating the settlement among involved parties.
