SOLAR POWER
State legislatures from Maryland to Colorado are finding bigger is better when it comes to community solar gardens, and have passed bills to expand the size of eligible projects or to even eliminate the cap on the number of residents that can subscribe to the facilities.
Lawmakers from about a dozen U.S. states advanced measures this year to grow supplies of renewable energy through bold anti-fossil-fuel mandates, showing that support for carbon free power sources bears no signs of abating even after years of steady policy action by legislatures.
Nevada, Washington, Maryland and Puerto Rico are the latest states and territory to strengthen targets for clean energy, showing how momentum is building across the U.S. for policy makers to break away from fossil fuels over the next couple of decades. These new standards brings to five the number of states and territories that are in the advanced stages of hiking renewable goals so far this year.
The Maryland General Assembly approved a bill on April 8 that would raise the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2030 from 25 percent by 2020. The measure would require a study to create a comprehensive plan to achieve a 100 percent goal by 2040. The legislation adds to the growing list of state-level…...
A decade into the nation's vast solar expansion, pitched battles continue to play out from the Northeast to the Midwest over how to set payouts for surplus supplies from the rooftop solar systems, throwing the future growth of the technology into question. Still, other states in the Northwest to the mid-Atlantic are studying how to chart a path forward.
PJM Interconnection LLC on March 29 filed a proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revise its energy and reserve market rules to properly value the energy reserves that support grid reliability by providing the flexibility needed to accommodate the evolving resource mix. The grid operator said that the growing variability of power demand…...
The Maryland legislature on March 28 approved a measure that would extend the state’s community solar pilot through 2024 and remove the limit on the maximum number of subscribers in the program. The legislation would also include annually increasing capacity levels for each program category, modifying the current requirement that allows restrictions to enable regulators…...
The U.S. Energy Department will provide up to $130 million to support research and development of early-stage solar technologies, according to a March 26 news release. The funding will support up to 80 projects focused on photovoltaics, concentrating solar-thermal power, soft costs reduction, innovation in the solar manufacturing sector, and advanced grid integration technologies. The…...
Democratic Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation on March 21 that makes changes to the net energy metering program for customers of electric cooperatives. The bill allows cooperatives to raise the net metering cap to seven percent of the system peak, with an increase allocated among residential, nonresidential, and not-for-profit and non-jurisdictional customers. (HB 2547) The legislation increases…...
Fossil-fuel rich New Mexico may be among the more unlikely states to join the 100-percent-clean-energy club, but it did just that in March, in the strongest sign yet of the momentum building for pro-renewable policies across the U.S. New Mexico's Democrat-led House charted a course for the state to obtain all of its power from carbon-free resources by 2045, with intermediate goals of 50 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2040, following passage of the Energy Transition Act.
Democratic Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation on March 18 creating a pilot program to disburse loans or rebates for solar installations in households whose income is at or below 80 percent of the state or regional median income. (HB 2741) Residents applying for the program are required to document the installation of energy efficiency services…...
Kentucky lawmakers passed legislation on March 14 that would redefine net metering by requiring state regulators to set the compensation rate for solar customers through a ratemaking process. Retail electric suppliers would be entitled to implement rates to recover the costs incurred to serve customer-generators, including fixed and demand-based charges. (SB 100) The bill would…...