Energy/Industry Renewable Solar Energy Politics and Technology Nations

Solar Stories Tell Different Tales

August 1, 2014

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August 1, 2014 – The Dog Days of summer have arrived here in Toronto and still with more than 14 hours in which the Sun is above the horizon I thought a few solar stories making the news might interest you. Each of the three I have selected tells a very different tale. The first is about a state energy utility offering free solar panels to home owners. The second is about another energy utility focused on removing incentives for owners to install solar panels on homes. And the third is about an American developer of utility-sized solar plants closing its Australian operations in light of the repealing of its carbon tax by that government.

Public Utility to Put Free Solar on 3,000 Homes

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) wants to try a different business model rather than continue to build large-scale power plants. This is a complete reversal of policy by the company which as late as last November was trying to block home owners from installing solar on rooftops, and attempting to penalize existing solar users with a fixed distribution charge.

Now APS has applied to Arizona regulators for permission to do what they didn’t want done before. Every home owner who lets the company install free solar panels will receive a 20-year $30 credit on their monthly electricity bill. That amounts to a $7,200 payout per customer over the life of the agreement that even includes renters who get approval from their landlords. No credit check is required and APS will take on maintenance.

There is one catch. The power generated by these APS panels will feed the grid, not the home owner. In this way APS can add 20 Megawatts of capacity to its total renewable energy production. and help it move closer to the goal set by President Obama’s energy initiative of 15% renewable production by 2025.

Using existing rooftops saves APS from having to build a standalone solar power plant while the utility immediately earns a return on investment without incurring the loss of electricity sales were the customers to install their own solar panel systems.

Public Utility Attacks Rooftop Solar in Connecticut

Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) is attacking its state electricity net metering policy which is common to 42 other states. It credits home owners who install solar panels and an inverter (see image below) for any excess energy produced fed back into the grid. The credit received is at full retail and the utility is required to pass that energy along to other consumers with no markup.

Back when few homes had solar panels CL&P didn’t mind net metering. But now with 79 Megawatts of solar installed this represents a significant contribution to the state’s energy requirements. So CL&P is rankled by the fact that it must continue to distribute all this energy for free. That’s why it wants to apply a fixed charge to rooftop solar customers. When APS tried a similar strategy last year they were blocked and finally gave up. And as the story above states, have completely reversed their position offering solar to customers for free.

CL&P are denying the targeting of solar customers although they admit to filing a much broader across-the-board rate increase statewide. Heads up, CL&P, read the APS story above and change your tack rather than fight the solar headwind.

U.S. Solar Company Pulls Out of Australian Market

The company is Recurrent Energy with 1,500 Megawatts of planned solar projects destined for Australian sites. But with the anti-climate change position taken by the Conservative government of Tony Abbott, Recurrent is walking away from a $3 billion U.S. investment.

What is immediately driving this Recurrent decision is the uncertainty that has arisen regarding Australia’s commitment to renewable energy targets set by the previous administration. And Recurrent is the first of many renewable energy companies considering pulling out of Australia.

The final straw was the appointment by Mr. Abbott of two climate skeptics and a fossil fuel lobbyist to the Renewable Energy Target (RET) Review Panel. Renewable energy companies expect RET goals to be dramatically reduced.