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President Pushes
Solar In Plan

In a speech before a friendly crowd at Georgetown University on June 25, President Barack Obama said the U.S. has a moral obligation to future generations to leave them a planet that is not polluted and damaged. While solar energy was not front and center in the president’s action plan to counter climate change, certainly some specific initiatives will benefit the solar sector.

Reiterating his belief that climate change is an indisputable fact, Obama has outlined a policy designed to combat its effects supported by three pillars: cutting carbon emissions from fossil fuel power plants, investing in more renewable energy and enhancing conservation efforts. The keystone of the program is a directive for the Environmental Protection Agency to complete a set of stringent carbon pollution standards for both new and existing power plants.

Nevertheless, clean energy was not forgotten. The Obama Administration took credit for doubling generation of electricity from wind, solar and geothermal during its tenure, pointing out that the Department of the Interior (DOI) has approved 25 utility-scale solar facilities since 2009. Obama has set a goal to double renewable electricity generation once again by 2020. In order to meet this target, the administration has announced a number of new efforts:

• In 2012, Obama directed the DOI to issue permits for 10 GW of renewable energy on public lands by the end of this year, a goal that has already been met. The DOI has been directed to issue permits for an additional 10 GW of renewable energy on public lands by 2020.
• The Department of Defense, which the president identifies as the single largest consumer of energy in the U.S., is committed to deploying 3 GW of renewable energy on military installations by 2025.
• Federal agencies are setting a new goal of reaching 100 MW of installed renewable capacity across the federally subsidized housing stock by 2020.
• The U.S. will work with trade partners to launch negotiations at the World Trade Organization toward global free trade in environmental goods, including clean energy technologies.

 

McCarthy Confirmed
As New EPA Head

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Gina McCarthy as the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). President Barack Obama announced his nomination in March for McCarthy to replace outgoing EPA administrator Lisa Jackson.

Most recently, McCarthy served as assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. Prior to that role, McCarthy was an environmental official in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where she helped design programs to encourage renewable energy development and promote energy efficiency.

 

New York Awards
$54 Million For Solar

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that he has awarded $54 million under his NY-Sun Initiative for 79 large-scale solar energy projects across the state. According to the governor’s office, the new projects will total 64 MW.

The announcement includes awards made to 20 recipients to finance projects at 79 large-scale solar energy sites in 26 counties in New York. Installations will be located at businesses, factories, municipal buildings, colleges and other larger commercial and industrial companies and institutions. The governor’s office says some projects taking full advantage of this construction season may be online by the end of this year, but most are expected to be completed in the first half of next year.

As a result of the NY-Sun Initiative, more PV systems are now being deployed in the state than in the prior decade. The governor’s office adds that the $54 million from the state, awarded through a competitive program, leverages $120 million in private investment, resulting in roughly $174 million in infrastructure projects.

The program, which provides incentives for PV systems larger than 50 kW, is administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Funding per project is capped at $3 million, and all projects require co-funding to best leverage state resources.

 

Colorado To Expand
Solar Rewards

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has decided to increase this year’s capacity of Xcel Energy’s Solar Rewards program for small-size solar installations throughout the state.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) have applauded the decision. In April, SEIA, COSEIA and Xcel Energy jointly proposed the capacity increase in order to avoid bumping up against the program’s cap.

Solar Rewards offers customers incentives to install solar panels on their homes and businesses. As part of a compliance plan approved by CPUC in 2012, 9.6 MW of generating capacity was available to Xcel Energy residential customers in Colorado for systems of up to 10 kW each. The CPUC decision approves making 33.6 MW available for the program.

Prior to CPUC’s decision, capacity in the small-size solar installation program had been fully subscribed. SEIA says that without commission approval to expand the capacity of the program, incentives for installation of systems of 10 kW or less would have been suspended statewide until at least 2014.

 

California Reports
On Solar Initiative

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued its annual report on the progress of the California Solar Initiative (CSI), showing that the program has 1.629 GW of installed solar capacity at 167,878 customer sites in investor-owned utility service areas through the end of the first quarter of 2013.

The commission says installed solar capacity represents 66% of its total goal, with another 19% in pending projects.

Highlights of the report include the following:

• A record 391 MW were installed statewide in 2012, a growth of 26% from 2011.
• Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has met 70% of its non-residential installation goal.
• Applicants to the low-income portion of CSI, known as the Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes program, have received $64 million in support for their residential solar systems, while the Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program has completed 287 projects representing a total capacity of 18.4 MW. There are an additional 83 MASH projects in progress, for a total capacity of 11.3 MW.
• All but 92 MW - 6% - of solar capacity in the state is signed up for net energy metering (NEM) tariffs. Pursuant to Assembly Bill 2514 (Bradford, 2012) and CPUC Decision 12-05-036, CPUC has initiated a study on the costs and benefits of NEM to ratepayers. The study will be released later this year.

 

TenneSEIA Wants TVA
To Boost PV Program

The Tennessee Solar Energy Industries Association (TenneSEIA) has called on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to expand the capacity of solar power it allows under its Green Power Providers program. The move was prompted by the federal power authority’s April 24 announcement of the program’s closure after its 10 MW cap had been reached.

While the TVA announced that it would add an additional 2.5 MW to the program, effective August 1, TenneSEIA is after the agency to pursue what it calls a “market-driven approach.”

“We’d like to see the TVA abandon the arbitrary model,” says TenneSEIA Secretary Mary Shaffer Gill. Although welcoming the TVA’s announced 2.5 MW expansion, she indicates targets should be set much higher. “The cap creates a boom-and-bust cycle.”

The TVA’s Green Power Providers program, launched in 2012 as a successor to its Generation Partners pilot program, offers ratepayers incentives to build renewable power generation systems. The size limit for a given system is 50 kW, with various formulas based on total capacity and the customer’s energy usage influencing the eligibility and approval process. The TVA buys energy produced by the systems at the going rate per kWh plus a premium of nine cents for solar and three cents for wind, biomass and small-scale hydro power.

Shaffer Gill, who is also vice president of installer ARiES Energy LLC, is advocating that the TVA significantly increase the MW target it makes available for the program while decreasing the premiums it pays to participants based on the total amount of solar installed.

TenneSEIA, which had requested an additional 5 MW be added to the Green Power Providers program for the rest of the year, wants to prevent layoffs among installers whose work dries up after caps are reached. The organization is hoping to explore options for regularizing solar incentive programs with the TVA before the latter’s budget meeting in Knoxville on August 22. - Michael Puttré S