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Obama Unveils New Low-Income Solar Goal

The Obama administration has announced the Clean Energy Savings for All Initiative, a new cross-government partnership to bring 1 GW of solar to low- and moderate-income families by 2020. According to a White House fact sheet, the new goal is a 10-fold increase and an expansion of the initial target President Barack Obama set in his Climate Action Plan to install 100 MW of renewable energy on federally assisted affordable housing by 2020.

“Solar panels are no longer for wealthy folks who live where the sun shines every day,” says Obama in a video released with the fact sheet. “Today, we’re offering even more families and communities the chance to choose cleaner sources of energy that save you money and protect the planet for all of us.”

Since Obama took office, solar electricity generation has increased 30-fold, and solar jobs are growing 12 times faster than the rest of the economy. But, according to the administration, there is still more work to do. Through the Clean Energy Savings for All Initiative, the administration says it will work to ensure that every U.S. household has options to choose to go solar and put in place additional measures to promote energy efficiency.

The new initiative will include the Departments of Energy (DOE), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The administration says the Clean Energy Savings for All Initiative will help achieve the new 1 GW goal by promoting innovative financing mechanisms, bolstering technical assistance for states and communities, driving innovation, scaling up workforce training to make sure low- and moderate-income Americans can take advantage of the jobs that come with a transition to clean energy, convening stakeholders, and working with the private and philanthropic sectors.

According to the fact sheet, some key components of the initiative include the following:

• New guidance from HUD and the VA will help unlock residential property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing by outlining how properties with PACE assessments can be purchased and refinanced with Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance and by welcoming the use of PACE financing for VA-insured mortgages. As the White House explains, PACE is a mechanism that allows homeowners to finance solar and energy-efficiency improvements at no upfront cost and to pay back the cost over time through their property tax bills. If the property is sold, including through foreclosure, the remaining PACE assessment will stay with the more energy-efficient property and the next owner will become responsible for the remaining PACE assessment;

• The DOE is launching the Solar Training Network, which will aim to create a more inclusive workforce by connecting solar workforce trainers, solar employers and individuals interested in working in the solar industry. To help, The Solar Foundation will administer the program and will create a centralized clearinghouse for solar workforce tools and resources, including the establishment of a Solar Jobs Strategy Commission to foster an exchange of resources and knowledge between training providers and the solar industry. The Solar Foundation will also conduct research and analysis to enhance the understanding of the solar industry’s workforce and training supply, demand, costs, and needs. In a press release, Andrea Luecke, president and executive director of The Solar Foundation, says the $2.1 million Solar Training Network “will help give job seekers the training opportunities they need while helping employers gain access to qualified candidates”;

• The EPA, the DOE and HUD will work to bring together people, local officials, agencies and banks to share best practices on how to finance and overcome barriers to creating healthier communities through a host of gatherings across the U.S. and online hubs; and

• More than 120 housing authorities, rural electric co-ops, power companies and organizations in more than 36 states across the country are committing to investing $287 million and putting in place more than 280 MW of solar energy projects, including projects to help low- and moderate-income communities save on their energy bills and further the deployment of community solar.

 

Nevada Supreme Court Denies Solar Referendum

Solar advocates’ efforts to reverse controversial net energy metering (NEM) rule changes were dealt a major blow in August, after the Nevada Supreme Court rejected a referendum to put the issue up for a vote on the November election ballot.

According to an Associated Press report, the court justices denied the solar referendum, called Question 5, saying that the proposed language was “misleading” and “inaccurate.”

Bring Back Solar, a group dedicated to undoing the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada’s (PUCN) 2015 ruling that led to lower NEM rates for rooftop solar customers, says the referendum petition had received over 115,000 signatures.

“While we’re disappointed that the court ruled in such a way that the people of Nevada will not be able to vote on this issue, it clarifies the role Nevada’s leadership must play in representing the majority of Nevadans who want to bring solar back to Nevada,” says Erin McCann, campaign manager for the group, in a statement. “Working together with legislators, key stakeholders and Nevada’s hundreds of thousands of solar supporters, we look forward to crafting strong solar policies that give Nevadans the freedom to power their homes and communities with clean solar energy.”

Although the ballot measure aimed to completely reverse the NEM changes, as of press time, progress has been made on at least two fronts to help grandfather in existing rooftop solar customers under Nevada’s previous NEM rules. In May, the governor’s New Energy Industry Task Force passed a motion to recommend a 20-year grandfather clause, and utility NV Energy, which championed last year’s NEM rate change, recently reiterated its call to grandfather in existing customers.

“After a number of recent failed attempts to negotiate a resolution of this grandfathering issue with out-of-state private solar suppliers, it became clear that NV Energy needed to step up and act alone,” says Paul Caudill, president and CEO of NV Energy, in a July press release. Some local solar installers have declared NV Energy’s latest proposal “too little, too late.” (To read the PUCN chairman’s thoughts on the NEM issue, check out this month’s Sundown.)

 

New York Enacts 50% Clean Energy Mandate

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, D-N.Y., has announced the New York State Public Service Commission’s (PSC) approval of the state’s clean energy standard, which will require 50% of New York’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2030.

In its initial phase, utilities and other energy suppliers will be required to procure and phase in new renewable power resources: specifically, 26.31% of the state’s total electricity load in 2017 and 30.54% of the statewide total in 2021.

According to Cuomo, the clean energy standard will add less than $2 to the average residential customer’s bill each month. Cuomo says the standard will require utilities and other energy suppliers to obtain a targeted number of renewable energy credits (RECs) each year. The RECs will be paid to developers to help finance new renewable energy projects.

In addition, according to the governor, the standard includes the following other directives:

• The PSC will work with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and stakeholders to develop standards that could be used to create a New York-certified clean electric product. This product will be clearly labeled and identified as New York-based clean power - giving consumers the ability to buy 100% clean power, should they want that option.

• The PSC will promote and support maximum expansion of energy efficiency wherever possible and evaluate the creation of renewable heating and cooling technologies, such as geothermal heat pumps.

• NYSERDA will develop a blueprint to advance offshore wind energy (a report already in progress by NYSERDA).

• PSC staff will work with the New York Independent System Operator and other stakeholders to ensure that necessary investments are made in storage, transmission and other technologies to secure a reliable electric system.

• The PSC will require triennial reviews of the clean energy standard.

“New York has taken bold action to become a national leader in the clean energy economy and is taking concrete, cost-effective steps today to safeguard this state’s environment for decades to come,” the governor says. “This clean energy standard shows you can generate the power necessary for supporting the modern economy while combating climate change. Make no mistake - this is a very real threat that continues to grow by the day, and I urge all other states to join us in this fight for our very future.”

 

Happy Birthday, Clean Power Plan

Aug. 3 marked the one-year anniversary of when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the final version of its Clean Power Plan (CPP), a historic - yet contentious - climate change initiative.

The CPP establishes the first-ever regulations to cut carbon pollution from existing U.S. power plants. Although many state and local governments, as well as renewable energy stakeholders and environmental groups, strongly support the plan, the CPP has been mired in controversy since its very inception.

As soon as the EPA formally published the final CPP in October 2015, a coalition of states slapped the agency with a joint lawsuit. Opponents claim, among other things, that the federal initiative illegally gives the EPA too much power and that the new standards will hurt the coal industry.

In a shocking move earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of the CPP’s implementation until the lawsuit is sorted out. Nonetheless, the Obama administration and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy remain confident that the CPP will prevail and be fully implemented.

In a blog post commemorating the initiative’s one-year anniversary, McCarthy writes, “Sometimes our efforts to protect public health and environment face opposition and/or litigation. The Clean Power Plan is no different.”

According to McCarthy, “The plan rests on a strong legal and technical foundation and is consistent with Supreme Court decisions, EPA’s statutory authority and air pollution standards that have been put in place to tackle other pollution problems.”

She says the EPA developed the CPP after “unprecedented outreach and engagement,” and the plan puts “states in the driver’s seat” regarding compliance plans. McCarthy also says the CPP “mirrors” renewable energy and efficiency efforts already happening among states, utilities and the private sector, and she underscores the importance of combating climate change: “2016 is on pace to be the hottest year ever recorded - by a significant margin - while 2015 currently holds the title, and 2014 before that. The facts and the trends are clear, and the threat is real.”

The Sierra Club has also chimed in on the CPP’s birthday. In a press release, Liz Perera, the group’s climate policy director, comments, “The Clean Power Plan shows the world that the United States has developed a real, enforceable plan to curb dangerous carbon pollution and that we are truly committed to combating climate disruption. We cannot let attacks from big polluters and their allies threaten the safety of our communities. We will continue to push for strong and just state implementation plans so states are ready to implement the plan in a manner that truly benefits these communities once the courts lift the rule’s temporary stay.

“Not only will the Clean Power Plan help protect our health from dangerous pollution and our communities from catastrophic climate disruption; it will also spur the economy by incentivizing innovation, creating thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in new investments in clean energy sources,” continues Perera. “The Clean Power Plan is the clear path forward into the bright future that hard-working American families deserve.”

Ever since the legal battle over the CPP commenced, myriad studies have found the plan would help increase the deployment of U.S. renewables and slash carbon pollution, and McCarthy says in her blog that “many states and tribes have indicated they plan to move forward voluntarily to reduce carbon pollution from power plants” during the ongoing stay.

“They have asked the agency to continue to develop tools to support them in their voluntary efforts,” she writes. “We are doing just that.” - Joseph Bebon