Update on NERA from Katie Brown at Pine Tree Watch:
- More than 450 organizations, 57,000 individuals and 37 states submitted comments opposing a petition that could set a national precedent and end [net metering]. FERC has not yet set a date to rule on the petition, which was filed by the New England Ratepayers Association in April.“
- Marc Brown, president of NERA, said, “We were not surprised by the level of opposition to the petition, given the vast dependency by the solar energy sector on the ratepayer-financed subsidies of retail net metering.”
- Reports indicate that the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, the Heartland Institute and NERA all have ties to the Koch brothers, who have funded climate denial and pro-fossil fuel campaigns for roughly three decades.
Read more at: Pine Tree Watch
U.S. renewable generation topped coal, nuclear for second straight month in April: Renewables accounted for 23.3% of the total, expanding its lead on nuclear generation as the second-largest source of power supply. Gas-fired generation remained the largest supplier of power with a 39.3% share. Source: EIA
Inovateus Solar started construction of Logansport, Indiana’s first-ever solar power plant. Inovateus is developing the 80-acre 16-MW installation for Logansport Municipal Utility. The 30-year PPA is financed by Alchemy Renewable Energy. Inovateus has partnered with Fresh Energy and the Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund to plant a pollinator seed mix under and around the solar panels instead of traditional ground cover, after construction is completed. Source: Inovateus
Summit Ridge Energy completed its Fulton solar project, a 2.7-MW community solar farm built on 15 acres in Fulton County, Illinois — the largest community solar project in Illinois. Summit Ridge purchased Fulton from Minnesota-based developer Sunrise Energy Ventures, and hired Borrego Solar as general contractor for the project’s construction. The project uses Array Technologies’ single-axis trackers. Source: SRE
Black Hills Energy is forecasting $66 million in customer savings over 15 years with a new, 200-MW solar project to be constructed in Pueblo County under the utility’s Renewable Advantage Plan. The project will also provide $178 million in direct and indirect economic benefits through state, local and federal taxes; 250 construction jobs; 51% renewable energy mix; and 71% reduction in carbon emission by 2024. Source: The Pueblo Chieftain
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Solar + Wind alone topped coal in April 2020.
And btw, renewables were 24.4%, the EIA separates out small scale solar, so you have to do 274,876 + 3,801 = 278,677
(43,424+20,771+3,801) / 278,677 = 0.243995737 aka 24.4%
We just had solar panels installed and are now waiting to get our net meter. We are conscious about the environment and pollution. We hope that net metering will prevail in order to protect against climate change. People! Please wakeup! Our planet is at stake and we have only one.
The FERC itself is subject to a takedown in January, so they better play nice! It isn’t a threat, it is a hard reslity that the GOP are losing and will lose both Houses and the Presidency. That puts all the Board on the chopping blovk, and that will be cause for consideration. The less hard now the lesser payback in January! Solar has done a good job of making economic headway even in red states, despite the worst governmental application of solar anywhere! That too is going to improve, making switching and containment regions more of a factor than long haul transmission lines to starving power users in the Eastern USA. Look for DERs and specialized microgrids to be very attractive in the very near future, perhaps as early as 2021 spring. The economics are just about on target to resolve the winter of 2020 power drawbacks of poor distribution. The new Longi 540w modules and Jinko Solars commercial 400w series have businesses considering solar for the first time as it has all they want, dynamic cost reductions on selfsupplied power and accelerated expense depreciations. It is nearly a race to see who cashes in first! Not a great time to pull out the rug and foul up Federal Law, state’s rights and multiple litigation rounds! I suspect the FERC is going to kebosh this effort by the Koch brother group.