Morning Brief: Consumers Energy expands its net metering cap, Nautilus closes a financing commitment

Also in the brief: A New Mexico regulator has recommended denial of El Paso Electric’s planned expansion of the Newman Generating Station, Gemserv has launched a digital platform aimed at helping businesses transition to electric vehicles and more.

November 25, 2020 Tim Sylvia

Rooftop solar in Michigan.

Image: Harvest Energy Solutions

In a small win for the Michigan residential solar market, Consumers Energy is voluntarily raising the 1% cap on solar net metering to 2%. This is huge for customers and developers in the state, who now have some temporary return on investment insurance. In response to the net metering raise, John Delurey, Vote Solar’s Midwest Regional Director, said: “Consumers Energy announced that they will raise that cap on January 1. Unfortunately, this is not a sustainable path forward and relies entirely on voluntary action. Now, all eyes are on the legislature to finally end this arbitrary limit on homegrown solar and on the Michigan Public Service Commission to ensure fair compensation for the excess energy solar customers send back to the electric grid.” Source: Vote Solar

Nautilus Solar Energy has closed a $95 million tax equity financing commitment with an affiliate of Credit Suisse. The facility will provide long-term financing for 14 community solar projects across Rhode Island, Maryland, New York and Minnesota, amounting to approximately 55 MWdc of nameplate capacity. All projects in the portfolio are expected to be placed in service in 2020. Source: Nautilus Solar Energy

The New Mexico Hearing Examiner, Elizabeth Hurst, has recommended that El Paso Electric’s application to expand the Newman Generating Station in El Paso, Texas be denied, on the grounds that the utility “EPE’s choice of natural gas generation with a projected lifespan of at least 40 years will not result in a net benefit to New Mexico citizens and EPE’s failure to consider the amended REA requirements and 2045 zero carbon emission requirement in its resource selection process is not in New Mexico citizens’ public Interest.” The proposal for the sixth turbine at the facility has already been approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Texas and is now pending before New Mexico regulators. Hurst’s findings and recommendation now go to those regulators, who will make a final determination on the application in the coming weeks. Source: Vote Solar

Gemserv has launched a digital platform aimed at helping businesses transition to electric vehicles, dubbed Paladin. According to the company, Paladin will address all aspects of the EV landscape, from fleet procurement and charging infrastructure to funding and consumer protection. Using the platform, interested companies can explore use cases, rules, standards and compliance requirements relevant to them, get experienced insights on decision-making, de-risk investments through informed assessment of opportunities and upskill staff and raise awareness of key issues around the transition to electric vehicles. Source: Gemserv

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