Community

After announcing their engagement in February, the Smart Electric Power Alliance and SGIP completed their merger today, providing a one-stop shop for utilities and distributed energy providers to collaborate on a clean energy future.

This month, ILSR submitted the following comments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to inform its discussion of universal access to community solar. They are included below, lightly edited for clarity.

Ah, our favorite solar boondoggle is back in the news today, after a visit from the fire department sparks a Twitter storm over a smoldering electrical box at this embarrassing project.

According to a new report by National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), cooperatives serving rural areas in the United States are planning on increasing their solar capacity to five times what it was only two years ago.

GRID Alternatives and Vote Solar’s updated guide includes information on new programs they believe will help solar advocates reach stranded communities more quickly and with greater ease.

The ruling on the Value of Distributed Energy Resources order is a major step for New York’s ambitious REV process.

At the behest of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Minnesota Power submitted a Value of Solar Tariff plan – and proved (yet again) that as even the best net-metering plan can undervalue what solar means to the grid and ratepayers.

The Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) has now added nine new members: Borrego Solar, Distributed Sun, EWT, AES Distributed Energy, Westwood Professional Services, Relay Power, Lever Energy Finance, Solstice and GRID Alternatives. Solstice and GRID Alternatives are also CCSA’s first non-profit members.

The aggressive, bipartisan legislation to pursue renewable energy in the state follows an Xcel Energy announcement that it put 32 MW of community solar projects online. These plans for renewables come at the same time a bill makes its way through the legislature that would snuff out Minnesota’s solar incentive.

Senate Bill 456, introduced by Senator José Javier Rodríguez, would allow solar-energy producers to sell electricity to users on the same property as the array without being labeled as public utilities.