Colorado

In Vermont and Utah, net metering is under attack — in danger of being significantly devalued or eliminated. In Arizona, the state’s rooftop solar export rates have been saved for at least another year. Outside of policy, Maine has announced the winners of the state’s largest-ever renewable solicitation.

Sustainability, lower operating costs and return on investment all became paramount issues for the development of this system that will serve the Colorado nonprofit and surrounding Jewish community.

As if a 60 kW residential system wasn’t novel enough, city energy mandates, environmental extremes and specific construction needs all combined to form a unique set of circumstances for one Colorado developer to overcome.

Also in the brief: solar pros running for elected office, Longroad Energy has announced a partnership with Maine’s Unity College, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation has chosen a management platform for its distributed generation program and more.

Utilities that are transitioning away from coal are starting to view the creation of a natural gas “bridge” to renewable energy as an unnecessary step.

“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.”

“The most efficient time to install solar panels is when the builders are on the roof in the first place,” said Bronte Payne with Environment America.

The Bureau of Land Management “has ignored most possibilities” for utility-scale solar “on its vast land holdings across the solar-rich Southwest,” says a paper. Renewable energy development accounts for less than 1% of economic activity on BLM lands, while oil and gas account for 70%, according to BLM data.

Also in the brief: Verizon is back at the bottom of Green America’s Clean Energy Wireless Scorecard, Solar United Neighbors and Vote Solar have submitted over 20,000 public comments against NERA, an early coal plant retirement and more.

Arcadia has partnered with Pivot Energy to develop community solar projects for homeowners and renters across Colorado, including in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and Grand Junction