An Arizona solar installer is glad that “a utility in our state is saying, ‘We see a place for solar.’” Arizona utility APS just proposed that its regulator increase the grid access charge for solar “from 70 cents per kilowatt — or approximately $5 per month — to $3 per kilowatt, or roughly $21 per… Keep reading →
In recent weeks, debate between between utilities and the residential solar industry has reached fever pitch and escalated to a full-throated public standoff in several states. Across the country, utilities are renewing efforts to roll back or address net metering (NEM) policies; in particular, APS in Arizona and Xcel Energy in Colorado both submitted plans… Keep reading →
The incentives offered by Arizona’s electric utilities have spurred their customers to install photovoltaic systems, which helps the companies comply with a mandate for renewable energy distribution. The incentives are renewable energy certificates, which are purchased by utilities from customers producing energy. But the RECs may soon become unnecessary – at least for the residential market – because the cost of producing PV energy is sinking towards parity with the cost for grid power.
This rapidly approaching reality is raising a tricky question: how will utilities demonstrate their compliance with the state’s renewable energy mandate without RECs? Keep reading →
