Quick Take: If you’ve been following the residential solar net metering controversy, you know it’s a hot issue. And a lot of the heat has been concentrated in Arizona where utility Arizona Public Service Company filed a request with state regulators to lower the above-market prices they pay for electricity generated by privately owned rooftop… Keep reading →
Suntech for Sale Suntech Power, once the world’s largest solar panel builder, is bankrupt (or the Chinese equivalent) and receiving bids for its main manufacturing unit, according to reports in the Financial Times. Suntech owes a total of $2.3 billion to a number of Chinese banks. The bidders are: Shunfeng Photovoltaic, an acquisitive solar cell maker, which looks… Keep reading →
The definition has changed considerably over the years. The phrase “utility-scale solar” is heard so frequently in discussions about renewable energy that it comes as a bit of a shock when one realizes that there is no commonly accepted definition as to what size constitutes “utility-scale.” If you don’t believe it, a quick Google search… Keep reading →
State level regulators, like politicians, read the newspaper headlines, notice what is in their in-box and have a good sense of what their constituents like and dislike. This, more than anything else, explains why they seem reluctant to modify or nullify prevailing net energy metering (NEM) laws even when they realize that the status quo may be unsustainable… Keep reading →
Those solar zones that the Obama administration has created on public lands in the West, they’re for solar. No mining allowed. The Bureau of Land Management made this temporary ban a long-term thing earlier this month, putting 475 square miles in six western states off-limits to new mining claims for the next 20 years. It’s a move… 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 →
