GRID Alternatives’ Tribal Fund Gets $5 Million Boost From Wells Fargo

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The Wells Fargo is coming down the street, and it’s got $5 million in it for the GRID Alternatives Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund, which is an extension of its National Tribal Program.

Under the program, GRID Alternatives has already built more than 600 projects on tribal land, and the new funding will allow them to continue funding projects for the next three years. The National Tribal Program, which has installed nearly 3 MW of projects, began in 2010. GRID estimates the exisiting projects will generate $23 million in lifetime energy costs savings

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“Many tribes are looking to renewable energy to address both environmental and economic challenges in their communities,” said Adam Bad Wound, Vice President of Development for GRID Alternatives in a release announcing the new funding. “Access to funding is often the biggest barrier to achieving their goals, and we’re excited to be able to partner with even more tribes to move their solar PV projects forward.”

Wells Fargo has been a major supporter of GRID’s state- and national-level programming since 2012.

“Our strong relationships in Indian Country and with our Native American customers are a point of great pride at our company,” said Mary Wenzel, head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Wells Fargo. “We are pleased to have such an effective working relationship with GRID Alternatives and to provide the seed funding for its Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund. We sincerely believe that providing no-cost solar and job-training opportunities in tribal communities will address critical needs and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

GRID’s tribal program works primarily in Western states, including California, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington and South Dakota, but it is not geographically limited. GRID has worked with the Standing Rock tribe in North Dakota, and the Shinnecock in New York, among others.

The Spokane Tribe in Wellpinit, Washington, will be the first to benefit from the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund, with a grant that will unlock third-party investment capital and $1 million in matching funds from the Department of Energy for a 637 kilowatt solar project. When complete, the project will provide clean power and reduced energy bills for 14 tribal buildings, including elder housing, community facilities and tribal administrative offices.

Other projects slated for funding in 2018 will be announced in the coming weeks. An open application process for 2019–20 will launch early next year.

Xcel Energy Wins Approval For Aggressive Renewable Growth (And Closing A Third Of Its Coal Plants)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Yesterday, we wrote about how utilities didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about the new rules the Trump Administration had laid out to weaken regulation on coal plants. In fact, most of the utilities discussed in the article reaffirmed their commitment to growing their renewable portfolios at varying speeds.

And today we have another real-life example of the shift that is coming in utilities’ attitudes both toward traditional coal plants and renewable energy.

Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest utility, won approval from the Public Utilities Commission to ramp up its investments in renewable energy to to the tune of nearly 2,000 MW of solar and wind and 300 MW of battery storage.

Oh, and in the process, they’ve also pledged to close nearly one-third of their coal plants, according to an article in The Denver Post.

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As The Post notes:

As part of the plan, Xcel, Colorado’s largest electric utility, will phase out its Comanche 1 and 2 coal-fired plants in Pueblo about a decade earlier than the original target date of 2035. Xcel says the plan will invest $2.5 billion in eight counties and save customers about $213 million, thanks to the declining costs of renewable energy.

The breakdown of the renewables is as follows:

1,100 MW of wind
700 MW of solar
275 MW of battery storage

Company officials were delighted by the PUC’s decision and said they looked forward to a clean-energy future for Colorado.

“The Colorado Energy Plan Portfolio is a transformative plan that delivers on our vision of long-term, low-cost clean renewable energy for our customers, stimulating economic development in rural Colorado, and substantially reducing our carbon emissions,” Alice Jackson, Xcel Energy Colorado president, said in a written statement. “We are excited to move forward.”

Colorado has long been a renewable energy leader. It was one of the first states to experiment with community solar, and its solar and wind development has continued apace, even when policies didn’t ideally line up with the overall renewable energy goals. Now with Xcel Energy making such a large commitment, you’ll likely see other state utilities get on board, which could drive Colorado further up the list of solar-friendly states in the country. One can only hope these developments spur that kind of reaction.

More:

Colorado regulators green-light Xcel’s plan boosting renewables, cutting coal

Utilities To Trump EPA : Thanks But No Thanks To Your Coal-Saving Efforts

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

They don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but …

At the Electrification 2018 conference, Greentech Media was anxious to find out how utilities felt about the new rules surrounding easing regulations on coal plants. Would they turn away from renewable energy and decide to keep their failing coal plants open? Would they slow the pace of renewable energy purchases? Would this signal the end to renewable energy as we know it?

Well, what the Greentech Media editors (which surprised no one, including them) is that most utilities, no matter where they were in the United States, remained committed to closing coal plants and purchasing more renewable energy, though they did appear thankful that the federal government was turning regulation of the coal plants back over to the states.

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Just a couple of samples (read the entire article for the full discussion, and it is 100% worth your time) of what utilities told the Greentech Media team:

American Electric Power:

“AEP said it will continue to pursue lower carbon dioxide emissions “through a variety of actions” that include renewables, efficiency, natural gas and demand response. The utility will continue to “review the rule,” but offered a positive take on keeping coal plants running.”

Southern Company:

“But going forward, we want to do that while transitioning to the low- to no-carbon future. We have come out and stated that Southern Company wants to be a low- to no-carbon future by 2050. We believe that’s also what our customers want from us.”

This reaction comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the renewable vs. coal battle over the past several years. This is not the first time the federal government has tried to make it easier for energy companies to keep coal plants open, and yet they are still committed to moving forward with further renewable energy purchasing and building. The battle has been won by renewable energy, and there’s no going back. Just ask the utilities – most of them would wholeheartedly agree.

More:

Utilities Recommit to Clean Energy in the Wake of the Trump Administration’s Regulatory Rollback

Could Utah Solar Be Cratering A Mere Year Before SPI Comes To The State? (No.)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Could the Utah solar market be cratering just one year before Solar Power International heads to Salt Lake City.

No. The answer is no.

Despite breathless reporting over the weekend that implied that Utah’s market has hit the skids, most observers believe the market is simply correcting itself after full retail-rate net metering went away in November. And while installations are off 23% so far in 2018, it’s far too early to tell whether the decline will continue as consumers adjust to the new rules.

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As Jasen Lee reported in The Deseret News, Utah’s oldest newspaper, the slide has been attributed by the Public Service Commission’s Administrator to an unusually high spike in installations ahead of the November deadline. Lee also says “observers” have said the 23% drop in installations is the result of fewer Utahns wanting solar on their roofs – but offers no examples of such “observers” in his story.

Instead, he cites Public Service Commission Administrator Gary Widenburg saying just the opposite:

“Some people rushed to get their installations done,” he said. “Now, several months later, things have settled down a little bit. Once that November date, passed, people who were going to have systems installed early did so and others are just planning accordingly.”

He said the decline seemed to be more because of the deadline rather than decreasing overall demand for rooftop solar.

“I think there was an increase in applications and (installation) activity,” he added. “People who were thinking about doing it and were in a position to do so took advantage of that ‘grandfather date’ and jumped in.”

In recent years, Utah has been a solar market on the climb – not near California and Arizona yet, but making its name known as a potential solar boom state. Therefore, to panic in the year following a significant change in net metering laws and declaring the state a solar bust state seems overheated and a bit hysterical. This has happened in solar states before – heck, it’s happened in the COUNTRY before. Once people adjust to the new rules, we would expect Utah to renew its rise as a solar state – just in time for Solar Power International to celebrate it next fall.

More:

After surge before new rules, solar installations in Utah slip 23%