Maine’s War On Solar Continues As Supreme Court Rejects Net Metering Appeal

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

From an outsider’s perspective, it sure looks like Gov. Paul LePage of Maine is winning his longstanding war on solar.

Armed with zombie lies about cost shifts and allowing utilities to run amok with special burdens on solar users, LePage has fought for at least three years to strangle the solar industry in his state, vetoing three different pieces of legislation that would have helped set the Maine solar industry on more solid footing.

Now the Supreme Court has gotten into the act, saying solar advocates’ attempts to challenge current net metering policy to the state’s highest court was improper and sending the case to a lower court. Current net metering reduces compensation rates over time and only grandfathers current solar installations at full retail net metering for 15 years.

Critics say 15 years isn’t long enough to receive full payback on the system, to which LePage and his allies scoff, point and laugh. The Supreme Court, on the other hand, said, “Go away kids, you’re bothering us.”

The case will now be handled by a lower Superior Court.

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The crux of the issue in the case is best laid out in the Portland Press Herald:

During those arguments, the justices were already questioning whether it was appropriate for the state’s top court to handle the case. Under Maine law, challenges to PUC rules typically go before Superior Court judges first, but the law foundation appealed directly to the Supreme Judicial Court. The foundation had argued the rule was actually a rate change, which can be appealed directly to the higher-level court.

The justices ultimately dismissed the foundation’s appeal of the rule. In her written opinion, Chief Justice Leigh Saufley said the foundation is required to take its case to a Superior Court before it can come before the Supreme Judicial Court.

The case isn’t over yet, but it does look like it’s going to be a long slog for solar advocates in the state, especially in the face of such overwhelming opposition from the governor’s mansion. It’s worth paying attention to and supporting our solar sisters and brothers in the state as they continue the largely thankless job of advocating for solar in such a state. Godspeed to all of you.

More:

Maine’s top court says appeal of changes to solar incentives must go to lower court

Q&A With Laura Rigell: Philadelphia Celebrates Solar Day – With Good Reason

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

In the birthplace of American independence, the solar industry will celebrate later this morning as the mayor, council and solar advocates gather for Solar Day in a ceremony designed to recognize the number of solar jobs in the Greater Philadelphia area and to unveil the latest class of young high school students that went through a vocational solar training. We talked with Laura Rigell, solar manager for the Philadelphia Energy Authority, to find out more.

Frank Andorka (FA): Why does Philadelphia celebrate Solar Day?

Laura Rigell (LR): The Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) has been working to grow the solar market in Philadelphia over the past year through Solarize Philly. Last year, Philadelphia was 4th in the country for solar growth and Solar Installer was listed as a High Priority Occupation for Philadelphia County.

The Solar Training Network sponsored tomorrow’s event “Solar Day for a Sustainable Philadelphia” to celebrate the growth in Philadelphia’s solar market and to highlight PEA’s leadership on solar workforce development. Mayor Kenney, Council President Darrell L. Clarke, Mike Innocenzo (PECO president and CEO), and Harold Epps, Director of Commerce will join the Philadelphia Energy Authority and The Solar Training Network at City Hall. The event will also honor the Summer 2018 graduates of “Find Your Power,” a solar and energy efficiency training course administered by the Philadelphia Energy Authority with funding from PECO.

FA: How many jobs has solar created in the city?

LR: The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census found that solar employment increased by 24% in the Philadelphia metro area from 2016 to 2017, for a total of 2,319 solar workers in greater Philadelphia. After just one year, the three solar companies serving customers through the Philadelphia Energy Authority’s Solarize Philly program created 42 new solar jobs.

FA: What is Philadelphia doing to encourage solar development?

LR: PEA administers Solarize Philly, a citywide program to help Philadelphians go solar at home. Since 2017, more than 3,500 households have signed up to receive discounted group pricing on solar energy options, and 236 have signed contracts for solar. PEA recently extended the deadline to September 30th, giving homeowners another chance to sign up for a free solar assessment at www.solarizephilly.org.

The city received SolSmart Gold designation in 2017. SolSmart is a national program funded by the DOE that recognizes municipalities and counties for making it faster, easier, and more affordable to go solar. Local governments achieve SolSmart designation by evaluating programs and practices, such as permitting, planning, and zoning, in order to reduce obstacles to solar energy development and pass cost savings on to consumers.

FA: What is the Find Your Power program?

LR: The Find Your Power program is a solar and energy efficiency training course administered by the PEA with funding from PECO. The course is taught by instructors from Solar States and the Energy Coordinating Agency and is administered as part of the Philadelphia Youth Network’s WorkReady program. PEA first piloted ‘Find Your Power’ in the summer of 2017 and expanded it as the first ever clean energy course offered to District students during the school year, receiving a $100,000 contribution from PECO.

FA: How many graduates are there this year?

LR: PEA offered “Find Your Power” to a cohort of 20 students this summer and placed 10 students who had previously completed the program in relevant internships at local clean energy businesses and other organizations.

FA: What is the next step for those graduates?

LR: All of the students in the Summer Find Your Power received OSHA10 certifications. 15 of the graduates from the program will be returning to high school this fall. Of the remaining 5, 1 is studying at Lincoln University this fall, and the other 4 are starting their job search. Graduates of “Find Your Power” will be well-positioned to join the city’s growing solar jobs market. PEA will support these students to pursue employment in the clean energy economy.

The Energy Show: There is a New Utility in Town – Silicon Valley Clean Energy

The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon

The electric utility industry is undergoing rapid change. There used to be two types of utilities: investor owned utilities (IOUs, such as Pacific Gas and Electric and ConEd) and municipally owned utilities (MOUs, such as LADWP and Silicon Valley Power). Now there is a third hybrid type, called a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) utility.

IOUs work for their stockholders — striving to maximize their profits by charging the most they can for electricity, maximizing their net assets and minimizing their expenses (often maintenance). MOUs work for their local cities — and try to provide affordable and reliable power in their territory. Not surprisingly, electric rates at IOUs are almost always higher than rates at nearby MOUs. Because IOUs profit by installing their own solar and storage systems and maximizing their own sales of electricity, they do not look favorably on homeowners and businesses installing their own systems. My biggest competitors for almost 20 years have been local IOUs.

CCAs offer the potential for lower electric rates for customers in their territory, without changing completely to a municipally-owned business structure. CCAs buy power from large solar and wind farms, as well as hydroelectric facilities. They then distribute this power over the existing utility lines. The existing utility bills customers and maintains the power lines, while the CCA essentially just charges customers for the energy they use. CCAs offer customers cheaper electricity, and they offer better economics to solar customers.

Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) is the new CCA serving most of the Silicon Valley area. My guest this week is John Supp, Manager of Accounts Services at SVCE. Please listen up to this week’s Energy Show as we talk about the operations, economics and effects that CCAs will have on both customers and the utility industry in general.

Creditors Spar In Court Over Suniva Solar Cell Production Assets (Full Complaint Attached)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

You had to know Suniva would come to this, right? Nothing – and I mean nothing – has come easy with this company.

First, it filed a trade complaint, only to get bigfooted to almost an afterthought on its own complaint by its “co-petitioner” SolarWorld. Then it won the case, which led to SolarWorld being purchased by competitor SunPower and Suniva to be…sold for parts.

But now that we had finally moved on to the selling off of assets, even THAT can’t go smoothly for the poor bankrupt module manufacturer. Now two of its creditors are fighting over the production equipment, with one accusing the other of being in the pocket of Canadian Solar and trying to kill the competition (ignoring the obvious fact that Suniva hasn’t produced panel in at least two years).

Will those poor Suniva folks ever catch a break?

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SQN Financial, the creditor that once offered to sell out Suniva’s trade case for $55 million to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, has filed a complaint with the bankruptcy court that is overseeing Suniva’s dismantling accusing Lions Point, another Suniva creditor, of trying to force SQN to remove the solar cell production equipment from the company’s former Norcross factory. SQN argues that moving the equipment out of the factory would immediately devalue it (think of the devaluation of driving a new car off the lot) and force SQN to sell the equipment for far less than it is actually worth (in their estimation).

But the most interesting part of the complaint (which you can read below) is the section where SQN explains why IT thinks Lions Point is demanding the equipment be moved. It claims that Lions Point owns a stake in Canadian Solar, a Chinese module manufacturer, that is seven times more valuable than their stake in Suniva. They write in the complaint:

To be sure, according to Lion Point’s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Lion Point owns approximately 1,920,085 shares in Canadian Solar—one of the three largest solar companies in the world by revenue—that are valued at approximately $31,239,000(US) and constitutes Lion Point’s fifth largest equity holding. Lion Point also has an outstanding loan to Canadian Solar of approximately $14,341,000(US). Lion Point’s $45 million investment in Canadian Solar stands in stark contrast to its approximately $6 million investment in the Debtor [Editor’s note: Suniva].

As we said, we’re not sure how they can argue Suniva competes with Canadian Solar, given that Suniva hasn’t produced a module in more than two years. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter – the case continues to drag on, leaving scars on Suniva’s former employees that will never fully heal. And that’s a damn shame.

SQNComplaint