Tag Archives: RPS

Nevada Ballot Initiative To Increase RPS Appears To Be Headed To Voters, Reports Say

Tom Steyer

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

A report from the Reno Gazette Journal brings the heartening news that the Tom Steyer backed Nevada ballot initiative to bring Nevada’s RPS to 50% by 2030 likely has enough signatures to go to voters.

As of Monday, organizers told the paper they had nearly double the number of signatures necessary to put the initiative on the ballot. Typically, ballot initiatives need to have at least double the actual number of signatures to account for ineligible signatures being thrown out by the certification body.

The measure, backed by liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, would amend the Nevada Constitution to require electric suppliers provide at least 50 percent of their total electricity from renewable sources, like wind, solar and geothermal by the year 2030. Currently, only around 20% of Nevada’s electricity is produced by renewable sources.

As the spokesman for Nevadans For A Clean Energy Future said in a press release, referencing the 20% number:

For one of the sunniest states in the nation, that is not good enough. Currently, Nevada spends $700 million annually to import fossil fuels from out of state to power the grid.

The initiative is the latest attempt by the Silver State to get itself back into contention as one of the top solar states in the nation. Since unceremoniously ending net metering in 2015 – a policy blunder that the legislature has since reversed – Nevada has struggled to regain its place as a solar state.

Gaining enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot is a big victory for Tom Steyer, who was actively supporting similar legislation in Michigan until a deal surrounding a controversial billion-dollar natural gas plant was signed. Both DTE Energy and Consumers Energy have pledged to be coal-free by 2040 and have at least 50% of their electricity generation come from renewable resources within the same timeframe.

Recent polling suggests that if Steyer’s measure gets on the ballot, Nevadans will pass it.

South Carolina Sends Solar Soaring With Cap Removal

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened:Solar electricity wracked up an enormous victory in South Carolina yesterday when the House of Representatives eliminated the prevailing net metering caps on residential installations.

  • But don’t spike the ball too early: The issue now goes before the state’s Senate, where the debate is expected to be just as contentious as it was in the lower chamber.
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  • Yes, the utilities are trotting out the cost-shift fabrication again – but I won’t spend too much time on it right now because I’m in a celebratory mood.
South Carolina

South Carolina should get ac-CUSTOMED to more residential solar installations (see what we did there? It’s a Custom’s House in Charleston. See. Cust….oh never mind).

SolarWakeup’s View:  Maybe South Carolina is sick and tired of being in the shadow of its northern neighbor when it comes to discussions of being a top solar state. Whatever the reason, the residential solar industry in the southern stronghold got an initial boost yesterday as the House of Representatives passed legislation removing the net metering caps that had hampered to growth of the residential segment.

As the debate raged over whether to remove the caps or not, installers worried the net metering restrictions – which the state was rapidly approaching as solar boomed – would inhibit further growth and cause job losses as new installations dwindled.

The victory stunned some observers, especially since a utility-backed bill was on the floor at the same time (it failed). Duke Energy expressed disappointment in the to the Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courrier newspaper, but one representative/solar advocate could barely contain his excitement.

“We’re no longer competitive in being able to attract industry because we have some of the highest (electricity) rates in the country,” said state Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, during an hours-long debate on the House floor [according to the newspaper]. “We’ve got to change that. This bill will do it.”

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Before South Carolina solar advocates spike the ball, however, they should remember the bill still has to be passed by the Senate and signed by the governor, and most veteran political observers believe this fight is going to be just as brutal there. Still, one South Carolina installer expressed his excitement to SolarWakeup this way:

We had a major victory yesterday with the house passing the bill but its headed to the Senate where its going to be a heated debate. If this bill goes through, [South Carolina] will become one of the top solar friendly states in the country and it’s important for everyone to see and understand the process the bill makes/or doesn’t make as it moves through our legislative system. I hope that [our state] can be a beacon of light for other states and their citizens to keep fighting and pushing for more progressive energy policies that work for the people not the “public” utilities.

Maybe soon South Carolina will stand beside its northern neighbor in the sunlight instead of being hidden in its shadow.

More:

In victory for solar industry, South Carolina House votes to keep lower costs for rooftop panels (James Lovegrove, Charleston (South Carolina) Post and Courrier)

OK, here’s your “cost-shift” refresher. You’re really bringing me down here.

Zombie Lie Returns; Time To Kill It Again

New Jersey Solar Industry Receives Much-Needed Win

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened:The New Jersey legislature got about the business of undoing former Governor Chris Christie’s treachery when it came to the solar industry, passing two companion bills out of committees in the House and Senate that would fix Christie’s mischief by increasing the state’s RPS and create a community solar program.

  • On his way out the door, Christie “pocket-vetoed” a bill that would have increased the state’s RPS, a move the state’s solar industry says is desperately needed to maintain its strength as a market.
  • Now, under a governor who has unceasingly pledged his undying love to the industry, the two companion bills in the House and Senate have moved one step closer to passage and Governor Phil Murphy’s expected signature.
  • Though nothing is ever a done deal until the ink is dry with the governor’s signature, the moves yesterday gave the state’s solar advocates a much-needed victory in a market in need of stability after years of turmoil.
New Jersey

Atlantic City, New Jersey, might be able to expand its use of solar if two new bills are eventually passed and signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy.

SolarWakeup’s View:  Thankfully, it appears Maine’s incessant desire to destroy its own solar industry is the exception instead of the rule in state legislatures these days.

Following a victory for the clean-energy industry in South Carolina on the same day, two companion bills passed their respective House and Senate committees and moved one step closer to passage in the New Jersey legislature – after which Governor Phil Murphy could reasonably be expected to sign a combined measure.

“New Jersey was one of the pioneering states in the solar industry,” said Tony Clifford, CDO of Standard Solar, a Maryland-based national solar company. “It’s great to see the legislature taking actions that will re-energize the industry in the state and create a strong and dynamic solar market going forward.”

According to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, the bills would:

  • Mandate that New Jersey gets more than 50% of its energy from renewable sources like solar and wind by 2030, a fourfold increase in the next 12 years over the progress made since 2001, while protecting customers with a cap on the cost.
  • Create a community solar program that will ensure all customers will have access to the benefits of solar energy for the first time, including low-income and multi-family residence customers.
  • Establish an energy efficiency program that would decrease harmful emissions from the power sector by approximately 350,000 metric tons per year, the equivalent of removing approximately 75,000 cars from the roads per year.
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For years, under the visionary leadership of former Governor Jon Corzine, the Garden State could once claim the second-highest installed-solar capacity in the country, trailing only California. Thanks to an unstable SREC market and some overbuilding, the state’s solar industry growth has slowed in recent years, while its neighbor and rival New York has sped past it into its own solar prominence.

But you didn’t think New Jerseyeans would take this lying down, right? For now, it appears that New Jersey could be on the cusp of a solar renaissance – and yesterday’s actions in the legislature are a good first step in that direction.

“It is heartening to see the New Jersey legislature take actions that will allow our state’s solar industry to continue to grow and thrive,” said Jesse Grossman, CEO of Soltage, a New Jersey-based national solar company. “All New Jerseyans deserve the opportunity to access solar and see the economic benefits which the attendant job growth and infrastructure investment will bring to the Garden State. With this new legislation and the governors expected signature, the future of the solar industry in New Jersey will indeed continue to shine.”

We couldn’t agree more.

More:

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APS Is Trying To Kill Steyer-Backed RPS Initiative

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility, is again trying to stifle solar development in the state that has the most insolation in the country, because reasons.

  • The utility behemoth, which wields enormous power in the state’s politics, is trying to kill a ballot initiative backed by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer that would raise the state’s RPS to 50% by 2030.
  • To counter the measure, APS is pushing hard for a bill in the legislature that would make the penalty for not making the RPS goals almost laughably negligible – $1,000-$5000, a penalty APS could pay with the change they find in their couch cushions.
  • Arizona is the third known Steyer-backed RPS initiative that is being considered for November’s elections. The other two initiatives are in Michigan and Nevada.

SolarWakeup’s View:  I was once at a meeting in Arizona where there was a panel discussing the relationship between utilities and the solar industry, which I missed because of a bad burrito the night before. And what I heard about it afterward made me so sorry I’d missed it.

Apparently, a representative from Arizona Public Service (APS) – the state’s largest utility – nearly got into a fistfight with another panelist who dared criticize their solar policies. There was most certainly shouting and (allegedly) some shoving, which gives you a sense of the lengths APS will go to protect its electricity-production monopoly from an ever-increasingly powerful solar industry.

I use that story as a backdrop to the current attempt by the utility to beat the state’s solar industry into submission. This time, they are trying to stop a ballot initiative that would amend the state’s constitution to increase the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 50% by 2030.

The initiative is the third known attempt by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer to get such an issue on the ballot (right now, attempts are being made in Michigan and Nevada). What’s interesting is that APS’ attempts to use a sledgehammer to kill a flea are happening before the ballot initiative even has enough signatures to get on the ballot – which may indicate how frightened they are that it just might pass.

The counter to the initiative that APS has concocted is a breathtaking display of the terrifying power they have in the state’s political structure and the shamelessness they have about wielding it so publicly. They have, through the legislature, introduced a bill that would limit the fines the state could levy on it for not making the modest RPS increase in time would be somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000.

Hell, those are fines that, in a pinch, I could pay (not that I’m offering). The idea that they would be an incentive for APS to increase its renewable energy production to meet the RPS requirements is laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

This is another attempt by APS to destroy the solar industry in Arizona before it can even get started. It cannot stand.

More:

Why APS Is Squashing The Clean Energy Vote (NBC 12 News)*

*Hearing Ryan Randazzo of The Arizona Republic compare APS to a lazy teenager is worth clicking on the link alone.