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What’s Really Green and What’s Really New
Ask Americans what the Green New Deal is all about, and you’ll get two basic answers. Most often you’ll hear, “It’s about moving to renewable energy in order to fight climate change.” You’ll also hear, from a camp further right, “It’s all about socialism!”
Wishing you a wonderful and Happy New Year!
The year 2017 has gone by quickly, and AriSEIA has accomplished a full and active agenda to further solar and renewable energy in Arizona.
Seeking Arizona agriculture producers who are using small solar systems in their operations in Arizona
Dr. Bonnie Eberhardt Bobb, Executive Director of the Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, is looking for agriculture producers who are using small solar systems in their operations in Arizona who might be willing to help her with preparing ACC testimony, discussion with representatives, writing letters of support, signing petitions, etc. to further their goal of increased renewables in agriculture. She would love to hear from ag producers and listen to their stories of how solar has benefited their operations. Thank you so much. Please contact drbonnie2002@yahoo.com if you can assist.
Arizona Corporation Commission
SRP approves rate decrease as directors argue about solar power and batteries. During March 2019, SRP wrapped up their public pricing process at a final rate setting board hearing.
The board approved new rates for SRP customers, which will translate to a $1 to $4 decrease in monthly bills.
The board also voted to lower rates for solar customers, approve three new options for solar customers, and adopt a new battery/storage incentive.
APS announces 2018 ended with 16,479 applications and 14,818 installations: Note: APS applications peak in August due to deadlines to freeze APS purchase rates for 10 years.
FRAUD ALERT PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued a warning today about deceptive flyers appearing on residences in the Phoenix area that promote a solar energy effort. The flyers claim to be a “Public Notice” from the “Maricopa County Solar Initiative,” and claim that “Arizona and the Federal Government ITC (26 USC § 25D) are paying to have solar energy systems installed on qualified homes in this neighborhood.” The flyers tell consumers to call to schedule their “site audits.” Consumers who call are subjected to a solar sales pitch by a private company. In addition, the Maricopa County Solar Initiative’s website improperly uses a modified version of the county seal, but the “Solar Initiative” is linked to a private business and is not associated with the county. The “Solar Initiative” is also not registered to do business in Arizona. Similar flyers previously appeared in Clark County, Nevada, this summer, and law enforcement officials there have warned that the “Clark County Solar Initiative” notices are deceptive. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has aggressively prosecuted businesses masquerading as government agencies, including obtaining consent judgments against “Mandatory Poster Agency” and “Compliance Filings Service,” resulting in full restitution for Arizonans totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you believe you are a victim of consumer fraud, you can file a complaint online at the Arizona Attorney General’s website. You can also contact the Consumer Information and Complaints Unit in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6648, and outside of the metro areas at (800) 352-8431. Also covered at: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2018/11/26/deceptive-flyers-circulate-arizona-promoting-solar-energy-effort/2115597002/
Attorney General Warns About Deceptive “Solar Initiative” Flyers
A picture of the “Public Notice” is below:
A picture of the improperly modified county seal used by the “Solar Initiative” is below:
Interesting Technology Updates;
Caution- News leads open in new windows. Warning- These news links are automatically generated by others such as Google News and are not reviewed by the Arizona Solar Center, Inc. We are not responsible for link content.
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Announced 8/21/2017 4:26 PM Stakeholders, The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has approved a decision in our rate review, and we are happy to share some details with you affecting our solar customers. We appreciate your support in delivering this message to customers and will be glad to help you with any questions you may have. For your reference, attached are letters that were sent to customers regarding grandfathering. Other resources are available at aps.com/gosolar. Grandfathering
Resource Comparison Proxy (RCP) Export Rate In addition to the typical requirements, to qualify for RCP the solar system will need to meet the following criteria:
Use this link to learn more: Rate Rider RCP Interconnection Application Checklist The checklist used to review applications has been revised to include RCP qualification criteria, and is attached for your convenience. Please use this tool to ensure applications meet the qualifications and Interconnection Requirements for expeditious approval. New Homes In order to qualify for RCP (see RCP requirements above), customers installing solar systems over 10 kW DC on a newly constructed home that does not have established usage history will need to provide load calculations stamped by an Electrical Professional Engineer in Arizona. These load calculations will need to be uploaded to the application under the document type “New Build Load Calculations”. Resubmittals After Approval In order to continue our efforts to streamline the application review process, applications that have new diagrams submitted after approval (i.e. change in equipment and new diagrams are uploaded) will need to be canceled and a new application will be required. The new application will be subject to the rate rider in effect at the time the complete application is submitted. This change is effective immediately. (See below, APS has extended this) Applications with resubmittals prior to today will continue to be manually processed. Saver Choice Tech Plan Qualification (Formally known as R-Tech) The Saver Choice Tech Plan Qualification application will be available online August 22, 2017. Customers interested in this experimental rate can apply if they meet the requirements. Use this link to learn more: Saver Choice Tech
Solar Water Heater Incentive Program The Solar Water Heater Incentive Program is now closed. Applications that have already been submitted will remain active. We appreciate your patience as we process the high volume of applications received over the past several months. We will continue to work with you and answer any questions that may arise during this time of transition. If you would like more information regarding the rate review decision, please visit azenergyfuture.com. Sincerely, APS Renewable Energy Team |
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On 8/21/2017 5:35 PM, APS Renewable Energy emailed a revision: Stakeholders, We are contacting you again to provide a slight change and clarification regarding resubmittals after approval, which was mentioned in the Stakeholder Communication sent today. Due to feedback and some concern regarding this change, we will be postponing this policy until after the Grandfathering 180 day period is over. It’s important to know that equipment changes or shortages do not extend the 180 day Grandfathering period. We appreciate your feedback and flexibility. Sincerely, APS Renewable Energy Team |
| You have received this message from APS because we thought you might be interested in this information. If you don't want to receive these messages, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will remove you from our contact list. aps.com | 400 N 5 Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004 |
The must-see panel of Intersolar North America (if you could only see one) discussed the most pressing issue in distributed solar today: What’s happening with net metering – and where does the industry go from here?
At 9 am on Tuesday morning, one of the most important issues in the industry was being debated in a conference room as part of the Intersolar North America trade show: net metering.
Across the nation, net metering policies are changing. The largest solar market, California, has moved to a successor policy, while other states including Hawaii and Indiana have shut the policy down entirely.
But looking beyond the more severe instances, an exploration of different states shows a definite shift in the direction of policies that attempt to put a more precise value on the electricity exported to the grid by distributed solar, along with a move to time-of-use rates. And more often than not the shift is more incremental than a step-change.
The assembled experts attempted to grapple with these big-picture issues, fragmented as they are in the individual experiences of different states.
Read the rest of the article on
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2017/07/12/net-metering-is-dead-long-live-net-metering/
By Bill Ellard, Energy Economist March 9, 2017
The net-metering battle has begun, as utilities across the US are lowering the price they are willing to pay for customer-generated electricity from solar. I am predicting a series of solar wars in the near future. They will be mainly between the existing monopoly electric utilities and the solar industry that is involved with behind-the-meter solar installations. Utilities are not against solar, as this new technology gives them another method to meet electricity demand, but what utilities dislike is their customers producing their own electricity by any means such as solar, wind, or other on-site generators. It means customers purchase much less energy from the utilities.
Up until about 2005, the United States was the leader in solar electric installations, but other countries such as Germany have become larger players. As we can see on the graph, solar was not growing much in the US until about 2011-2012.
This surge in solar installations starting in 2011 has created this first solar battle about net-metering. Before 2012 utilities in the USA had no reason to see solar as a threat to them, as the amount of revenue lost to customer self-generation was extremely small. So during this timeframe, utilities did not mind giving customers full retail credit for their excess energy.
Net-metering typically occurs between 10 am and 4 pm when a customer’s solar system is producing more electricity than the onsite loads require: the sun is shining and the occupants are off at work. This “extra” energy is sent back through the utilityowned meter and into the grid; typically, it amounts to about 20-30% of the electricity produced by the solar system.
Net-metering means full retail credit for one’s excess energy; your bill would have it energy usage reduced, and if your usage goes negative, then you get a rollover credit for you next month’s bill. The battle is about the utilities wanting to change this credit on customers’ bills so that it’s lower than the retail rate of electricity. This has started discussions about the concept of “the value of solar” for utilities in many states.
Many utilities were startled after 2012 by the large increase in rooftop solar installations. In many locations this lost revenue was still not significant, but the growth and trends were disturbing.
Utilities are regulated on a stateby-state basis by their respective public utilities commissions, or PUCs.
The first three states to enter into the net-metering battle were California, Arizona and Nevada, due to excellent solar insolation and relatively high electric rates. Earlier this year, in California, the PUC rejected any changes to net-metering, while in Nevada the PUC allowed the utility NV Energy to reduce its credit to customers by 75% reduce how much they credit consumers bills by 75%.
The Nevada decision is still being altered and reviewed, but Solar City, one of the nation’s largest residential installers, has left Nevada due to this PUC decision.
What happens next in the net-metering battle?
We had an electricity war over 100 years ago – the current wars. This battle was between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse: Edison wanted a direct current grid, while Westinghouse fought for alternating current. This war was fierce and very public, as the solar wars are becoming today. Nikola Tesla’s patent for the inductive motor was the innovation needed to help decide the “war of the currents.” Inductive motors work with AC, not DC, so when Westinghouse licensed Tesla technology he was able to defeat Edison, and now we have the AC electric grid. Free markets today are helping to decide our solar war about net-metering. This free market competition in the solar industry has brought down the cost of solar-generated electricity to under 3 cents per kwh.
We are seeing innovation in the energy storage space. Remember the typical residential solar system only nets back to the grid about 20-30% of its production. Most of the electricity produced by a solar system is consumed directly in the home. The reason this is important is that to effectively eliminate net-metering back to the grid, you don’t need a lot of storage. Could it be a strange twist of fate that the company called Tesla can use technology, just as the firm’s namesake Nikola Tesla did, to decide this battle in energy?
The short-term impacts of the net-metering battle will adversely affect residential solar installations in the United States. This will happen on a state-by-state basis, depending on the political leanings of each state’s PUC. Here are some of states that are either in, or may soon enter, the net-metering battle: Arizona, Nevada, Maine, Florida, and Alabama.
The biggest short-term loser may be Sun Power due to its exposure to the United States residential market, and its weak cost structure as mentioned in my last article on solar.
The longer term impacts on the solar industry are much more interesting. This net-metering battle is driving innovation in the energy storage and inverter space. Tesla has already announced that it will develop the solar roof and its own inverter/storage technologies. Tesla is buying Solar City, so the combination of the two firms can continue to innovate to eliminate the need for net-metering.
In my opinion within a few years, all residential solar installations will have storage, smart inverter, and curtailment control. In this case with no electricity being passed to the utilities equipment and grid, customers will not even need to notify their utility of their new solar system – or ask for “approval.”
With these longer term impacts in mind, I see this as a positive for several companies: Enphase Energy , Solaredge Technologies, Tesla, and Aquion Energy. All these firms are spending money on research and development on smart energy storage, and have shown to be quite innovative. I do see a technological battle between lithium ion battery and aqueous flow type technology in the near future.
About the Author:
Bill Ellard is an energy economist and consultant, serving businesses, utilities, and municipalities and focusing on distributed generation implementation, solar energy, demand response, demand side management, microgrid development, facility energy management, and renewable energy integration. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
An Arizona utility can’t escape being sued for anti-trust violations for the rates it sets solely because it’s a quasi-governmental entity, at least not now — if ever, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by attorneys for Salt River Project that SolarCity cannot challenge its pricing system. The appellate judges said they have no authority to consider the finding of a trial judge in Phoenix who said the challenge should be allowed to go ahead.
While Monday’s ruling is specific to SRP and its claims of immunity from suit, the implications could be broader.
Unless overturned on appeal, it means SRP ultimately could have to defend in court the rates it charges customers who want to generate their own electricity.
That could lead to rulings on how broad is the ability of utilities, all of which are monopolies, to set rates in a way that could harm other companies. And that, in turn, could impact efforts by other Arizona utilities to increase costs to solar customers.
SRP spokesman Scott Harelson said an appeal is possible.
“We would argue that ours is a statutory pricing process and that the courts have no business setting rates,” he said. But Harelson said if the case goes to court, the company believes its rate structure — and the additional charges imposed on solar customers — can be justified.
That’s the same argument that is being advanced by utilities like Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy which have pending rate hike requests.
Arizona Public Service has reached a settlement with SolarCity and other solar companies. But that deal is contingent on review by a hearing officer and final approval by the Arizona Corporation Commission.
Central to the debate is whether customers who install their own rooftop solar units and generate some of their own power are effectively being subsidized by others.
Attorneys for SolarCity contend SRP’s new pricing plan approved last year amounts to a “substantial penalty” on customers.
“Because solar customers are unable to completely disconnect from SRP’s grid — they still need power in the evening hours and at other times when their energy demands exceed what their solar energy systems produce — they cannot escape SRP’s penalty,” the lawsuit contends.
That penalty, according to SolarCity lawyers, is about $600 a year, an increase of about 65 percent over prior rate plans. That compares with an average 3.9 percent increase for residential customers who buy all their power from SRP.
“Customers recognize that SRP’s new pricing plan leaves them with no choice: After the effective date of SRP’s new plan, applications for distributed solar energy systems in SRP’s territory fell by 96 percent,” the lawsuit states.
All that, the lawyers contend, are part of SRP’s illegal efforts to eliminate competition and violate anti-trust laws.
SRP, for its part, contends the fact that the rates were approved by its governing board precludes the SolarCity lawsuit. Its attorneys said there was the legally required notice and comment period, public hearings, a board vote and an opportunity to challenge the board’s decision in state court, something SolarCity chose not to do.
Beyond that, Harelson said SolarCity can’t rely on antitrust claims. He said those laws “generally let businesses set their prices in a way that allows them to recover their costs, without regard to the impact of those prices on companies like SolarCity.”
That contention, Harelson said, is backed by the policies adopted by the Arizona Corporation Commission — which regulates utilities other than SRP — which concluded that utilities should be able to recover the cost of serving any particular group “and avoid shifting costs from solar customers to the rest of the customer base.” But the exact amount of what that figure is has to be decided on a case-by-case basis.
June 12, 2017
Arizona Solar Center Mission- The mission of the Arizona Solar Center is to enhance the utilization of renewable energy, educate Arizona's residents on solar technology developments, support commerce and industry in the development of solar and other sustainable technologies and coordinate these efforts throughout the state of Arizona. About the Arizona Solar Center- The Arizona Solar Center (AzSC) provides a broad-based understanding of solar energy, especially as it pertains to Arizona. Registered… Read More
