This week in Energy Democracy news: A Q&A with Detroit energy/climate activists, the state of energy policies at the ballot in 2016, and praising South Sioux City, NE for their diverse renewable energy portfolio. Featured Stories: Not just illegal, targeting solar facilities with fees is also poor policy by John Farrell, CleanTechnica South Sioux City deserves … Read More
Conventional wisdom suggests the biggest wind and solar power plants will be cheapest, but where they deliver power, and who will own them, matters more.… Read More
In case you missed it, we launched a new podcast series last week. It’s called “Building Local Power” and it tells the story of how we at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, with our strong allies, are working to break the chains of monopoly power in all sectors of our economy and build local economies. There … Read More
This week in Energy Democracy news: Nevada ratepayers (finally) ruled to qualify for grandfathered solar rates, Colorado cooperative is buying renewable energy, and a new solar project in Morocco comes under criticism for transmission and scale concerns. Featured Stories John Farrell’s keynote presentation at Salt Spring Community Energy Conference (Video) by John Farrell, CleanTechnica Deal reached … Read More
The first-in-the-nation Clean Energy Partnership has reached the end of its first two-year work plan and has gathered a lot of baseline data. But is it successful? As expected, it’s hard to tell. The first work plan wasn’t adopted until well into the first year of the Partnership (2015), and a lot of existing utility and … Read More
Minneapolis garnered national attention when it formed a first-of-its-kind partnership with local utilities to advance sustainable, efficient energy policy. Now, as communities across the U.S. increasingly push for influence over their energy futures, the Midwestern city offers a blueprint for what works and a taste of the challenges that come with cooperation. John Farrell, who leads … Read More
In our latest update to our Community Power Map, Frank Jossi of Midwest Energy News covered the increase in community projects and the reasoning behind the inclusion. Check it out.… Read More
As state regulators restricted the ability of home and business owners in Nevada to receive sufficient compensation for solar on their rooftops, some large companies started looking towards other options. In 2016, at least two major Las Vegas casinos agreed to pay multi-million dollar “exit fees” to leave the service of incumbent monopoly utility NV Energy to … Read More
A widening chasm between what customers want and what Santa Fe’s electric utility delivers is bolstering a campaign to rejigger power production and distribution, possibly putting the city itself in charge. The municipalization campaign, years in the making, comes as the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) leans on a long-term strategy that shortchanges renewables, … Read More
