A promising energy efficiency program could get closer to reaching its massive potential after a federal policy tweak that tempers lenders’ concerns to allow more homeowners to cash in. Variations of the Property Assessed Clean Energy program, better known as PACE, already exist in more than 30 states. Until now, the program has skewed mainly toward … Read More
On June 17, John Farrell delivered a keynote address to the annual Midwest Energy Fair in Custer, Wisconsin. In this presentation, John detailed the growth of renewable energy and how new technologies and smart policies can lead to the downfall of the monopoly electric utility. Thank you to the Midwest Renewable Energy Association for the recording of … Read More
On July 9, John Farrell spoke to a group at the CommonBound 2016 Conference. The conference brought hundreds of leaders together to share “visionary strategies for achieving deep systemic change” in areas such as energy policy and economic justice. In this presentation, John detailed the growth of renewable energy and how new technologies and smart policies … Read More
In November 2015, Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, spoke to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission about the grid of the future. In particular, he addressed the issue of giving customers meaningful choices within a monopoly grid model, present in Minnesota and 34 other states. In the following video, he outlines the … Read More
In the 2016 election, issues of renewable energy have been relatively muted, with issues of coal workers and the economies of these communities taking center stage in Donald Trump’s campaign. This editorial from Ken Silverstein in Forbes features insight from our very own renewable energy guru, John Farrell, check it out.… Read More
This week in Energy Democracy news: Hawaii’s energy regulators reject the proposed merger with electric monopoly, NextEra Energy; community solar continues to spread throughout Colorado, and Minnesota decides to use the value of solar determination for community solar projects. Featured Stories Clean Coalition’s community microgrids – Episode 29 of Local Energy Rules podcast by John Farrell, … Read More
The misunderstandings that from time to time occur between communities and the managers of electric-lighting companies will, to my mind, disappear entirely if the relations between the two are correctly founded on the basis of public control, with corresponding protection to the corporations operating this industry. More than 100 years ago, standing in front of a … Read More
This article published with the substantial assistance of ILSR intern, McKenna Eckerline. Everyone hates paying for something that they don’t use (how many cable channels do you have?). In California, local electricity customers may finally get satisfaction about paying for the transmission grid capacity that they don’t use. At issue is an obscure pricing mechanism known … Read More
It all comes down to the money. Discord over compensation for solar customers and utilities alike bled into the first part of the year, extending a long-running debate over the best ways to integrate solar power and — thanks to a few hard-line policy moves — threatening to hold back growth in the solar marketplace. See … Read More
