The city of Beaverton, OR, is getting a new solar array that will offset energy use at an underground reservoir, saving taxpayers $95,000 per year, with no upfront cost. Ventura County, CA, has a 1-megawatt solar array on its jail facility, that’s cash flow positive. Denver, CO, has nearly 4 megawatts of solar, with power sold … Read More
This week in democratic energy, ILSR received considerable coverage in several publications. Media reports also discussed the future of utilities, the Energy Department’s significant investment in solar, and a new study examining how peer influence affects who installs solar. John Farrell, Director of ILSR’s Democratic Energy initiative, was cited in multiple articles. In Yes! Magazine, Kayla … Read More
Earlier this year, Minnesota became the first state to formalize dozens of studies by adopting a “value of solar” formula that would fundamentally change the relationship between solar energy producers and their utility. It’s designed to have the utility accurately compensate solar energy producers for the value of solar electricity to the utility, its customers, and … Read More
Want proof that distributed solar is rapidly growing? Look no further than these two charts, showing how solar provided over a quarter of new power plant capacity in 2013 (6% from residential solar alone!) and 43% in the first half of this year! This article originally posted at archive.ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell on Twitter … Read More
This week in democratic energy, media reports discussed everything from net metering to the installation of a solar photovoltaic system in a New York county jail. Elisa Woods of GreenBiz reports that New Hampshire may be the next state to adopt electric grid modernization, including microgrids, to increase grid resiliency and economic efficiency: “The advisory agency … Read More
I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a nice graphic of the timeline of state energy efficiency standard adoption on the web anywhere (that I could find). So I made one. Hat tip to Center for Climate and Energy Solutions for the template and to ACEEE for the data. This article originally posted at archive.ilsr.org. For timely … Read More
The Walton family — majority owners of Walmart — are impeding America’s transition to a clean energy future, a new study by ILSR finds. At a time when more than 500,000 households and businesses are generating their own solar electricity, and the U.S. solar industry is employing 143,000 people, the Waltons are funding nearly two dozen organizations working to roll back renewable energy policies, while a Walton-owned company is pushing for regulations aimed at hindering the growth of rooftop solar power.… Read More
From MinneapolisMN.gov: The City of Minneapolis, Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy have reached tentative agreements that would establish a first-of-its-kind City-utility Clean Energy Partnership. If approved by the Minneapolis City Council Oct. 17, the partnership will result in the City and utility companies collaborating in new ways to help Minneapolis achieve its energy goals. These goals … Read More
This short report shares the results of advanced electricity system modeling for the city of Minneapolis, revealing an opportunity to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a comparable cost of power and to dramatically boost renewable energy production at a modestly higher price. Download the report Executive Summary An advanced technical and economic model of the … Read More
