Cutting Through the Confusion

by Jane Weissman

Without a doubt, its a confusing time in the energy market. There are many more questions than answers. Will

Tuscon Electric Power Co. is one of many utilities that encourage residential and business customers to install PV equipment.

Californias electric utility restructuring experiences spell STOP for other states? Will the new administration and the promise of a national energy policy refocus funds and legislation away from renewables? Will consumers, getting a small taste of customer choice, use their buying power to demand more green power products?

If these questions arent unsettling enough, take a look at what is actually happening. Green marketers are leaving California and the East Coast and moving into Texas and Ohio. Distributed generation – the small-scale, two-way grid model – is catching on, but the most widely used technology – diesel – is also the dirtiest in terms of air pollution. Oil and gas drilling and clean coal seem to be in, yet major windfarms are springing up in the Pacific Northwest, Nevada and Wisconsin. Chicago is banking on solar energy, and in San Diego a prominent builder has made solar a feature on new homes. Is this the best of times or the worst of times for solar energy?

Its very hard to say. All we know for certain is that the energy market is in a state of flux and is likely to remain there for some time. If sustainable energy technologies are to be included in emerging energy policies and regulatory structures, then the solar energy community must be an active and informed player in these arenas.

Under the initial leadership of former American Solar Energy Society (ASES) Chair Christine Donovan, the ASES Policy Committee has tackled some of the more complex issues facing sustainable energy technologies. Since 1996, the Committee has released eight policy statements covering key topics, including: renewable energy purchase requirements (portfolio standards); public benefit funds; grid connection; disclosure of fuel mix and air emission facts; and community choice. The papers are available on the ASES web site at: www.ases.org/solarguide/position.html.

These statements explain the topics, offer recommendations and issue a call for action. Most importantly, they help renewable energy advocates engage in substantive conversations about energy policy with their Congressional representatives as well as decision-makers at their State Houses and City Halls. Based on what we hear from ASES chapter leaders, many activists have used these policy statements to file testimony in regulatory and legislative proceedings, as material for letter writing campaigns and as handouts as meetings with local decision-makers.

Here is a brief synopsis of the eight ASES policy statements and some of their key recommendations.

State and Federal legislation should:
Mandate minimum renewable energy purchase requirements (renewable portfolio standard or RPS) and systems benefits charges.
Assure that connecting renewable energy systems to the utility grid is simple and affordable for system owners and utilities.
Establish non-discriminatory interconnection standards and rules that ensure the safety of system owners, utility personnel and the general public.
Allow net metering, so that utility customers can use any extra electricity they generate to spin their meter backwards, with the result that they are charged only for the net electricity they consume.
Require uniform, understandable and verifiable disclosure of fuel mix and key air emission data, and ensure that retail electricity suppliers provide this information to consumers.
Grant local governments the authority to act (either individually or collectively) as the default aggregator of residential and small business electric consumers in their jurisdictions.
Encourage distribution utilities to make infrastructure investments that enable the broader use of distributed technologies.
Ensure that environmental laws recognize the relative environmental benefits of distributed technologies.
Establish or extend tax credit policies that are available long-term (10-15 years), but are not so large that they distort the market sector they are intended to help.

The Federal government should:
Maintain a long-term funding commitment to the development and commercialization of sustainable energy technologies.
Establish clearly defined national renewable energy goals and develop a specific plan for meeting those goals.
Significantly increase its demand for sustainable energy technologies and designs by purchasing electricity generated from renewable energy resources and environmentally-preferred distributed energy systems, and by recognizing the value of low-energy building designs.

How are these programs working in practice? The answer is mixed. Both from documented cases and anecdotal news, having net metering on the books does not ensure that the process of interconnecting to the grid to take advantage of net metering is easy for a homeowner or small business.

Frequently, when consumers call their utility companies to arrange for net metering and the connection of their system to the grid, they learn that they must retain legal and engineering counsel to navigate the permitting and paper work process required by the utility. Easily overwhelmed, the consumer often delays or stops plans for installing their solar equipment. Net metering rules may be on the books, but we still have a ways to go before grid interconnection is a simple, streamlined process in many locations. Well keep you posted.
+++++

Jane Weissman is Executive Director of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and serves on the Board of Directors for the American Solar Energy Society. Contact her: WeissmanPV@aol.com


This column appears in Solar Today, May/June 2001. Solar Today is a SustainableBusiness.com Content Partner.