All Posts
Advocate Puts Full Court Pressure on Utilities — Episode 209 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
May 9, 2024
Mariel Nanasi discusses New Energy Economy’s efforts before lawmakers, regulators, and courts to protect consumers from the nefarious plans of New Mexico’s investor-owned utilities.READ MORE
How Investor-Owned Utilities Turn (Your) Money into Political Power
April 25, 2024
This graphic lays out the investor-owned utility model and how utilities maximize profits at the expense of their customers, use money to gain political power, and then use power to defend their monopoly and make even more money.READ MORE
Standing Rock’s Wind Project Puts People First — Episode 208 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
April 24, 2024
Christina Hollenback and Joseph McNeil discuss how SAGE Development Authority has created a model for community-led wind development and why community ownership is so important to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.READ MORE
Three Ways to Green the Grid Without New Transmission
April 18, 2024
Transmission lines are slow and expensive to build. This commentary by John Farrell proposes three faster, cheaper, and more efficient tools that could help the climate advocacy and clean energy communities meet their collective goals.READ MORE
Community Solar Tracker
Maria McCoy
April 16, 2024
ILSR tracks community solar capacity in states with formal programs that allow non-utility ownership. This quarterly update (2023 Q4) shows the capacity built in nine states, with a focus on projects in investor-owned utility service territory.READ MORE
Ann Arbor’s Public Pathway to Reliable Power — Episode 207 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
April 12, 2024
Gregory Woodring discusses the ways that investor-owned utility DTE Energy has failed Ann Arbor customers and how the city could take over and provide better service.READ MORE
Community Power Wins and Losses in 2023
Maria McCoy
April 3, 2024
The decisions of state legislatures have big consequences for how communities drive clean energy access and hold utilities accountable. This post breaks down how the policies that states passed last year impacted ILSR’s 2024 Community Power Scorecard.READ MORE
A San Diego Solar Takeover — Episode 206 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
March 27, 2024
Dorrie Bruggemann and Bill Powers discuss how a publicly-owned San Diego electric utility would be more supportive of distributed solar, offer lower rates thanks to that solar, and what it will take to bring the municipalization decision to voters.READ MORE
New Power Generation Quarterly: 2023 Q4
Maria McCoy
March 25, 2024
14 gigawatts of new power generation capacity came online in the fourth quarter of 2023. Over eight gigawatts of this fourth quarter surge was large-scale solar, with distributed solar contributing another two gigawatts.READ MORE
The 2024 Community Power Scorecard
Maria McCoy
March 20, 2024
Communities can do a lot to advance energy democracy, but some tools must be granted by state policy. This annual scorecard from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative surveys a suite of 18 policies that help or hinder local clean energy action.READ MORE
Arizona’s High Stakes Utility Election — Episode 205 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
March 13, 2024
Charlie Fisher discusses the upcoming Salt River Project election and how clean energy advocates could flip the public utility's board and reverse anti-solar and anti-democratic policies.READ MORE
Smarter Rules for Smart Meters — Episode 204 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
February 28, 2024
Michael Murray explains the many capabilities of smart meters, his critique of a Rhode Island utility proposal to expand advanced metering, and how state and federal regulators can establish best practices for fairness and data access.READ MORE
Why Utility Execs Hate Distributed Solar
Maria McCoy
February 21, 2024
In this 30 minute presentation to the Just Solar Coalition, Timothy Den-Herder Thomas and John Farrell explain the benefits of distributed solar, why utility companies try to stifle it, and how this conflict has reared its ugly head in Minnesota.READ MORE
The Concrete Benefits of Virtual Power Plants — Episode 203 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
February 14, 2024
Chris Rauscher explains the benefits of coordinating distributed energy resources, how residential solar and storage customers have saved their neighbors from blackouts, and why every utility could be offering a virtual power plant program.READ MORE
10 Years of Minnesota’s Community Solar Program — Episode 202 of Local Energy Rules
Maria McCoy
January 31, 2024
Pouya Najmaie discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Minnesota’s community solar program, its many regulatory and legislative changes over the years, and how utility Xcel Energy has found a new way to try to suppress distributed generation.READ MORE