Why Minnesota’s Community Solar Program is the Best
Minnesota’s community solar program hit 794 megawatts in April 2021, enough to power more than 100,000 homes each year or about as much capacity as a typical nuclear power plant!… Read More
30 Times More Jobs from Rooftop Solar, Utility Filing Says
Tucked into a proposal from Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electric company, was a comparison of two proposed solar projects: one, a giant solar array on the site of a closing coal plant; the other, a small collection of rooftop solar projects to serve low-income residents. In a nondescript table was a bombshell revelation about the relative economic benefits of solar at small scale: for every million the utility proposed spending on rooftop solar, it would create 30 times more jobs than $1 million spent on utility-scale solar.… Read More
Hosting Capacity Analysis Could Simplify Grid Interconnection for Distributed Energy Resources
These comments, submitted to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on April 7, underline the value Xcel Energy’s hosting capacity analysis could have as part of the interconnection process.… Read More
In Minnesota Reformer: State Regulators Need to Take a Tougher Line on Gas Monopolies
In the Minnesota Reformer, ILSR Co-Director and Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative John Farrell writes about how Minnesota state regulators need to enact stricter rules and regulations on gas monopolies.… Read More
Much More Rooftop Solar from an Alternative to Monopoly Utility Models
A new modeling approach from Vote Solar and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) might finally put distributed solar on the same footing in grid planning as the large power plants that utilities prefer.… Read More
National Community Solar Programs Tracker
19 states have policies allowing some form of community renewable energy. This quarterly update (2020 Q4) shows the capacity built in states with most active programs: Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York. It focuses on programs in investor-owned utility service territory.… Read More
In Support of an Improved Securitization Bill in Minnesota
Read John Farrell’s testimony in favor of a power plant securitization bill, which he gave to the Minnesota the House Climate and Energy Finance and Policy committee on February 2.… Read More
Let’s Talk About Solar, Equity, and Monopoly Power in 2021
2020 demonstrated that distributed solar isn’t just economically competitive or a superior job creator, it’s better for everyone. In this year-end post, Energy Democracy Initiative Director John Farrell describes where that lesson should take advocates in 2021.… Read More
National Community Solar Programs Tracker
16 states have policies allowing some form of community renewable energy. This quarterly update (2020 Q3) shows the capacity built in states with most active programs: Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York. It focuses on programs in investor-owned utility service territory.… Read More
