This week in Democratic Energy:

Nevada slashes Net Metering policy.

Solar investment tax credit gets an extension from Congress.

Midwest Energy News’ 2015 year in review focuses on the fight between utilities and everyone else.

Featured Stories:

Fixed charges, ‘bailouts’ and green tea: the Midwest Energy News 2015 year in review by Ken Paulman, Midwest Energy News

Tax credit extension gives solar industry a new boom by Richard Martin, MIT Technology Review

Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the investment tax credit provides a tax credit of 30 percent of the value of solar projects. Annual solar installations have grown by at a compound rate of 76 percent since the act was implemented in 2006. Under the new scheme, the 30 percent solar tax credit will extend through 2019 and then decline gradually to 10 percent in 2022. After 2022 the credit will be eliminated for residential solar installations and will continue at 10 percent for commercial ones. Overall, the move by Congress will add an extra 20 gigawatts of solar power over the next five years, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance—more than the total installed in history up to the end of last year.

Nevada advocate tries to delay controversial order on solar energy by Daniel Rothberg, Vegas Inc.

Democratic Energy News Around the Nation:

Arizona

Arizona solar installers ‘thrilled’ with long-term extension of rooftop tax credit by Eric Jay Toll, Arizona Business Journal

California

Like night and day: how two states’ utilities approach solar by Lauren Sommer & Molly Samuel, National Public Radio

He’s [Aaron Johnson with PG&E] saying with their low bills, solar customers aren’t pitching in enough. That’s creating a shortfall that PG&E says will reach almost $3 billion a year within a decade. So California’s utilities want to pay new solar customers less for their extra electricity and to add new monthly fees.

“That argument can only come from a monopoly that is used to selling every electron to every customer for the past 100 years,” says Walker Wright at Sunrun, one of the largest solar companies in the country. “What rooftop solar represents is the first true form of competition.”

Massachusetts

Don’t let solar energy production stall in Massachusetts by Dave Roitman, Daily Hampshire Gazette

Minnesota

Minnesota solar incentive program opens applications by Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio News

Nevada

SolarCity exits Nevada after state slashes net metering by Allison Gatlin, Investor’s Business Daily

Nevada advocate tries to delay controversial order on solar energy by Daniel Rothberg, Vegas Inc.

New Hampshire

Net metering is holy grail of energy independence by Harold Turner, The Concord Monitor

Stating this a little differently, and being a little less kind to your typical local electric utility, net metering is your only opportunity to make an investment in technology (not always, but most often solar photovoltaic panels) to produce some or all of your own power, thereby not having to purchase everything you need from or through the regulated monopoly we commonly refer to as the electric utility company.

New York

New York’s banner year for clean energy and climate by Kit Kennedy, The Energy Collective

New York utilities propose REV changes to speed demonstration project approvals by Robert Walton, Utility Dive

Ohio

Ohio lawmakers says AEP plant subsidy settlement ignores legislature’s will on renewables by Robert Walton, Utility Dive

Nationwide Democratic Energy News:

Experts predict renewable investment boom as Congress renews tax credits by Daniel Cusick, E&E News

Experts said the renewable energy provisions will result in billions of additional dollars in tax breaks for wind and solar power developers, something many Republicans were remiss to hand out. At the same time, the extenders should stimulate hundreds of billions of dollars in new renewable energy investment and help drive the nation’s transition away from traditional fossil fuels in favor of cleaner forms of energy, observers said.

Fixed charges, ‘bailouts’ and green tea: the Midwest Energy News 2015 year in review by Ken Paulman, Midwest Energy News

Extended tax credits welcome news for Midwest by Beth Soholt, Midwest Energy News

After Paris: the state of America’s electricity sector emissions headed into 2016 by Eric Gimon, GreenTech Media

While solar and wind are variable on a day-by-day basis, they are remarkably consistent and predictable on an aggregate annual basis, most likely due to their modular and geographically distributed nature. The challenge of integrating variable resources has so far proved quite manageable through better forecasting and smarter dispatch of a diverse portfolio of supply- and demand-side resources, and by taking advantage of existing flexibility in the grid.

Tax credit extension gives solar industry a new boom by Richard Martin, MIT Technology Review