I have the privilege of talking to a lot of reporters about rooftop solar energy, and particularly about why utilities seem hell bent on stopping their customers from using their own money to add clean, renewable energy to the electric grid. If this seems confusing to you, too, here’s a quick primer with some key resources. … Read More
This week in Democratic Energy: Why homeowners may want to think twice before leasing solar panels How Germany’s solar success shines — even through solar eclipse New Solar ownership program could be key to distributed local energy surge Find out which Texas city is set to completely embrace clean power! Featured Stories Leased solar panels can complicate … Read More
This week in Democratic Energy: West Virginia governor signs bill slamming brakes on solar development Wal-mart’s support of a new North Carolina law should give regulators pause California could produce five times their energy needs from solar Utility titan plays harder as industry evolves by Bill Loveless, USA Today Of course Fanning says he doesn’t see utilities becoming … Read More
Arnie Arnesen interviewed ILSR’s Director of Democratic Energy John Farrell on WNHN’s The Attitude last week, seeking an answer to this question: can we expect electric utilities to embrace the energy sources of the future, like solar? Electric Utilities Play by the (Old) Rules Arnie and John discussed the hesitance of utilities to embrace innovation and … Read More
Can one state lead the way for others in sound, smart energy policy? New York is setting the stage. This week, Mother Jones, and others talked to John about getting what we want from the utility of the future. (Hint: utilities may soon be waiting-in-the-wings!) Read more stories from this week, below. New York Just Showed … Read More
The growth of solar has continued at a furious pace, with a new record of 6.2 gigawatts installed in the United States in 2014. But the bigger tale may be the persistent growth of small-scale solar, on residential and non-residential rooftops (and property). These projects, a megawatt or smaller, contributed 13% of new power plant capacity … Read More
Mother Jones, March 6, 2015 New York wants to get serious about solar power. The state has a goal to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, and it’s already among the nation’s solar leaders. New York ranks ninth overall for total installed solar, and in 2013 alone it added enough … Read More
A clean energy report looks at the tension between utilities and consumers, and we take a look at political crossover: how distributed energy and local control is becoming more of a bipartisan issue. Chris Mooney with the Washington Post leads the roundup with two articles on how solar energy plays in conservative parts of the nation. It doesn’t hurt that … Read More
In my recent report on the utility business model of the future, I laid out 5 pillars of a democratic energy system. It’s hard not to notice the contrast between this vision of the future and the 15-year business plan laid out by Xcel Energy in Minnesota, the incumbent monopoly serving about half the state’s electric … Read More
