For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell and guest Danny Kennedy discuss rooftop solar revolutions, Kennedy’s work at New Energy Nexus, and the importance of innovation in the energy sector. … Read More
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
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
This post explores how a community can put together a model solar ordinance. One example is Stearns County, Minn., whose solar ordinance protects pollinator habitat and ensures benefits to the wider community.… Read More
In Solar Tribune, ILSR’s Maria McCoy commented on the benefits of community solar. … Read More
In this testimony sent to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, John Farrell explains why the state’s 2001 distributed generation tariff has come up short and deserves an update.… Read More
This report explores the undercounting of customer-sited and non-utility solar in utility distributed resource forecasting. It finds that Xcel Energy’s forecasts for distributed solar in Minnesota are strikingly low.… Read More
With financial rewards tied to building big, utilities overlook distributed energy resources like rooftop solar. This essay, written to advise utility regulators in Michigan, has implications for utility resource planning nationwide.… Read More
In these comments, John Farrell outlines how Xcel Energy should improve its 2019 Integrated Distribution Plan to best serve the needs of Minnesota customers: increased access to distributed energy generation and a fair analysis of the benefits these systems provide to the grid.… Read More
