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
I’m writing this piece from my living room couch, my kids out of school and doing a “home school” schedule while my wife and I try to work. With that in mind, here are a few thoughts about how decentralized and democratized energy systems might help us weather things like the current COVID-19 pandemic.… Read More
Host Jess Del Fiacco talks with ILSR’s John Farrell and Chris Mitchell about the power outages in California and how a distributed energy system could avoid future outages and detrimental fire damage. … Read More
In this May 2019 interview, ILSR’s Director of Energy Democracy John Farrell, and Ingrid Vila – an engineer and director of Cambio, a Puerto Rico based nonprofit – discussed the enormous opportunity, and the pitfalls the island must avoid, to seize the island’s chance for energy democracy.… Read More
In this episode of Local Energy Rules, Energy Democracy Initiative director John Farrell speaks with Marcel Castro Sitiriche about the challenges Puerto Rico faces in building a local, clean, and resilient energy system in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.… Read More
Despite its pride in having the nation’s largest community solar program––shown by the massive poster on its headquarters front doors (the above photo)––Xcel Energy can often be caught complaining (erroneously) that utility-owned solar would be more cost-effective. In the following analysis, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance explains why Minnesota’s community solar program has actually saved Xcel Energy customers millions of dollars already.… Read More
Host John Farrell talks with Marcel Castro Sitiriche about the challenges Puerto Rico faces in building a clean and resilient energy system. … Read More
In New Mexico, proposed climate legislation would give one of the state’s monopoly utilities a huge handout, leaving customers holding the bag. In a new episode of Local Energy Rules, Mariel Nanasi of the New Energy Economy speaks with John Farrell about this bill setting a dangerous precedent and the alternative opportunity to support local choice and build wealth in New Mexico communities, instead.… Read More
