Why Minnesota’s Community Solar Program is the Best
Minnesota’s community solar program reached 826 megawatts in December 2021, enough to power more than 100,000 homes each year or about as much capacity as a typical nuclear power plant!… Read More
The Long Wait for Community Solar in Washington State — Episode 147 of Local Energy Rules
For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell and guest Mason Rolph discuss Olympia Community Solar, the organization’s advocacy work, and why Washington needs a proper community solar program.… Read More
New Power Generation Quarterly: 2021 Q3
A surge of new solar power surpassed the growth of wind, gas, and coal in the third quarter of 2021, with solar contributing 54 percent of new power generation capacity. Here’s the latest update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative.… Read More
California’s Regulators Come to Monopoly Utility’s Defense in Local Solar Smackdown
In a proposed decision earlier this week, California’s Public Utilities Commission will dramatically reduce the viability of rooftop solar in the state that launched the U.S. solar market. You could spend hours trying to digest the 200-page decision, but the truth of how we got here isn’t in it. Rather, the decision is a culmination of years of work by the incumbent, monopoly electric utilities to hoodwink a critical mass of stakeholders that solar should be the target for the many ills of the state’s electricity markets, rather than the morally and financially bankrupt utilities.… Read More
New Power Generation Quarterly: 2021 Q2
Fossil gas contributed only five percent of new power plant capacity in the second quarter of 2021. Gas has pitched in less than 10 percent in four of the last eight quarters. Here’s the latest update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative.… Read More
New Power Generation Quarterly: 2021 Q1
Wind energy took the prize for the most new generating capacity in the first quarter of 2021, which included the first utility-owned offshore wind project. Here’s the latest update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative. … Read More
Voices of 100%: In Case of Emergency, Break Down Barriers to Net Zero — Episode 131 of Local Energy Rules
For this Voices of 100% episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell talks with guests Mark Gamba and Natalie Rogers of Milwaukie, Oregon. In 2020, the city declared a climate emergency and accelerated its climate action goals.… 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
Voices of 100%: Youth Propel a Climate Action Plan in St. Louis Park — Episode 128 of Local Energy Rules
For this Voices of 100% episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell and guests Larry Kraft and Emily Ziring discuss the St. Louis Park, Minn. climate action plan and commitment to carbon neutrality by 2040.… Read More