Disclaimer: I’m a Solar City customer (bought my system which went online in December 2016), but I have no fiduciary ties to any solar companies.
thinkprogress.org/…
The Indiana House voted Tuesday for a bill that opponents say will cripple the state’s solar industry.
If enacted, the bill would reduce the amount solar power users are compensated for routing unused electricity back on the grid.
Over the next five years, utilities would reduce net metering — a policy that ensures homeowners are compensated for electricity they add to the grid from solar generation — before bottoming out in 2022. Solar owners will then be compensated at much-reduced level, roughly around the wholesale price for electricity. The bill would also put a legislative cap on the amount of non-utility solar in the state.
If you want solar eventually in Indiana, now would be the time to get it, with the federal 30% renewable energy tax benefit starting to come down in 2019, and:
Among the changes made by the House was to extend the deadline for being grandfathered into the current net metering rate (where people get a credit on their bill for every kilowatt hour they add to the grid) to January 1, 2018, rather than July 1, 2017, and to keep the grandfathered rate even if the home or business is sold.
The funny thing is, this is supposed to help coal workers, who are outnumbered by solar workers right now:
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), 2,700 people in Indiana work in solar. Indiana is also one of the top 10 coal-producing states in the country. The entire mining industry employs 2,500 people, according to state data.
My take on this trend on rolling back net metering: this will spur further deployment of battery solutions (like Tesla’s Powerwall 2) which bypass the grid altogether. This will just make life worse for the utilities in the long run, even though they have made solar companies pull out (in Nevada, for example). The question is whether off-grid solar systems are subject to the rules of the PUCs and utility companies, and whether state law limitations of such systems can be legally challenged.
climatenexus.org/...
Thursday, May 4, 2017 · 1:28:19 AM +00:00
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liberalismiscommonsense
Indiana’s governor just signed off on the sun.
thinkprogress.org/…
Indiana’s governor just signed a law that will cripple the state’s solar industry
…
- It ends net metering for new customers after 2022.
- It ends net metering for existing customers who replace or expand their solar system after 2017.
- It empowers utilities, with the approval of the regulatory commission, to charge rooftop solar owners an additional fee for “energy delivery costs.”
Additionally, the bill may be interpreted to end net metering for homeowners who lease their panels or subscribe to a shared solar array — what’s known as community solar.