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The Biden administration’s lucrative incentives for hydrogen are slated to only go to “green” producers who use newly built clean energy sources to make the fuel — and some hydrogen producers aren’t happy about it.
Clean hydrogen has the potential to be a low- or zero-emission alternative to fossil fuels, and could clean up energy-intensive industries like steelmaking and heavy-duty transportation. But it’s not economical to produce just yet.
That’s why the Inflation Reduction Act established the 45V tax credit to help incentivize hydrogen that’s produced with clean energy under these three conditions:
Many companies, including federally backed hydrogen hubs, have pushed back against the rules, saying they will make their projects economically unviable.
But they’re not the only voice out there, Kari Lydersen reports for the Energy News Network. Companies like Hy Stor Energy and Q Hydrogen say they’re committed to producing clean hydrogen, and want the Treasury to only reward fuel that’s produced from new clean energy sources.
Without these parameters, producing hydrogen could actually end up driving up emissions, environmental advocates and academics say. That’s why Hy Stor Energy wants to build new renewable energy, use it to produce hydrogen, and then store it in a network of underground salt caverns for use when renewables can’t meet power demand. Q Hydrogen meanwhile draws its electricity from a nearby hydroelectric plant, and aims to sell its clean fuel to industrial users that otherwise would rely on fossil fuels.
Read more about these hydrogen innovators at the Energy News Network.
— Kathryn Krawczyk
🛑 Coal exports on hold: The bridge collapse in Baltimore is blocking access to the U.S.’s second-largest port for coal exports and will likely disrupt the industry for at least six weeks. (E&E News)
♿ Are EVs really for everyone? Electric vehicle chargers are often inaccessible for people with disabilities, a growing problem as officials forecast millions more electric vehicles on roads in the coming years. (Mother Jones)
🚛 Rolling toward zero-emission trucks: The U.S. EPA announces a new rule that aims to get more zero-emission heavy- and medium-duty trucks on the road by 2032, earning praise from environmental groups but concern from truck and engine manufacturers. (New York Times, NPR)
🏥 Efficiency saves lives: Appliance energy efficiency standards reduced emissions and prevented as many as 4,400 pollution-related deaths in 2017, researchers find, making a case for even stronger requirements. (Utility Dive)
⛵ Offshore wins: Over the past week, four developers bid to build offshore wind projects off the Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island coasts, and the federal Interior Department approved three large offshore wind farms. (CT Mirror, E&E News, Associated Press)
🏭 Passing on gas: As economic growth drives new electricity demand, utilities look to natural gas as a quick fix, but customers and clean energy advocates say the strategy lacks ambition and ignores the giant pool of federal money currently available for cleaner alternatives. (Grist/WABE)
🌱 Greenhouse effect: Indoor farming offers producers steady growing conditions amid increasingly unpredictable weather, but their energy consumption represents a potential threat that could worsen climate change. (Washington Post)
👀 Eyes on state climate policy: A new searchable database aims to reveal how lobbying is derailing climate policy in 17 state legislatures. (Inside Climate News)
🗑️ Trash’s emissions impact: Landfills release an average of three times more methane than they report to federal regulators, a study of 1,200 landfills across the country finds. (New York Times)
This article originally appeared on Planet Detroit
While being a stay-at-home mom, Deana Neely had an idea. She began researching federal contracts and saw that Black women-owned businesses could win contracts and subcontract to other firms.
She also noticed that properties were being purchased all over Detroit. She felt that Black Detroiters needed a bigger stake in the contract work being performed amid the city’s development boom.
So Neely studied to get her electrical contractor’s license and founded Detroit Voltage, a Detroit-based Black-owned company that provides electrical contracting services for residential, commercial and government projects.
“It took me months. But after I got that first contract, my phone literally never stopped ringing,” Neely said. “Within my first six months of operating, we generated over six figures in revenue [and] became like the go-to electrical contractor in the city.”
Initially, Neely said she was not forthcoming about being a Black woman-owned business.
“It is very much so a white male-dominated industry, and I didn’t want anyone to know that I owned the company. And so everything about it looked like a white male owned it,” Neely said.
But, when she participated in a Google small business accelerator, the leaders of Google’s program encouraged her to bring her face to the forefront, a move that paid dividends later.
The U.S. construction industry remains largely white and male-dominated. Only 10.6% of construction managers in the U.S. are women, and only 4.8% are Black, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as of January 2024.
Despite the sector’s homogeneity, Neely is inspiring other people of color to enter the skilled trades with a focus on sustainability.
Today, Detroit Voltage is installing electric vehicle charging stations for DTE Energy in Detroit. And she’s also helping others enter the field.
In the Spring of 2022, Elevate, a national nonprofit based in Chicago, tapped Neely to help shape the Detroit Clean Energy Contractor Accelerator Program. The program trains contractors from underrepresented backgrounds to bring their businesses into the clean energy economy. The following year, Neely participated in the program’s first Detroit cohort.
“What we’re trying to do is build up a network of contractors that are located in Detroit,,” said Tim Skrotzki, Associate Director of partnerships at Elevate. “We want these contractors to look like and be from the community we’re working in. With Detroit being predominantly Black, 78%, we want contractors to reflect that.” Editor’s note: Skrotzki is an Advisory Council member for Planet Detroit
Beyond training workers in the space, the nonprofit seeks to get general contractors to understand clean energy technologies so that they can oversee such projects, he added.
Neely said the clean energy accelerator program has helped build a connected local ecosystem for contractors like her.
“It also opened our eyes to partnering to get the work done. So if we didn’t have the capacity to do it directly, we can work within the group to make it happen,” she said.
Detroit Voltage was contracted to install EV charging stations across the city on behalf of DTE Energy. Neely said that the two began working together last April, and Detroit Voltage had installed about 100 EV charging stations on behalf of DTE. Neely first connected with the utility giant through its Bright Ideas for Neighborhoods Business pitch competition, during which small local businesses compete for a cash prize. Neely won $5,000 at the competition.
Detroit Voltage was installing EV chargers prior to participating in Elevate’s accelerator, but the program introduced Neely to other possible services beyond EVs. For example, Neely said she plans to implement battery backup preventative maintenance sometime in the near future, such as inspections, testing, and upkeep of battery backup systems.
“We have a very positive working relationship with Detroit Voltage. They are a DTE-certified electrician who takes part in our Home EV Charger Installation program,” Ryan R. Lowry, spokesperson for DTE told Planet Detroit.
Before launching Detroit Voltage in April 2016, Neely spent more than a decade working for the Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department. There, she met her now ex-husband and went on to have two children.
Similarly, Neely said she has tried to spread the word to young people in youth and professional organizations about opportunities in the industry.
“Everywhere you go there’s construction happening, ” Neely said. “Once you have this skill, you can go anywhere in the world and thrive with just the skill alone.”
Minnesota is home to a growing number of networked geothermal systems — essentially massive ground-source heat pumps providing low-emissions heating and cooling to a group of buildings.
Now, state legislators have introduced bills that aim to support further adoption of the technology, which advocates say is a key tool for cutting emissions in the building sector, especially in cold-weather states.
The legislation builds on what’s already happening in the state. Thermal energy networks have been installed in Rochester’s city hall and will be extended to a library and civic center to create a system serving more than one million square feet. Carleton College built a networked geothermal system and The Heights, a development on St. Paul’s East Side where more than 1,000 people will live and another 1,000 will work, will be heated and cooled by a networked thermal system.
“There’s a lot of excitement building around networked geothermal,” said Luke Gaalswyk, president and CEO of St. Paul-based Ever-Green Energy, a utility system operator and advisor with an expertise in district energy.
The state’s two major gas utilities, Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy, included networked geothermal pilots in plans submitted under the Natural Gas Innovation Act to the Public Utilities Commission. At least one legislative initiative calls for devoting 15% of the Innovation Act budget to networked geothermal. The federal government has several initiatives underway, too.
Joe Dammel, managing director for buildings at policy nonprofit Fresh Energy, said the state’s goal of becoming net zero by 2050 means shifting away from natural gas for heating.
“We think that there’s tremendous potential from network geothermal,” he said. “The studies being considered and the number of bills at the Legislature right now are only going to help us understand the technical and economic potential of geothermal.”
Fresh Energy also publishes the Energy News Network.
The proposed laws encourage geothermal in a variety of ways. One (HF 4759/SF 4849) offers planning grants to cities, counties and planning agencies to examine the feasibility of geothermal systems. A second (HF 4689/SF 4686) creates rebates related to geothermal. A third (HF 4688/SF 4687) requires the Public Utilities Commission to set up a workgroup. A fourth (HF 4423 / SF 4760) builds a framework for thermal energy network pilots and instructs the Commerce Department to study the potential for geothermal networks in Minnesota.
State Rep. Larry Kraft, a co-author on several of the bills, said buildings in Minnesota represent around 40% of carbon emissions and more than 60% in his suburban community of St. Louis Park. He believes municipalities that receive grants for geothermal and build systems will demonstrate, by example, the technology’s ability to decarbonize heating.
Kraft said ground-source systems, while expensive, are more efficient at heating than air source heat pumps. New developments may be easier to build with geothermal energy, or when streets are being reconstructed, neighborhoods could be retrofitted for it.
He imagines utilities that distribute natural gas will move to operating geothermal networks someday.
“How we decarbonize heating is going to be a big challenge for us here in a cold climate, but geothermal has great potential,” Kraft said.
Geothermal of any sort, however, remains expensive because the most common application, ground-source systems, requires drilling hundreds of boreholes and installing significant amounts of piping. There aren’t many contractors who can do this job, and financing institutions have little familiarity with it. Utilities may remain skittish because it threatens the natural gas business model.
Advocates believe more adoption will drop costs, create a robust contractor pool and enable more financing. Minnesota’s new Climate Innovation Finance Authority appears poised to be a potential financing source, having just provided $4.7 million for planning a networked geothermal for The Heights development in St. Paul.
Networked geothermal systems serve several buildings or homes with centralized heat or cooling using the same principle as district energy systems. A central heating and cooling source — typically borefields or aquifers — to serve many buildings while employing economies of scale to decrease costs through shared infrastructure.
Trade unions view networked geothermal as increasing employment opportunities for pipefitters and other contractors. Gas utilities could potentially transition toward geothermal as fossil fuel demand diminishes, Dammel said.
Clean energy advocates meanwhile like geothermal’s efficiency and ability to operate on electricity for heating instead of natural gas or propane. Lawmakers see thermal systems as providing a path to meeting the state’s goal of being net zero by 2050, Kraft added.
The Inflation Reduction Act incentivizes thermal networks by offering tax credits and direct reimbursements to government agencies and nonprofits.
“The [IRA] is contributing to an explosion in interest and adoption of geothermal,” said Ryan Dougherty, president of the Geothermal Exchange Organization.
Schools and other nonprofits can now receive 30% to 50% of the installed cost of a geothermal system, Doughtery said. The surge in commercial and institutional installations has grown so significantly that the industry has begun to face a labor shortage.
For the electric grid, networked thermal systems could bring relief because they use substantially less electricity than competitive solutions. Ground source heat pumps operate more efficiently than air source heat pumps, which now outsell fossil gas furnaces. And although ground source heat pumps use electricity, they consume less energy than heating alternatives, Gaalswyk said.
Such systems could even tap sources such as waste heat from wastewater facilities or data centers to warm buildings, he said. Another benefit is the ability to shift heat on a sunny day from a south-facing building, for example, to a north-facing one needing it.
Audrey Schulman, co-founder and co-executive director of the nonprofit climate solutions incubator HEET, said utilities with networked geothermal can begin heating water a week before an expected cold snap to avoid stressing the system — for instance, taking advantage of excess electricity from wind farms.
“There’s a lot of different options available,” Schulman said.
Massachusetts has required utilities to direct a growing percentage of funding allotted for replacing natural gas piping to networked geothermal, Schulman said. The fastest way to move away from natural gas and toward geothermal, she argues, will be by maintaining the financial health of natural gas utilities.
Utilities would socialize the cost of the capital expenditures to networked geothermal and then potentially pay it off by charging customers for the operations and maintenance, depending on the size of their homes or businesses.
“No one’s quite figured out how the charges will be structured,” she said.
Dammel said natural gas utilities have a long history of innovation and changing their business models. Initially, they provided natural gas for streetlighting before transitioning to a delivery service for natural gas.
“We certainly see that gas utilities could play a significant role in providing heat to customers and maintaining that longstanding customer relationship gas utilities have with their customers,” Dammel said.
Dammel and Schulman say regulators, utilities and others will face inevitable challenges in moving thermal systems into the mainstream. One is getting utilities onboard. Schulman said one Massachusetts utility, Eversource, fully embraces networked geothermal as the future, while others have taken a wait-and-see approach.
Dammel said utilities and clients must learn through pilots the upfront costs of the systems and how they could save money over time. Helping state residents and lawmakers understand the potential for networked geothermal and how it could benefit communities will be another task, he said.
Developing a geothermal workforce remains critical to growth. Minnesota has existing tradespeople capable of building geothermal systems, but the potential to create a much bigger workforce remains, Dammel said.
“There’s a huge opportunity,” he said, not only for installers but for companies developing new geothermal technology, financing, design and other aspects of the business.
Schulman agrees. Contractors drilling boreholes for geothermal in Massachusetts have become “overtaxed” with all the projects underway. The adoption speed will increase once regulators, utilities, and customers see the advantages.
“I can’t imagine any reason a customer would not want lower heating and cooling bills,” she said.
Legislative committees have heard several of the geothermal bills. Minnesota’s legislative session ends May 20.
GEOTHERMAL: Texas is emerging as a hotspot for geothermal energy exploration, with scores of former oil industry workers and executives seeking to use their knowledge of geology, drilling, and extraction to tap into a new energy source. (Texas Tribune)
OFFSHORE WIND:
OIL & GAS:
PIPELINES: A Virginia couple who have fought the Mountain Valley Pipeline for a decade talk about the grief, fear, and anger of having to live next to the project for the last six years. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
POLITICS: A bill awaiting signature from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would ban offshore wind energy, relax natural gas pipeline rules, and eliminate most mentions of climate change from existing state laws. (Grist)
GRID: Texas’ grid operator says it underestimated how fast San Antonio would grow, leaving the region with transmission issues that “could lead to cascading outages” and put the statewide grid at risk. (San Antonio Express-News)
SOLAR:
OVERSIGHT: A bill awaiting signature by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp would extend the length of state utility regulators’ six-year terms by another two years. (Union Recorder)
TRANSPORTATION: Drivers of fuel-efficient and electric vehicles in Virginia say they are being penalized with higher vehicle registration fees. (WAVY)
INDUSTRY:
COMMENTARY: In a “reality check” on small nuclear reactors, a Virginia editor says the best site for one is likely at an existing nuclear power plant, but that it’s up to utilities and regulators — not the governor — to decide. (Cardinal News)
GEOTHERMAL: Geothermal power could help plug solar and wind power’s intermittency gaps, but experts say first scientists and developers need to unlock next-generation technologies that make it easier and cheaper to harness the earth’s heat. (Canary Media)
ALSO: Texas is emerging as a hotspot for geothermal energy exploration, with scores of former oil industry workers and executives seeking to use their knowledge of geology, drilling, and extraction to tap into a new energy source. (Texas Tribune)
CLEAN ENERGY:
CLIMATE:
OIL & GAS:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
STORAGE: The U.S. added 4,235 MW of new energy storage capacity in the last quarter of 2023, more than doubling additions in the previous quarter. (Utility Dive)
OFFSHORE WIND: New London, Connecticut, residents welcome federal incentives for offshore wind facilities, saying the first wave of wind workers are already boosting local businesses. (WTNH)
GRID: Grid operators want federal regulators to reject the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s proposed cold weather reliability standards for power plants, saying they will only lead to more costly reliability issues in the future. (Utility Dive)
OFFSHORE WIND: The Biden administration approves the 924 MW Sunrise wind project, slated to be built off Long Island, marking the administration’s seventh major wind project approval. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
UTILITIES: A New York state audit finds PSEG Long Island is inadequately managing the Long Island Power Authority, and that its deficient renewable energy and efficiency programs jeopardize its ability to meet state clean energy goals. (Newsday)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New Jersey’s governor signs into law a new $250 annual registration fee for electric vehicles to patch a projected downturn in gas tax revenues. (New Jersey Monitor)
GRID:
STORAGE: Maine is on track to meet its goal of installing 300 MW of energy storage capacity by 2025, according to a report from state regulators. (Utility Dive)
COAL: The bridge collapse in Baltimore is blocking access to the U.S.’s second-largest port for coal exports and will likely disrupt the industry for at least six weeks. (E&E News)
SOLAR: A New York state senator introduces a bill that would increase the tax credit for homeowners to install rooftop solar to $10,000. (Spectrum News)
CLIMATE: Massachusetts’ climate chief discusses the state’s progress on installing heat pumps, and how rising temperatures are already affecting farming and other industries. (Berkshire Eagle)
LITHIUM: A Maine scientist argues a proposed rule change is adequate to allow lithium mining in the state, but environmental and health groups argue more safety considerations are needed. (Maine Morning Star)
HYDROPOWER: A western New York board game maker is awarded low-cost hydropower to support a $6.5 million expansion. (Buffalo News)
COMMENTARY:
SOLAR: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice vetoes a bill that would have extended electric utilities’ ability to buy or build solar projects beyond 2025, calling the legislation a threat to the state’s coal industry. (Dominion Post)
ALSO:
STORAGE: A company seeking to build pumped-hydro energy storage on old coal mining sites received $81 million in federal funding last week to develop a project in Kentucky that could deliver 287 MW of power for up to 8 hours. (Canary Media)
OFFSHORE WIND: A coalition led by a climate-denial think tank files a lawsuit seeking to stop construction of a Virginia offshore wind project, under the guise of protecting endangered whales. (Public Radio East)
OIL & GAS:
PIPELINES: Virginia regulators fine the Mountain Valley Pipeline $34,000 for another round of environmental violations, including damaging a wetland and dumping blast debris into a stream. (Roanoke Times)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
NUCLEAR: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wants to explore the potential of small nuclear reactors to provide on-demand power to the state’s grid. (Texas Tribune)
COAL:
COMMENTARY: A former South Carolina utility regulator says he resigned this month to speak out about pending legislation that would drastically change oversight of investor-owned utilities by green-lighting a proposed natural gas plant despite many unanswered questions. (Post and Courier)
COAL: New Hampshire’s Granite Shore Power will shut down its last coal-fired power plants in 2025 and 2028, replacing them with solar, battery storage, and other clean energy and marking the end of coal in New England. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
OFFSHORE WIND:
UTILITIES: Hundreds of Massachusetts residents say they’ve unknowingly or mistakenly signed up to receive power from a competitive energy supplier after being promised rate savings, only to receive shockingly high bills months later. (Boston Globe/WBUR)
TRANSPORTATION: The New York City MTA board grants final approval to a congestion pricing plan aimed at curbing emissions and encouraging public transit use. (Gothamist)
SOLAR:
BIOFUEL: A $91 million contract to supply New York City’s heavy-duty vehicles with renewable diesel went to a company whose CEO has donated to the mayor’s campaign, despite never having secured more than a $7 million contract before, and other questionable business practices. (The City)
BUILDINGS: Amherst, Massachusetts, breaks ground on a new elementary school that will be equipped with heat pumps, solar panels and efficiency measures, making it the town’s first net-zero building. (Amherst Indy)
COMMENTARY: A Maine bill would give regulators the power to make sure utility profits line up with their performance and alignment with renewable power goals, a clean energy advocate writes. (National Resources Council of Maine)
CLEAN ENERGY: A new report ranks Illinois best in the country for state policy that supports community ownership of clean energy, while most states earn failing grades. (Canary Media)
PIPELINES:
COAL: A federal judge criticizes Ameren for drawn-out legal proceedings involving remedies for a Missouri coal plant that repeatedly violated the Clean Air Act. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
RENEWABLES:
OIL & GAS: An Ohio agency has investigated 26 oil and gas incidents over the past five years in a single county, and more than 1,500 incidents statewide over the same period. (Athens County Independent)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
BIOFUELS: Minnesota biofuel advocates are still waiting on the Biden administration’s analysis of which fuel stocks could capture lucrative tax credits to produce sustainable jet fuel. (Star Tribune)
EFFICIENCY: At a stop in Madison, Wisconsin, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and residents tout the benefits of energy efficiency and federal clean energy investments. (Wisconsin Examiner)
COMMENTARY: Former Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan abandons his populist brand as a spokesperson for big oil and gas companies that are opposed to halting liquefied natural gas exports, a Sierra Club leader writes. (Columbus Dispatch)
Two bills that would expand the public’s access to shared solar in Virginia are awaiting a signature from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Shared solar is a program in which solar developers allow people who may be unable to install solar panels on their property to pay a subscription fee to receive energy from their facility. The facilities must generate no more than five megawatts.
The program was created for Dominion Energy customers in 2022 to give property owners whose roofs are unsuitable to hold panels, or who reside on lots that don’t garner enough sunlight to produce electricity, the option of using renewable energy.
But the program was limited to just 150 megawatts of electricity and required a minimum bill charge to cover the costs for distribution and transmission services; low-income subscribers were exempt from paying.
As a result, two years since the program was created, only low-income subscribers have signed up for the program.
This year’s bills would increase the number of projects allowable under the shared solar program in Dominion territory, and also add measures that could lower the minimum charge. A separate bill would create a shared solar program in Appalachian Power Company territory throughout Southwest Virginia.
Del. Rip Sullivan, who carried this year’s bill to change the Dominion program, said the initial iteration of the shared solar program brought “ solar developers who were not in Virginia into Virginia,” which created job and improved access to renewable energy sources in the state. Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, carried the companion to Sullivan’s bill, and the measure to start Appalachian Power’s program.
In his 2022 energy plan, Youngkin called for removing barriers to smaller solar projects being spread throughout the grid, “including shared solar.”
“The Governor is closely reviewing the legislation and budget language sent to his desk,” Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez said. “As stated in the All-American, All-of-the-Above Energy Plan, he believes in commonsense energy policy, including flexibility in our laws and regulations to meet the accelerated energy demands of Virginians and foster innovative energy solutions.”
According to filings with Dominion’s regulators at the State Corporation Commission, Dominion’s shared solar program reached capacity in May of last year.
The commission is allowed to expand the program by an additional 50 megawatts, once determining at least 30% of them, or 45 megawatts, have been claimed by low-income customers. But a case with regulators to decide that expansion is still pending.
Originally, this year’s bills would have expanded the program to allow for far more megawatts equal to 10% of Dominion’s peak load, but they were scaled back, allowing the program to increase to 200 megawatts. There’s also an opportunity for an additional energy boost.
Once they determine that customers have subscribed to 90% of that 200 megawatts, the commission can expand the program by an additional 150 megawatts, according to the legislation, with up to half of that expansion serving low-income customers.
“Where we ended up, we view it as incremental progress to continuing to move the market forward,” said Charlie Coggeshall, mid-atlantic regional director of the Coalition for Community Solar Access, a group that advocates for shared solar use. “It was a lot of negotiating to find a place where we were comfortable. It says a lot that we achieved a major compromise.”
The other change the bill would bring to the Dominion program is language that orders the SCC to “calculate the benefits of shared solar to the electric grid and to the Commonwealth and deduct such benefits from other costs,” to determine the minimum bill.
As it stands now, the minimum bill — typically $55.10 — is necessary, Dominion says, to cover the cost of the grid’s distribution and transmission services to deliver electricity from the shared solar facilities that may be miles away from the user.
Without the minimum bill, the shared solar subscribers see reductions in their bill from using renewable energy while other customers pay to maintain the grid, the utility has argued.
But that typical $55.10 amount is a barrier to people subscribing to shared solar since it will negate any possible energy savings, said Southern Environmental Law Center staff attorney Josephus Allmond, unless affluent people have the means for it, which is “certainly not the majority of Virginians.”
The bill also includes language to conduct an analysis of other benefits, including the renewable energy credits, or RECs, that the solar project developers will have to give to Dominion, which must purchase them to meet renewable energy portfolio standards in the Virginia Clean Economy Act.
A report from CSSA released ahead of the session found that the utility and ratepayers could see savings from an expanded shared solar program, in part, by reducing the need to build new generation sources.
“Also, solar energy produces few externalities like cancer, pollution, climate change,” Surovell said. “All those benefits need to be calculated into reducing the minimum bill.”
Though the bill passed out of the legislature, some opposition came from some lawmakers, like Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, who argued the new minimum bill calculation is “still shifting to the rate base benefits that are just impossible to quantify,” such as climate change.
Katharine Bond, Dominion vice president for public policy & state affairs, said in testimony on earlier versions of the bill the utility had a concern over seeing the projects in the first trench of the program getting completed before expanding it. But in a Feb. 9 Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, Bond stated the utility’s support for the bill, noting that the bill had language stating the SCC will determine shared solar participants ”pay their fare share and minimize the cost shift to non-participating customers.”
A workgroup to determine the amount and form of incentives for shared solar projects that can be built on rooftops, or on previously disturbed lands like former coal mines called brownfields is another provision that emerged this session. Bills separate from Sullivan and Surovell’s that would expand those incentives are now awaiting signature from the governor.
“We think these small projects are just what we should be looking at more to preserve prime farmland and forestland,” said Allmond in committee testimony.
The separate bill from Surovell creates an entirely new program for Appalachian Power Company with a cap of 50 megawatts.
Peter Anderson, director of state energy policy at the environmental nonprofit Appalachian Voices, echoed sentiments similar to Coggeshall in response to the bill’s passage.
“People in Southwest Virginia have already waited too long for access to shared solar, and the establishment of a program will provide proof of concept and something to build on,” Anderson said.
There will be a minimum bill in the Appalachian Power program, the amount of which the SCC will have to determine as it does with the Dominion program ,while including the new calculations. But one difference with the APCo program is that low-income customers are not exempt from that cost and will instead receive a 10% discount.
“We would have preferred a larger program and a minimum bill exemption in the new APCo program to really signal that every Virginian can benefit from these smaller, distributed solar facilities,” Anderson said. His group is aware of a number of APCo customers who are interested in the program, he said, as well as at least one nonprofit that will consider a subscription and local governments who have spoken up about the program.
Without the low-income exemption, Coggeshall said, “it just places all pressure on the minimum bill proceeding” to determine if subscribing is a viable option for participants, but his group is still excited by the progress.
Appalachian Power is “pleased” with the bill, utility spokeswoman Teresa Hall stated, adding the cost shifting was a concern for the company.
“The minimum bill is critical to ensure that shared solar participants pay for their share of the grid, so that these costs aren’t shifted to other ratepayers,” said Hall. “Ultimately, if the costs of clean energy initiatives aren’t fairly distributed we will not be able to achieve our goals.”
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
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