301 Moved Permanently

---

nginx

Post-Patrick: What’s Next For Mass. Solar?

When it comes to solar advocacy, Massachusetts’ next chief executive will likely have big shoes to fill. That’s because Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., is term-limited and, therefore, cannot seek re-election on Nov. 4.

While the gubernatorial candidates - Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Charles Baker - have said the right things about renewable energy, the next governor is unlikely to match their predecessor’s zeal for renewable energy, particularly solar. Patrick is credited for the state’s market-leading solar status.

With 580 MW of solar installed capacity, Massachusetts ranks fifth in the U.S. The growth is even more impressive considering the solar industry was barely existent when Patrick took office: In 2007, the commonwealth had about 3.7 MW of solar installed capacity.

However, with the help of several state programs - such as the Green Communities Act, which helped raise the renewable energy mandate under the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and net-energy metering tariff - the industry really took off.

By putting Massachusetts solar on the map, some laud Patrick as a rockstar.

“If James Brown was the godfather of soul, then Deval Patrick is the godfather of solar in Massachusetts,” quips Ken Johnson, spokesperson at the Solar Energies Industries Association (SEIA). “This remarkable growth is due, in no small part, to Patrick’s vision, persistence and leadership.”

Patrick also earned high praise from developers and installers.

“While no man is an island - and solar growth required the hard work of many in state government - Patrick is the number one reason the state’s solar industry is flourishing,” says Mark Durrenberger, president and founder at Hudson, Mass.-based installer New England Clean Energy. “Patrick has made Massachusetts a national clean energy leader.”

John Lamontagne, spokesperson at Boston-based renewable energy developer First Wind, agrees. “Gov. Patrick has been a tremendous advocate for solar power and has quarterbacked an explosion of growth here in Massachusetts,” he says.

Just the same, the state struggled to manage its growth - the first real signs that Massachusetts solar had become a victim of its own success.

For example, last summer lawmakers worked on a comprehensive bill (H.B.4185) that would have, among other things, formalized Patrick’s 1.6 GW of solar energy by 2020 goal and extend the net-metering cap. The net-metering credits (NMC) program had come very close to hitting its cap, which would have ended a useful financing mechanism for projects currently in development.

Although the bill failed to pass, the legislature did advance S.B.2214, a bill that extends the current net-metering cap on private projects to 4% of each applicable utility company’s highest historical peak load.

“[H.B.4185] was extremely controversial and rattled a lot of commercial-scale developers active in the commonwealth,” says Jennifer Simon Lento, an associate at Boston-based law firm Nixon Peabody. “The bill that passed is considered by most folks to be a pretty weak bill in that it simply extends the NMC cap.”

All in all, most contacted for the story suggest that history will look back favorably on Patrick’s solar legacy.

“Whoever replaces Patrick will have some big shoes to fill,” says SEIA’s Ken Johnson.

 

Waiting in the wings

Gubernatorial hopefuls Coakley and Baker have each stated that Massachusetts’ energy future depends on a strategic mix of fossil-based and renewable energy resources.

Coakley, for example, has stated that she intends to continue to push to meet or exceed the greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals set by the Green Communities Act, the Global Warming Solutions Act and the state’s 22.1% by 2025 RPS.

Baker, a Republican running in a Democratic stronghold, has been less forthright in his support of renewable energy and GHG reductions, according to Simon Lento, adding that he is more heavily focused on the impact that several fossil-fuel plant shutdowns have had on energy rates in the state.

“It’s interesting to note that I couldn’t find any environmental references on Baker’s website,” says New England Clean Energy’s Durrenberger.

With Patrick out of the governor’s mansion, industry advocates eagerly await how, or even if, his successor will carry out his solar legacy.

“Both candidates are fairly tepid on solar,” says a finance director at a major solar investment firm who wished not to be identified, adding that it remains a question if they will change or amend Patrick’s programs. “It is possible that terminating Patrick’s programs could entail the threat of a takings lawsuit by parties who feel the value of their solar systems had been diminished by a new administration.”

Just the same, says the source, it is possible that Patrick’s successor may simply stay the course.

Whomever prevails, Durrenberger would like to reframe the debate around solar’s true value - meaning the monetary value of peak load shedding, improved grid stability, increased fuel diversification and reduced healthcare costs from improved air quality should be factored into future discussions.

“The administration is behind on establishing the true value of solar to solar owners, to utilities and to society,” Durrenberger says. “They’ve been letting the utilities run the show in this area. Other states are ahead of us on calculating the true value of solar and using those calculations to guide the next generation of solar policies.”

Nonetheless, the industry awaits Massachusetts’ next leader, solar champion or otherwise.

“Our hope,” says SEIA spokesperson Johnson, “is to develop a similar working relationship with the state’s next governor - given solar’s growing importance to both the economy and environment.” - Mark Del Franco

 

Minnesota Green-Lights Xcel Community Solar

As expected, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved Xcel Energy’s Community Solar Garden (CSG) program, with some minor modifications.

Sara Bergan, an energy law attorney in the Minneapolis office of Stoel Rives LLP, says the decision clarified a few issues defining CSG sites and who qualifies as a potential subscriber. In short, the decision is what everybody has been waiting for.

“The most significant thing about the decision is that it starts the clock for when the program has to open,” Bergan says. “There’s a lot of development waiting for the gate to open.”

One aspect of the CSG approval process that could have wider significance for solar rate design is that it was the first program in the PUC’s jurisdiction where a value of solar (VOS) tariff might have applied. In August, the PUC ultimately declined to use the VOS rate, which it has approved in principle last March.

A VOS methodology is intended to capture the societal value of PV-generated electricity that advocates say utilities generally ignore when crafting solar tariffs.

“The reason we have the applicable retail rate and not the value of solar is that there is still work to do,” Bergan says. “They are trying to figure out what it means to make the program financeable and for whom.”

Andrew Moratzka, a partner at Stoel Rives’ energy development group, says the PUC and stakeholders are working on VOS issues on what is essentially a parallel track.

“More evidence of what the VOS rate needs to be financeable in the CSG context is being considered by the commission,” Moratzka says.

Xcel is expected to file its 2015 VOS calculation in early March. If and when the commission adopts the VOS, it will apply to the CSG program for all future applicants.

- Michael Puttré

 

BLM Proposes New Rule To Spur Solar

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed new regulations intended to promote the use of “designated leasing areas” for solar and wind energy development right-of-ways (ROWs) to spur such projects on public lands in the West.

The rule would establish competitive processes, terms and conditions - including rental and bonding requirements - for solar and wind projects both inside and outside the designated leasing areas, and provide incentives for leases in designated leasing areas. Existing regulations limit the competitive process to situations involving overlapping ROW applications.

The BLM’s action is a component of its Western Solar Energy Plan, an initiative to expand utility-scale solar energy production on public lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah by establishing Solar Energy Zones (SEZs) with access to existing or planned transmission and incentives for development in those zones.

There are currently 19 designated SEZs covering more than 298,000 acres of BLM-managed land. If fully developed, projects in the designated leasing areas could produce as much as 27 GW of solar capacity.

As part of his Climate Action Plan, President Barack Obama has instructed the DOI to issue permits for at least 20 GW of renewable energy on public lands by 2020. S