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Follow on Google News | Is Your Utility Ready? New Report Says Local Solar Could Power 10% of Country in 10 YearsBy 2022, more than 35 million buildings may be generating their own solar electricity (without subsidies) at prices lower than their utility offers, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
By: Institute for Local Self-Reliance That’s the powerful headline from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’ Read the report, see the interactive map and more: http://www.ilsr.org/ In Minnesota, for example, the state’s largest utility expects just 20 megawatts of new solar power in the next 13 years, according to its draft filing with the Public Utility Commission. But within 10 years, says report author John Farrell, director of ILSR’s Democratic Energy program, “unsubsidized solar electricity will be so inexpensive that 200 times more solar (over 4,000 megawatts) could be installed on the rooftops of Minnesota homes and businesses, providing lower cost electricity than from the utility.” That’s just one wake up call, among many, in Commercial Rooftop Revolution. A solar revolution that has been largely confined to states with generous sunshine (California) Many utilities and state regulatory commissions are finding the value in solar and realizing that perceived barriers aren’t as large as they had feared. Austin Energy, a Texas municipal utility, now pays a non-subsidy premium for solar because it helps them offset expensive peak power purchases. In Hawaii, regulators have amended archaic limits to match renewable technology. California grid legislators increased the amount of solar allowed to use net metering to offset on-site electricity use. And Colorado and Vermont have capped costs and streamlined solar permitting. With a solar market driven by cheaper-than- With the cost of solar falling rapidly and local solar challenging utility prices nationwide, ILSR’s report suggests that utilities will need to accommodate a grassroots movement toward local, affordable energy generation. “There will be more change in the next 10 years than utilities have faced in the last 100,” remarked Farrell. “And they had best get ready.” Read the report, see the interactive map and more: http://www.ilsr.org/ End
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