Tag Archives: net metering

Hastings couple making switch to solar power

Photo Credit: Hastings Tribune

Photo Credit: Hastings Tribune

By Tony Herman, Hastings Tribune

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Tim Smith will never look at a cloudy day the same way again after installing 30 solar panels on the roof of his workshop in north Hastings.

Tim and Pam Smith became the first Hastings Utilities customers to take advantage of LB 436, which allows participants to connect co-generation installations.

When the law was passed in 2009, its intent was to encourage private investment in renewable energy, stimulate economic growth and enhance diversification of energy resources in the state.

 Read more here.

NRG Energy sees shining future for solar

david-crane

David Crane

Recently Bill Loveless, writer for USA Today, interviewed David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy, the largest independent producer of electricity in our nation. NRG is aiming to “eventually becoming a strong rival” to Solar City, currently the industry leader in rooftop installations. Here is an excerpt from the article:

“I’m very bullish on the idea that within three to five years people will be able to go off the grid,” Crane said . . . He said he has “no time for the debate” over whether state policies promoting rooftop solar punish non-solar customers by leaving them with a greater share of a utility’s operating costs. One of those policies, known as “net metering,” requires utilities to compensate homeowners for solar power they generate but don’t use.

“What will happen is that when people can go all the way off the grid, the debate over whether net metering is fair to people who don’t have solar panels will become moot because people will have gone completely beyond the reach of the system,” he said.

Read the entire article here.