Written by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News
The Pay As You Save program puts energy efficiency projects within reach
for renters and lower-income customers.
Missouri utilities are studying a potential program that would let customers pay for energy efficiency projects through their monthly bills. Pay As You Save, or PAYS, has been primarily used by rural electric cooperatives, but it has supporters in Missouri and Iowa who think it could be a valuable tool to put energy efficiency upgrades within reach for more customers. A consultant recently analyzed the program’s potential for all three of Missouri’s investor-owned utilities. Continue reading here.
Photo Credit: Roy Manchester / Flickr: Countdown To My Electric Bill
CORPORATE RENEWABLE ENERGY BUYING
As corporate renewable buying surges, innovative PPAs pressure utilities to improve green tariffs, Utility Dive. Green tariff structures that
allow utilities to serve corporate demand for renewables within
regulatory rules continue to evolve slowly. But power purchase agreements between renewables developers and big energy users are adding innovative, risk-limiting financial strategies that make them
more appealing and challenge utilities to match the offers.
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING
- NIPSCO to add 800 MW wind in first steps to coal-free generation, Utility Dive. Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) finalized agreements on Friday with three renewables developers for a trio of wind projects capable of generating up to 800 MW, the first steps in its plan to stop delivering coal-fired power. NIPSCO filed an integrated resource plan (IRP) in October that lays out a route to be coal-free by 2028.
- Indiana NAACP leaders say coal plant timeline is unacceptable for residents, Midwest Energy News. A northwest Indiana utility made headlines in September when it announced it will retire its last coal plant within a decade. That’s not soon enough for the predominately African American community that bears the brunt of the plant’s pollution burden.
- Small hydropower providers are hoping it’s their time to shine as Colorado moves toward a renewables future, The Colorado Sun. My dream is to get to the world where hydropower is like rooftop solar,” said Kurt Johnson, a hydropower advocate who co-authored the Colorado Energy Office’s “2015 Small Hydropower Handbook.”
- Penn State University: Powered by the Sun, PR Newswire
Penn State, one of country’s largest and most prestigious research universities, makes significant investment in solar energy project with global solar leader Lightsource BP. - Energy Storage: Next Game Changer, Contributor, CleanTechnica
- News flash: Solar works in cold weather, Contributor, Solar Power World
U.S. SOLAR PANEL MANUFACTURING
SunPower officially producing P-Series at former SolarWorld factory in Oregon