Tag Archives: Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)

SEIA Leads National Effort to Extend the ITC: Nearly 1,000 Solar Companies Rally Behind Proven, Bipartisan Investment Tax Credit

SEIA News Release

Nearly 1,000 companies from across the U.S. solar industry supply chain sent a letter to Congress calling for the extension of the Section 48 and Section 25D solar investment tax credits (ITC). The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is leading a national coalition to extend the ITC, one of the most successful clean energy tax policies ever created. The ITC was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress in the 2005 Energy Policy Act and enacted by George W. Bush. It was extended in 2015 with bipartisan support.

“If you want to show a commitment to addressing climate change, you extend the solar ITC,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “Supporting this proven policy is the first clear victory that lawmakers can deliver to Americans on climate change. As we debate long-term solutions, now is not the time to abandon the single most successful policy on the books to deploy clean energy in the near-term.” Read more here.

ADDITIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AND STORAGE NEWS

SOLAR SCHOOLS NEWS

GREEN TRANSPORTATION

FEATURED REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE RESOURCE

Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change: A Down-to-Earth Solution to Global Warming, Rodale Institute White Paper

MORE ON TRI-STATE 

Tri-State announces ‘transformative’ plan to provide cleaner, cheaper power, Utility Dive

Cost of Rooftop Solar Power Set for Another Steep Plunge

Written by Tina Casey, Triple Pundit

Rooftop solar arrays can be a valuable asset for businesses seeking clean power, and new financing tools make it easier than ever to avoid up-front costs. However, the process of buying a rooftop solar array can still be intimidating. It is not unusual for solar customers to lose interest after their project gets bogged down by long processing times for permits, inspections and grid connections. That’s about to change, if the new “SolarApp” program goes according to plan. Continue reading here.

About Tina Casey

Tina writes frequently for TriplePundit and other websites, with a focus on military, government and corporate sustainability, clean tech research and emerging energy technologies. She is a former Deputy Director of Public Affairs of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and author of books and articles on recycling and other conservation themes. She is currently Deputy Director of Public Information for the County of Union, New Jersey.

Read more stories by Tina Casey.

Image credit: Biel Morro/Unsplash

U.S. Solar Market Sees Best Q1 in History

SEIA News Release

BOSTON, Mass. AND WASHINGTON D.C., (June 18, 2019) – In the first three months of the year, the U.S. installed 2.7 gigawatts of solar photovoltaics (PV), making it the most solar ever installed in the first quarter of a year. With the strong first quarter, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables forecasts 25% growth in 2019 compared to 2018, and it expects more than 13 GWdc of installations this year.

This data comes from the new U.S. Solar Market Insight Report from Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), whom together announced in May that the U.S. hit the 2 million solar installation milestone during the first quarter of 2019. Read more here.

Additional Recommended Reading
The Sunshine State finally delivers on its name, by Christian Roselund, PV Magazine 

OPPD sells out of shares for Community Solar program

By Sydnie Holzfaster, Fox42

In less than two months OPPD sold out of their shares to provide renewable energy to their customers through the Community Solar program. Sunday the environmental group Green Bellevue welcomed Cliff Mesner of Mesner Development Company and Tricia McKnight from OPPD to talk about community solar programs across Nebraska. McKnight said OPPD sold over 8,400 shares for renewable energy. The program will pull solar energy from OPPD future solar farm in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska later this year . . . Don Preister, Bellevue city councilman for the fifth ward, said the concept of a solar share program isn’t new. He has been working to bring a solar share program to Bellevue for the last eight years. Read more here.

To be placed on OPPD’s community solar waiting list, call customer care at 402-536-4131.

Bellevue’s Proposed Landfill Solar Project – Previously Posted 

Given the dramatic decrease in solar energy’s costs over the past several years since Bellevue’s landfill solar project was first proposed, it would be good to see an up-to-date analysis of the project’s levelized costs through a twenty-year power purchase agreement.

About Power Purchase Agreements

  • Solar Power Purchase Agreements, Solar Energy Industries Association 
    A solar power purchase agreement (PPA) is a financial agreement where a developer arranges for the design, permitting, financing and installation of a solar energy system on a customer’s property at little to no cost. 
  • Power purchase agreements, by Jason Kuiper, The Wire, OPPD Blog
    Currently, OPPD utilizes PPAs for the output of five wind farms: Grande Prairie, Prairie Breeze, Flatware, Petersburg, as well as Sholes, which is under construction. Also, OPPD has signed power sales agreements with NPPD for the partial output of five other wind farms. Those farms are Ainsworth, Broken Bow 1, Broken Bow 2, Crofton Bluffs and Elkhorn Ridge. The normal term of OPPD’s PPAs is 20 years. The new community solar project near Fort Calhoun is under a PPA, with NextEra Energy Resources.

About N-Solar

 

 

 

Sol Systems News Release
With a long history of serving Nebraska communities, Mesner Development assembled a team of solar energy experts, including GenPro Energy Solutions for site development and construction and Sol Systems for project development and power purchase agreements. To date, the companies comprising N-Solar have developed, constructed, or financed a combined 17.6 megawatts of solar electric generating capacity across Nebraska.

Top Photo by N-Solar: Central City’s 499-kW Municipal Solar System

NPPD’s SunWise Community Solar

Request Community Solar: If you are an NPPD customer and would like to request community solar for your community, click here to submit the SunWise Community Solar Interest Form.

SEIA Adds Storage, Manufacturing Divisions as Part of Planning for the Solar+ Decade

SEIA News Release

“These changes in our structure emphasize the massive overhaul the electricity system is undergoing,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO. “Adding board seats for storage companies and manufacturers and creating policy committees to advance solar plus storage and community solar will help us build toward the Solar+ Decade and achieve our ambitious goals.” Read more here.

Solar Industry Lays Claim to the 2020s; Kicks Off the Solar+ Decade

SEIA News Release

As this decade nears a close, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has designated the next decade The Solar+ Decade. Constituting 2.5 percent of the nation’s electricity generation today, solar will account for 20 percent of all electricity generation by 2030, under SEIA’s aggressive target. To chart the industry’s course, SEIA is producing a roadmap to the Solar+ Decade that will lay out the policy, social, environmental and economic elements that will need to be in place to make solar a leading source of new power generation in the 2020s. Read more here.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

  • AWEA’s Amy Farrell gives remarks at Politico’s Reinventing American Energy event, Into the Wind, AWEA Blog. Amy Farrell is AWEA’s Senior Vice President for Government & Public Affairs. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently ranked America’s power grid infrastructure an unacceptable “D+.” This neglect doesn’t position the U.S. to succeed in the competitive global economy. And we are asking more than ever from our outdated system.
  • Iowa Governor To Lead Midwestern Governors Association With Focus On Transmission, North American Windpower
  • A Regional Perspective: A unified voice for Midwestern Governors, Governor Kim Reynolds
    As Chair of the MGA for 2019, I look forward to working with my fellow Midwestern governors to create a more secure and modern electric grid in the Midwest by convening a diverse group of regional stakeholders to establish a long-term transmission grid vision for the Midwest.
  • Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds: 2019 Chair’s Agenda
    Governor Reynold’s agenda will focus on creating a more secure and modern electric grid in the Midwest. The effort was initiated because of the promise, and the related problems, in delivering more energy from source to load (i.e., energy consumers) in the region. Under Governor Reynolds, the association will bring together the energy policy and utility regulatory staffs, as well as, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and stakeholders, to establish a long-term transmission grid vision for the region.
  • Wind Solar Alliance’s Grid Campaign
    A main focus of A Renewable America is the Grid Campaign, which works on accelerating deployment of renewable energy by shaping market rules, utility procurements, and transmission planning. In PJM and MISO, we are working with industry leaders and other experts to develop an advocacy agenda on market rules that will increase the pace of wind and solar deployment by properly valuing the many benefits that wind, solar, and storage provide to the grid.

SPP’S INTEGRATED TRANSMISSION PLAN & NEBRASKA’S R-PROJECT

Nebraska’s R-Project Overview, Nebraska Public Power District
NPPD plans to construct a 345,000-volt transmission line from NPPD’s Gerald Gentleman Station near Sutherland to NPPD’s existing substation east of Thedford. The new line will then proceed east and connect to a second substation to be sited in Holt County. NPPD is a member of the Southwest Power Pool, a regional transmission organization. The SPP conducted a study, also known as the Integrated Transmission Plan, to assess the needs of the entire transmission network with the SPP region over the next 10 years. The R-Project is one of numerous projects to come out of that study. If NPPD did not build the R-Project, the SPP would find another entity to do so.

United States Surpasses 2 Million Solar Installations

SEIA News Release

The U.S. is now home to more than 2 million solar PV installations, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced today. The mark comes just three years after the industry completed its 1 millionth installation, a feat that took 40 years to accomplish.

“The rapid growth in the solar industry has completely reshaped the energy conversation in this country,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA president and CEO. “This $17 billion industry is on track to double again in five years, and we believe that the 2020s will be the decade that solar becomes the dominant new form of energy generation.” Read the entire news release here.

New SEIA Fact Sheet: Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC)

Solar ITC 101: What is the Solar Investment Tax Credit?

The solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is one of the most important federal policy mechanisms to support the growth of solar energy in the United States. Since the ITC was enacted in 2006, the U.S. solar industry has grown by more than 8,600% – creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and investing billions of dollars in the U.S. economy in the process. In 2015, SEIA successfully advocated for a multi-year extension of the credit, which has provided critical stability for businesses and investors. Despite the overwhelming success and popularity of the ITC, the value of the credit will unfortunately start decreasing after 2019. Read more here.

What happens when schools go solar?

Stanford Earth Matters Magazine, Stanford University

Sunshine splashing onto school rooftops and campuses across the country is an under-tapped resource that could help shrink electricity bills, new research suggests. The study, published in the April issue of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters, shows taking advantage of all viable space for solar panels could allow schools to meet up to 75 percent of their electricity needs and reduce the education sector’s carbon footprint by as much as 28 percent. According to the study, it’s not economically viable for educational institutions to purchase rooftop solar systems outright in any state. Rather, the projects can make financial sense for schools if they contract a company to install, own and operate the system and sell electricity to the school at a set rate. Read more here.

Photo: Colorado Chatfield High School teacher Joel Bertelsen explains the fundamentals of a photovoltaic array to his Intro to Engineering Students. Credit: Dennis Schroeder / NREL

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Solar Energy Industries Association Fact Sheet: What is a solar power purchase agreement?

A solar power purchase agreement (PPA) is a financial agreement where a developer arranges for the design, permitting, financing and installation of a solar energy system on a customer’s property at little to no cost.

The developer sells the power generated to the host customer at a fixed rate that is typically lower than the local utility’s retail rate. This lower electricity price serves to offset the customer’s purchase of electricity from the grid while the developer receives the income from these sales of electricity as well as any tax credits and other incentives generated from the system.

PPAs typically range from 10 to 25 years and the developer remains responsible for the operation and maintenance of the system for the duration of the agreement. At the end of the PPA contract term, a customer may be able to extend the PPA, have the developer remove the system or choose to buy the solar energy system from the developer.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Resource
Solar Schools Assessment and Implementation Project: Financing Options for Solar Installations on K–12 Schools

A Market-Driven Green New Deal? We’d Be Unstoppable

In this New York Times op-ed, RMI’s Amory Lovins and Rushad Nanavatty explain why any serious energy transformation will need to harness America’s powerful and creative economic engine. Read the op-ed here.

ALSO INCLUDED IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE’S LATEST E-NEWSLETTER

  • How Community-Scale Solar Can Change Our Energy System
    While both residential solar and utility-scale solar play a large role in a renewable future, there’s also a sweet spot in between those two. Community-scale solar—midsize solar arrays connected to the distribution grid—has huge potential to reach millions of US customers.
  • How Global Cities Are Going Green
    More US cities are looking for ways to cut emissions and develop resiliency plans. Curbed spoke with RMI and other energy and environmental leaders to get their take on global city climate policies that are progressive, practical, and—most importantly—working. 

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING