"SOLAR Act" would ensure fair treatment of solar energy system owners

[IChing]

As more US consumers turn to solar power during the current energy crisis,
US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Reps. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
and Michael Ferguson (R-NJ) today introduced legislation that would affirm
the right of American consumers to install solar systems on their roofs and
receive fair treatment as energy producers

The "Solar Opportunity and Local Access Rights Act" (SOLAR) would establish
national standards for the interconnection and net metering of solar energy systems,
based on the most progressive state standards to date.
The legislation would require utilities to credit their customers at retail electric rates
for supplying excess solar power to the grid. The bill would also establish that
ownership of renewable energy credits (RECs) resides with the solar system owner for
purposes of selling or trading to meet a state or federal renewable portfolio standard.

The SOLAR Act would protect solar consumers from restrictive covenants
that block the siting of solar systems on a roof - similar to the current
legislative treatment of satellite dishes. The bill would also help shield
prospective system buyers from exorbitant permitting and licensing fees.

>>>>snip http://gosunsolutions.com/home/content/view/38/2/

[MADem]

1. YES!!!!!! !!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is good news!! NT

[IChing]

3. The SOLAR Act contains the following provisions:

Net Metering: Requires utilities, within 1 year of the date of enactment, to provide net metering for customer-owned solar power systems up to 2 MW in size at retail electric rates. Ownership of renewable energy credits (RECs) resides with the solar system owner for purposes of selling or trading to meet a state or federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS)

Interconnection: Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, within 1 year of the date of enactment, to publish model standards for physical connection between the electric grid and customer-owned solar systems up to 20 MW in size. The model standards shall have separate expedited procedures for systems under 15 kW and for systems between 15 kW and 2 MW.

Solar Siting Rights: Instructs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to issue regulations within 180 days of the law's enactment that 1) prohibit any private covenant, contract provision, lease provision, homeowners' association rule or bylaw, or similar restriction that impairs homeowners' ability to install and use a solar energy system and 2) expedite the approval, where such approval is required, of applications to install systems.

Cap on Permitting and Licensing Fees: Requires that permitting and licensing fee costs are $500 or less for residential installations, and $10,000 or less for commercial installations.

[jpak]

2. Long overdue - there are still states that have no net metering laws/regs

http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/resources/maps/netmetering_map.shtml

This bill will knock down many of remaining the institutional roadblocks for homeowners who want to install grid-tied PV systems...

[Courtesy Flush]

4. Question about the utility company

If an electric customer shuts off his main breaker, and uses no electricity for a month, the utility company will still send him a bill, since they have a minimum charge, whether you use any electricity or not.

So if you go solar, and you manage to generate enough electricity to negate your bill, would you still owe the minimum fee? Seems that over time this fee could kill the feasibility of the whole project.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. Not in CA on a grid tied system

Normally you make more energy in some months than others. They take it over a year. Sometimes you have a credit, other times a charge, but they balance it at the end of a year and reset it for the next year. You can end up with zero bill, but they will never have to pay you.

[oldhippie]

6. Remember........

Remember that the utility company still has to make some sort of a return on it's investment of stringing wires and poles from their plants and grid out to your solar system. If they don't make a return, they wouldn't bother to install, or to maintain those already installed. So if you sell them as much electricity at net metering as you buy, they make no return on their furnishing electricity and infrastructure. They will need to start charging a "transport" fee of some sort for their service of moving the electricity to/from your house.

There's no free lunch, even if the legislation makes it look like it.

[Javaman]

7. The future is going to be very interesting...

I'm glad to hear they did this.

I wrote an editorial about something along these lines a while back, here it is:

Javaman (1000+ posts) Fri Aug-25-06 04:38 PM
Original message
Peak oil and states rights...

I have been pondering the various potential out comes of a post peak oil era.

One thing that occurred to me was the idea or concept of states rights.

Going back in our history, our civil war was fought for many reasons, the obvious one was over slavery, however, the slavery issue was prompted by a cry from the southern states regarding their own states rights and who gets to decide or enforce them. They were angry that the federal government, in flexing it's muscles, were treading over these rights. Prior to the civil war, individual states looked upon themselves almost as the various European nations looked upon themselves prior to the formation of the EU. Individual state nations that were part of a larger organizations. After the civil war, that debate was ended and a true united states was born. Where upon, states rights no longer superseded the will of federal law, but was in fact now reversed.

Much of this resentment lasted many many years well up into the 20th century. Huge sections of the U.S., mostly the hard to reach areas, still looked upon the north and the federal government in general with resentment and would still not recognize federal law.

These still areas were brought under "control", if you will, via rural electrification. Once you can bill, track a person and their various power needs, they suddenly become easier to control, follow and check up upon. And the person receiving the electricity, now has one thing less to complain about. Thus pacifying another section of the U.S.

That is going to change.

When we are beyond peak oil and the price of a barrel of oil no longer becomes cost effective for the average person to use in its various broken down components, the rise of the local power authorities offering alternative methods to heat and power their homes will take hold.

No longer will the traditional power grid be the norm for the nation. As different parts of the country use various types of alt fuel and power suited to their regions, the federal control of the nations power resources will diminish.

Coastal communities will look to biomass, wave and wind power, central regions, to wind, solar and perhaps a form of ethanol. The list goes on and on, but the picture becomes clear that there will be no one type of power generating source, such as oil and natural gas were, to keep the nation humming.

Now what does this have to do with states rights?

Given the fact that many of the states in this nation have large areas of land to which they can exploit for various power generating means, there will be many questions raised regarding those smaller states that do not have that ability.

Many of the larger states also have huge populations and the various governors of these states will think of their states needs before they think of what is good for the nation. Hence the question of states rights, especially when the federal government begins trying to federalize these various energy producing sources. Or at least try to engineer it so only a few of the wealthy control the vast alt energy resources, thus holding leverage over the many who don't.

Unlike oil, many alt energy resources are available to anyone who has the means to exploit them. As a result, will a future situation arise where it become illegal for the private person to install solar panels on their homes with out federal or state approval? Will laws be enacted that keeps people from freely using what nature has provided us? wind and solar power?

In steps the states.

Will the states that have these large areas suddenly not only share it's additional energy with other states but also ignore the federal governments laws when they feel their rights to their state born resources are infringed upon?

Will the once again lead to the question of who owns that energy that is generated by the alt means? And will that in turn lead to a bigger issue of how far into the states will the federal government reach in order to control the populous via energy distribution?

As the smaller states band together to form various energy agreements and the larger states become their own energy providers, where does this leave the federal government in this new found energy landscape?

Will the Federal government force the states into an agreement under the lofty statement that this is policy to maintain the good of the nation? Or will it us force to keep various states in line? Or a combination of the two?

Will, as many sci-fi writers have proposed, many of the western states simply ignore a weak federal government, itself strapped for and in need of a new form of energy, form their own break away nation or federation based upon their ability to be self sufficient of Washington's needs and wants?

I have proposed a lot of scenarios and some possibly outrageous situations, however, we must, as a nation, come to realize that we are, we have become, we exist because of oil.

Our future as a country, if we wish to maintain it as a union, must be based upon cooperation between states. Unless some sound energy policy is presented within the next 5 years, the little baby elephant that sits in the corner looking all cute, will grow into an adult male bull and will seek out a way to leave the house and go out on it's own. It will be very hard to control it at that point.

Our nation will not only be presented with an energy emergency of a proportion I can hardly imagine, but the political fall out as a result will be just as devastating.