Tag Archive for: cpuc

California energy experts generally agree that the state’s interconnection processes need a broad overhaul, since CAISO’s queues are overwhelmed with hundreds of requests every year

California’s ‘zonal’ approach could revamp clean energy planning, shrink interconnection queue: experts

California energy experts generally agree that the state’s interconnection processes need a broad overhaul, since CAISO’s queues are overwhelmed with hundreds of requests every year from potential developers. The latest window for applications was this April, and the system operator received a total of 546 applications, amounting to 354,000 MW of new resources.

While a previous proposal from CAISO called for 46 transmission projects estimated to cost $9.3 billion, the final version approved by the board of governors last week left out one project pending additional analysis. The vast majority of these projects will be built in California and each costs between $4 million and $2.3 billion, according to the ISO.

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Source: Utility Dive

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Environmental groups argue that the CPUC acted illegally when it slashed compensation payments for power generated by solar panels.

Environmentalists sue California over reduced solar incentives

The fate of California’s wildly successful rooftop solar incentives will be decided in court.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday — and shared exclusively with The Times — three environmental groups argue that the California Public Utilities Commission acted illegally when it slashed compensation payments for power generated by solar panels. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointees failed to consider all the benefits of rooftop solar, and also ignored instructions from the state Legislature to ensure that solar adoption “continues to grow sustainably,” the environmental groups say in their lawsuit.

They’ve asked the California Court of Appeals to throw out the Public Utilities Commission’s December decision and order the agency to go back to the drawing board.

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Source: Los Angeles Times

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Dozens of groups will tell the CPUP to revise the new rooftop solar plan to make solar more affordable for low-income communities.

More than 100 groups ask CPUC to delay NEM 3.0

California regulators should revise a new rooftop solar plan to make solar more affordable for low-income communities, dozens of groups will tell the California Public Utilities Commission at its meeting Thursday. The commission’s plan drastically slashes the credit new solar users would get for sharing their extra solar energy with the grid.

More than 100 groups are urging the commission to delay implementation of the plan until it can resolve issues raised in an administrative appeal for rehearing filed in January by the Center for Biological Diversity, Protect Our Communities Foundation and the Environmental Working Group.

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Source: Solar Power World

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The CPUC is considering asking electricity providers in the state to procure 4GW of new capacity to ensure grid reliability.

CPUC proposal would order an additional 4 GW of clean energy resources to bolster grid reliability

In June 2021, the CPUC approved an 11.5 GW procurement package of clean energy resources to come online between 2023 and 2026, in order to replace the then-planned retirement of the 2.2-GW Diablo Canyon nuclear plant as well as a series of natural gas plants slated to retire. Regulators ordered power providers to bring online 2 GW of resources in 2023, another 6 GW in 2024, and installments of 1.5 GW and 2 GW in 2025 and 2026, respectively.

However, circumstances have changed since that initial order was approved, regulators say. New forecasts point to increasing electric demand, beyond what regulators initially anticipated, likely due to extreme weather, a greater expected increase in electric vehicles, higher usage of air conditioning, and electrification of the built environment. At the same time, California expects to have less access to imported electricity from its neighboring states, as they face similar trends.

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Source: Utility Dive

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A trio of environmental groups wants the CPUC to upend last month’s decision that overhauled the rules for rooftop solar.

California slashed rooftop solar payments. Now opponents want a rehearing

A trio of environmental groups wants the California Public Utilities Commission to upend last month’s decision that overhauled the rules for Californians who install rooftop solar on their homes and businesses, reducing payments to new solar customers for the electricity they generate.

The Protect Our Communities Foundation, the Environmental Working Group and the Center for Biological Diversity filed an application for a rehearing and a reversal of the Dec. 15 ruling by the commission.

“They made a mistake,” said Bill Powers, an engineer and board member of the Protect Our Communities Foundation. “This was the wrong decision.”

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Source: Los Angeles Times

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Ivy Energy saw the lack of advocacy for VNEM solar projects and actively joined the proceeding representing the multifamily customer class.

Massive win for multifamily solar in CPUC proceedings

The highly controversial CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) NEM 3.0 proceedings began in early 2021, and have been ongoing ever since. The Commission recently released its new proposed decision (PD) and voted on it December 15, 2022. It set out to revise the Net Energy Metering (NEM) tariff, which is the key policy allowing customers to install and monetize solar panels. One of the sub-tariffs, Virtual Net Energy Metering (VNEM), was included in the PD and several consequential changes were being proposed that would impact the compensation mechanism for clean energy projects at multifamily properties. Ivy Energy, a shared solar software provider saw the lack of advocacy for VNEM solar projects and actively joined the proceeding, exclusively representing the multifamily customer class.

Ivy’s policy team reviewed the initial stakeholder comments and found that the multifamily market was severely underrepresented. Furthermore, the CPUC’s initial analysis and proposal did not specifically study the impact on multifamily properties, yet was anticipating to change the entire program based on data strictly originating from the single-family home market. VNEM multifamily solar projects account for 1% of the live California solar projects. This was both eye-opening and alarming to see, as apartments and multifamily buildings have not seen the same level of market adoption of solar as single-family residential and have different challenges and opportunities. Changing the VNEM tariff without robust analysis would have had consequences on future market growth opportunities and the ability of multifamily owners to invest in solar. With the long-term impact in mind, Ivy stepped up huge with policy leadership to advocate for multifamily buildings in California’s solar transition.

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Source: Multi Family Dive

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The policy approved unanimously by the California Public Utilities Commission lessens the overall payment for selling excess power.

California lowers incentives for rooftop solar panels

California utility regulators on Thursday approved major changes to the state’s booming rooftop solar market that they say will more evenly spread the cost of energy and help reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels in the evening.

The state has long led the nation in adoption of rooftop solar panels, and today more than 1.5 million California homes and other buildings have them. Under a decades-old program, people with solar panels can get paid by their power companies by sharing excess solar energy they don’t need, leading some solar homes to pay minimal electric bills.

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Source: The Washington Post

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California regulators on Thursday proposed changes to the state's residential solar market designed to encourage more at-home battery systems

California pushes incentive program to promote more at-home solar systems

California regulators on Thursday proposed changes to the state’s residential solar market designed to encourage more at-home battery systems that can help the electrical grid rely less on fossil fuels in the evenings, especially during heat waves.

It’s the California Public Utilities Commission’s second attempt at updating the state’s incentive program for home solar systems. Last December, the commission proposed new charges for solar customers and lessened the subsidies for installing rooftop panels, which utilities wanted but solar companies warned would cripple the booming industry and hinder the state’s move to clean energy.

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Source: Fox News

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CPUC is considering changes to the rules on compensation for solar customers who generate excess power from their rooftop solar systems.

California Public Utilities Commission to hear oral arguments on rooftop solar rules

It looks like a decision is finally moving forward on a long-awaited and controversial rule affecting the roughly 1.3 million customers in California who have installed rooftop solar panels on their homes and businesses.

The California Public Utilities Commission said in a notice Friday it will hear oral arguments from parties who have battled one another over potential changes to NEM, or Net Energy Metering — the rules that determine the size of the credits customers receive on their utility bills when their rooftop solar systems generate more energy than they consume.

The remote hearing is set for Nov. 16 and will run for two hours.

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Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

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The new decision from the CPUC is one of the most significant changes to the interconnection process in decades.

Groundbreaking California rule transforms how renewables connect to the grid

A new decision from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) marks a significant milestone by dramatically simplifying the interconnection process for distributed energy resources (DERs), like solar and batteries, and providing valuable transparency for project developers.

This is one of the most significant changes to the interconnection process in decades and offers a model for other states, at a time when interconnection has increasingly become a bottleneck to renewable energy development around the country.

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Source: Clean Technica

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