Nevada Public Utility Commission effectively ends solar in the state with new rules affecting rooftop solar

Solar City and SunRun announce that they are exiting the market.

GOP 2016!  Protecting the interests of monopoly utilities and killing solar in Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, Nevada, and many other highly gerrymandered red states!  GOP 2016!  Our voting base is dumb enough to elect Trump and cares so little about policy that we can get away with stuff like this right out in the open!  GOP 2016!


http://www.technologyreview.com/news/545146/battles-over-net-metering-cloud-the-future-of-rooftop-solar/

https://solarthermalmagazine.com/2016/01/06/solarcity-will-eliminate-over-550-job-due-to-states-anti-rooftop-solar-decision/

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/01/07/rooftop-solar-slides-downward-nevada-solarcity-cut-550-jobs/

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/545146/battles-over-net-metering-cloud-the-future-of-rooftop-solar/

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/544471/renewable-energy-trading-launched-in-germany/


I think in ten years this model will prevail. There are legitimate concerns on guaranteeing the profitability for the maintenance of the grid. As long as the overhead is being paid evenly by all concerned in a sufficient amount to cover the grid, let the little guy compete in pricing with the utility in the sale to retail market........pure free market, but the utilities are known for cheating on their base costs, but in the midwest this free market allows cities to cross state lines and purchase power from producers. I would like to see a free market for solar nationally with realistic grid cost compensation, and more effort in superconductive transmission which can cause a revolution in how electric is sourced in America. This is an exciting time for solar, and personally Utah is being boneheaded and it would be far more profitable for the utility to take advantage of the abundance of sun and sell it regionally and nationally in a free market.

Will anyone please explain why it is right for utility companies to be forced to buy surplus electricity from someone's roof panels at a retail price rather than the wholesale price? Anyone?

Something none of the solar enthusiasts intentionally fail to take into consideration is the fact that utility companies, "the grid" is required to maintain the capacity to supply all those houses with panels regardless of whether or not they are producing solar power.

What that means is that the cost of producing a reduced amount of electricity as producing much more. Thus, the cost for consumers will be forced upward. Pleasing semi-retired President Obama immensely.

Markle wrote:Will anyone please explain why it is right for utility companies to be forced to buy surplus electricity from someone's roof panels at a retail price rather than the wholesale price?  Anyone?

Because when someone "sells" energy back to the utility, they're not getting cash.  They're getting credits.   There are times of the day when solar panels yield more energy than what is being consumed by the household.  That excess is "sold" to the utility in exchange for a credit, which will be used during times when consumption exceeds the level of energy yielded by the panels.




Can you explain to me why you have voted for politicians who have made it illegal for me to lease solar panels in The Sunshine State?

I think that we have to take a look what happened very quickly with the old land line telephone industry in just twenty years. They fought the break up of ATT, and they had all their investments in an old technology copper infrastructure which had fiber to their COs, but it was copper to the house. This technology fought like hell when in the deregulated world others could use that last mile of copper to bring their services to folks who were on their wires.

The argument always was how do we get our investment back for our stockholders. The difference which Mr. Markle raises is why are public traded companies not able to do their thing and keep the government out.......well public utilities are regulated and get the opportunity to operate because the common good comes before the profits of that company and this country long ago realized if folks who are only concerned with the bottom line, folks get hurt(Please see Flint). So Boards is absolutely correct that the residential user gets a credit, but in Illinois that credit is limited to the retail bill that metered account uses......so if excess energy comes into the system, the utility is getting that for free. So the decision to approve this system was done by state regulators, and Commonwealth edison got all kinds of surcharges which went to their infrastructure, but it was limited because in many solar applications they were getting the excess.

The real breakthrough can only happen when our technology improves a bit. The cell phone and the ability to wirelessly avoid the last mile changed America. We need to invest in improved super conductivity transmission and invest probably in excess of a trillion dollars in transmission which does not have drop off which allows the German free market system in solar to work. Solar has an economy of scale, and if the current system limits installations to just credits we are building an inefficient solar system, and the key is competition and fair compensation for that last mile of copper to a residence or business. The folks who said wind would not work......well I can tell you this now Pickens nailed it.....he talked about the role of NG and wind, and five years later it is a reality in America and Utilities are all in and making money and dramatically dropping their operating costs. Renewables are as certain in the next twenty years of displacing coal as the probability that you are on the internet now from a local cell tower.

Uh huh.

Lets see who is on the Nevada Utility Commission that made this decision:

Chairman Paul Thomsen: worked for both Harry Reid and former Senator Bryan (both Democrats)

Alaina Burtenshaw: No party affiliation

David Noble: No party affiliation

Too funny

Well, you got me there.