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The solar policy landscape in the United States has been haphazard and fragmented by comparison. Because of the nearly complete absence of federal, top-down leadership, legislative efforts focused on interconnection and billing standards for solar-electric systems have been sidelined to the state level, creating inconsistencies, anomalies, and unnecessary redundancy in the efforts of solar policy developers. However slow on the uptake, Congress now appears to be entering the game.
Not only is the much-celebrated federal solar tax incentive up for an eight-year extension (visit www.seia.org to register your support), but legislators have finally drafted a national solar energy bill aimed at stripping several barriers to the widespread adoption of solar-electric generation.Major provisions of the proposed Solar Opportunity and Local Access Rights (SOLAR) Act:
• Establish net metering at retail electric rates for customer-owned, grid-tied
solar-electric systems up to 2 megawatts (MW).
• Designate customer ownership of any renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by the installed system.
• Prohibit any private covenant, contract or lease provision, or homeowners’ association rule or bylaw from limiting a homeowner’s ability to install a solar energy system.
• Specify maximum permitting and licensing fees for both residential and commercial installations.
Many nations worldwide have come up hard against energy resource constraints and the impact unrestrained fossil fuel use has on the local (and global) environment. We need strong and coordinated federal leadership when it comes to renewable energy generation. Only this will allow us to begin to close the gap between the lagging solar energy programs stateside and the experience that has been gained by energy progressive nations abroad. Fortunately, there’s a tangible shift underway in Congress, and many of our representatives are ready to run with legislation that supports clean energy, and puts us back on the global solar playing field.
Posted on 1:59 AM by JohnS0N and filed under
Renewable energy advocates like us tend to stare enviously across the ocean at the great success and widespread adoption of solar electricity abroad. But we’re not sitting on the bench, scratching our heads, and wondering how they’re doing it. The governments of countries like Germany and Japan have put more than sound bites behind their support for clean energy technologies. Instead, they have established well-coordinated incentive programs and interconnection standards for solar energy at the federal level.The solar policy landscape in the United States has been haphazard and fragmented by comparison. Because of the nearly complete absence of federal, top-down leadership, legislative efforts focused on interconnection and billing standards for solar-electric systems have been sidelined to the state level, creating inconsistencies, anomalies, and unnecessary redundancy in the efforts of solar policy developers. However slow on the uptake, Congress now appears to be entering the game.
Not only is the much-celebrated federal solar tax incentive up for an eight-year extension (visit www.seia.org to register your support), but legislators have finally drafted a national solar energy bill aimed at stripping several barriers to the widespread adoption of solar-electric generation.Major provisions of the proposed Solar Opportunity and Local Access Rights (SOLAR) Act:
• Establish net metering at retail electric rates for customer-owned, grid-tied
solar-electric systems up to 2 megawatts (MW).
• Designate customer ownership of any renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by the installed system.
• Prohibit any private covenant, contract or lease provision, or homeowners’ association rule or bylaw from limiting a homeowner’s ability to install a solar energy system.
• Specify maximum permitting and licensing fees for both residential and commercial installations.
Many nations worldwide have come up hard against energy resource constraints and the impact unrestrained fossil fuel use has on the local (and global) environment. We need strong and coordinated federal leadership when it comes to renewable energy generation. Only this will allow us to begin to close the gap between the lagging solar energy programs stateside and the experience that has been gained by energy progressive nations abroad. Fortunately, there’s a tangible shift underway in Congress, and many of our representatives are ready to run with legislation that supports clean energy, and puts us back on the global solar playing field.
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