Summaries of Related Articles

To our readers,

We want to develop something new for our blog that will work to further inform and educate. Since not everyone has the time to read the newspaper, blogs, news reports, etc., why not let us do the work for you? This is the inaugural edition of our bi-weekly summary of articles that we have pulled from a large array of sources throughout the our work. The articles are related to energy, solar and climate – information that is easily accesible and fast to read. This edition includes the AG’s report on VA’s energy law, new ways of marketing solar, and how climate skeptics are talking to state legislators. Links to the full articles are attached.

MEMORANDUM

TO: Our Readers

FROM: Secure Futures, LLC

DATE: December 11, 2012

–       Energy Law Costs VA Power, Apco customers $1 Billion-plus Too Much – Richmond TimesDispatch, Dec.1, Peter Bacqué

• Under Virginia’s utility regulation law, customers of Virginia’s two largest electric companies – Dominion Virginia Power and Appalachian Power (Apco) – will pay over $1 billion more than necessary for new power plants and renewable energy programs according to a report released last week by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. The report focused on financial incentives for utilities to meet renewable portfolio standards (which are voluntary in VA), concluding that the law cost customers far more than the benefits they are receiving.  Under the law, bonuses, or “adders” are incentives to meet renewable energy standards and construct power plants in VA. The renewable energy portfolio incentives will cost customers $740 million alone, while it is estimated the two utilities received $284 million to build power plants they would have constructed without any “adders”. The renewable portfolio adders have produced results either – instead utilities are purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) to comply with the law instead of building renewable generating facilities. “Energy Law Costs VA Power, Apco Customers $1 Billion-plus Too Much”

–       Climate Skeptic Group Works to Reverse Renewable Energy Mandates –WashPo, Nov. 24, Juliet Eiperin

• The conservative think tank, The Heartland Institute has joined with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group of state legislators from all fifty states, to write model legislation targeting state renewable energy mandates across the U.S. The “Electricity Freedom Act”, adopted by the think tanks would repeal renewable standards forcing utilities to generate a portion of their energy from renewables. Twenty-nine states have mandatory renewable standards (Renewable Portfolio Standards – RPS). The backbone of the argument against renewable standards rest on the idea that generating renewable energy is expensive and will cost consumers – referring to this as “a tax on consumers of electricity”. The bill was presented as one solving state economics, and had little trouble being accepted by the ALEC. The Heartland Institute represents the broad conservative effort against environmental initiatives at the state and federal level. Yet in many cases, the think tank receives money from oil, gas and coal companies (Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries) competing with renewable generators. “Climate Skeptic Group Works to Reverse Renewable Energy Mandates”

–       With Carbon Dioxide Emissions at Record High, Worries on How to Slow Warming – NYTimes, Dec. 2, Justin Gillis and John Broder

• Global C02 emissions were at a record high in 2012, causing researchers affiliated with the Global Carbon Project to speculate that the international goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit is on the verge of becoming unattainable. The new figures supported claims that emissions are sluggishly falling in advance countries, including the U.S. This is a result of an economic recession, natural gas substituting coal, and a conscious effort to limit emissions by states (ex: Renewable Portfolio Standards). However, what advanced countries offset is more than matched by the growth of developing countries using cheap coal as an energy source – countries like China and India. The effects of an increase in global emissions are already being seen – coastal flooding and intense weather disasters such as droughts and heat waves – and experts project these disasters to worsen. “Emissions of Carbon Dioxide Hit Record in 2011”

–       Solar Industry Borrows a Page, and a Party, From Tupperware – NYTimes, Nov. 30, Diane Cardwell

• Decades ago, Tupperware products were having trouble “flying” off store shelves. Then the “Tupperware Party” was invented where neighbors joined together on weekends to show off their new Tupperware products and how the product was saving their foods. The backbone of the Tupperware Party was that the neighbor became the salesperson. Solar if now following the Tupperware path. Neighbors are holding neighborhood parties to show off their residential solar panels – how it works and how much it saves. A few companies have caught on. Solar companies such as SolarCity are running party-plan programs to find new customers, providing referral incentives for neighbors – as much as $400. “Solar Industry Borrows a Page from Tupperware”

–       Denmark Moves to Cool Its Red-Hot Solar Energy Market – Forbes, Nov. 30, Justin Gerdes

• Denmark’s energy minister introduced legislation earlier this month that would trim solar subsidies for residential customers that have triggered exponential growth in the residential sector added to the grid in 2012. The new rules introduced on November 20 reduce incentives offered to residential solar owners and make PV systems large than 6kW eligible for subsidies. Denmark differs from its European neighbors because its solar boom was not generated by feed-in tariffs, in which PV system owners are paid above-market rates for solar electricity sold to the grid, but instead its growth is can be credited to net-metering rules (the same economics currently used in the U.S.). Under net-metering rules, PV system owners receive credit for surplus electricity sent back to the grid. Because Danish consumers pay around $0.38 p/kWh for electricity, of which $0.27 is in the form of taxes (average electricity rates in Virginia are a little over $0.10 p/kWh) solar is an attractive investment – PV owners do not pay taxes on electricity, an immediate subsidy of $0.27 p/kWh. “Denmark Moves to Cool Its Red-Hot Solar Energy Market”

–       Solar Panels are Getting Cheaper – Time to Make the Rest of Solar Power Cheap Too – Grist Magazine, Nov. 29, David Roberts

• Released last week, the fifth annual report on solar PV from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, cites the installed cost of solar PV power continues to decline as a result of the price of PV panels, however the “soft cost” remain fairly stagnant. Panel prices have been sharply decreasing since 2008, dropping project cost. Yet since 2005, soft costs have remained linear, limiting the potential for lower prices of solar power projects. German rooftop PV projects average around $3.4/W while U.S. installation average $6/W. This is a result of the relatively high soft cost present in the young U.S. solar market. The solutions to driving down these soft costs? Part of it is patience, as the U.S. market matures and the scale of the industry increases. However, part remains a matter for public policy and the removal of legislative barrier at the local and state level. Driving down the soft costs is about making solar “standardized, simple and appealing – the Apple-ification of solar”. “The Apple-ification of Solar”