Utilities Continue Solar Push in New York
Photo credit: fergunsonphotography
Sure the feds have extended solar tax credits and the stimulus package is throwing billions of dollars at renewable energy, but what have they done for us lately? Okay, so maybe they’ve done a lot, but states and utilities aren’t waiting for solar power to come home to roost. With state renewable portfolio standards to meet, the push for solar power continues on a more local level as states and utilities increase programs to incentivize renewable energy, even as the economy weakens and demand lessens.
Stateside
New York is making another aggressive step to get solar power a bigger place on the state’s energy platform. For starters, NY Governor David Paterson is accepting proposals from private enterprise, as part of a planned public-private partnership, to install 100 megawatts of solar power on schools, municipal buildings, and commercial buildings across the state as he seeks out ways to meet his goal of providing 45 percent of New York’s electricity from renewable sources by 2015.
At the same time the New York governor announced larger plans for the state’s two power authorities to purchase a total of 150 megawatts of solar power from private producers. By this step he hopes to propel New York into second place nationally in terms of state solar power production; a move that could create as many as 50,000 jobs.
Utility Scale
In California big time utility Pacific Gas & Electric announced a deal with BrightSource Energy to produce 1,310 megawatts of solar thermal power in the Golden State. Should the CPUC sign off on the deal, seven new solar thermal plants would be constructed and be completely online by 2017.
Back to the east coast and NStar Energy. NStar is taking a unique approach to utility incentives by focusing on a single town: Marshfield, Massachusetts. Residents of this town of 24,000 are now eligible for a “package” including a big discount on solar panels and installation, free home energy audits and smart meters. Each piece of the package may be done individually also as NStar attempts to cut power usage by eight percent during peak hours. The mad push is an attempt to avoid expensive upgrades to local grid infrastructure.
Posted on May 29th in Solar News by Dan.