Local Energy Rules

“It’s the only time I’ve done a rate increase when nobody was opposed,” says Ed Regan of the Gainesville utility’s feed-in tariff for solar power.  The program, launched in 2009, has resulted in nearly 15 megawatts of new, local solar energy generation on or near buildings in the northeast Florida town, enough to make it one of the leading communities in per capita solar worldwide.  The program is open to participation by anyone in Gainesville, with the utility buying all solar energy in the program on a fixed price, 20-year contract. It all started about ten years ago, when Pegeen Hanrahan was elected mayor of Gainesville and Ed Regan was serving as the assistant general manager for strategic planning.  Intern Wade Underwood and I spoke with them earlier this year. https://ilsr.org/articles/florida-city-world-leader-solar-capita-episode-8-local-energy-rules/

Community wind projects are relatively rare, but allow numerous investors to share in the financial benefits of owning wind power. After the 2008 financial crisis, several projects were successful, tapping limited-time-only federal tax incentives. In April 2013, John Farrell spoke to Brian Minish, CEO of South Dakota Wind Partners about a community wind project that attracted over 600 local investors.  The project was the brainchild of four state organizations rooted in rural South Dakota–the East River Electric Cooperative, South Dakota Farm Bureau, South Dakota Farmers Union and South Dakota Corn Growers. Hoping to broaden ownership in a wind farm project proposed by Basin Electric in Crow Lake, these groups worked with Brian to figure out how to add local investors to the mix. https://ilsr.org/articles/600-investors-south-dakotas-premier-community-wind-project-episode-7-local-energy-rules-podcast/

This week John Farrell and Wade Underwood talk with Paul Spencer, President and founder of the Clean Energy Collective (CEC) in Carbondale, CO. The CEC is pioneering the process of delivering clean power-generation through medium-scale (mostly solar) facilities that are collectively owned by participating utility customers. In many ways, their community energy model is the “holy grail” because it has proven replicable in several places around the United States. https://ilsr.org/articles/paul-spencer-community-solar-holy-grail-episode-6-local-energy-rules-podcast/

In this episode of Local Energy Rules, John Farrell and Wade Underwood talk with Susan Osborne, the former Mayor of Boulder, CO, about that city’s effort to take control of its energy future. Thanks to Susan’s leadership and the vision of Boulder’s citizens, the city adopted a ballot measure in the fall of 2011 to break free from its incumbent utility, Xcel Energy, to pursue cleaner, local power on its own terms. As Susan tells us, Boulder didn’t set out to “blaze a trail,” but for a growing number of cities across America considering municipalization, there’s a lot to learn from their remarkable story. https://ilsr.org/articles/susan-osborne-boulders-clean-energy-takeover-episode-5-local-energy-rules-podcast/

Community wind projects are relatively rare, but allow numerous investors to share in the financial benefits of owning wind power. After the 2008 financial crisis, several projects were successful, tapping limited-time-only federal tax incentives. In March 2013, John Farrell and Wade Underwood spoke with community wind power developer and farmer Randy Caviness about his Green Energy Farmers community wind project.  Working with over 180 investors in the local community, Randy helped build eight utility-scale wind turbines with community ownership, providing 12.6 megawatts of clean, local power to municipal and rural electric utilities in southwestern Iowa. https://ilsr.org/articles/randy-caveniss-community-wind-iowa-episode-4-local-energy-rules-podcast/

In this edition of Local Energy Rules, John Farrell and Wade Underwood speak with Steve Johnson of Convergence Energy about a successful 660 kilowatt community solar project near Delavan, WI. The project required 33 separate LLCs to take advantage of the state’s net metering rules, and also used the limited-time federal cash grant program to pull it together. Unfortunately, the policy environment isn’t as favorable for repeats, and Convergence has interest in, but no plans to replicate the project. https://ilsr.org/articles/steve-johnson-episode-3-local-energy-rules-podcast/

In this edition of Local Energy Rules, John Farrell and Wade Underwood speak with Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign about a nascent community solar project in Vashon, WA. We ask Bill about his involvement with the project as a community organizer—delving into the frustrating regulatory barriers that have kept the project from coming to fruition, and working towards a more accurate definition of community solar. The project was motivated by a generous production incentive offered in Washington State for solar projects installed on public property. Bill and residents of King County hoped to keep more energy dollars in the local economy by using this incentive to create a community solar project. But it wasn’t smooth sailing. https://ilsr.org/articles/bill-moyer-episode-2-local-energy-rules-podcast/

What began as a group of neighbors hoping to reduce their impact on global warming has since become a major force for solar advocacy in Washington, DC. The Mount Pleasant Solar Cooperative was started by two teenage boys who wanted to make solar power convenient and affordable through a bulk-purchase program. Along the way, the cooperatives new members realized that buying power wasn’t enough, and sought out changes in the district’s energy policies.  Today the Mount Pleasant Solar Cooperative has helped to get solar panels on over 10 percent of the homes in the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood and has grown into a city-wide political organization. https://ilsr.org/articles/anya-schoolman-episode-1-local-energy-rules-podcast/