Dive Brief:

• A local affiliate of CBS reports the state of Nevada will fund a new study on the economics of rooftop solar, two years after a first report showed millions in benefits for both owners of solar systems and other ratepayers as well.
• The Nevada Board of Examiners has approved almost $67,000 for a new study. A previous analysis completed by Energy + Environmental Economics (E3) in 2014 found $36 million in ratepayer benefits.
• Solar policy has been particularly contentious in the state, and last year the Public Utilities Commission made several changes to the industry including slashing net metering rates and increasing fixed fees on PV customers.

Dive Insight:

The announcement from Nevada state officials to fund a new solar study comes weeks after SolarCity rolled out its own report mapping out the net benefits from rooftop solar arrays to all Nevadans. 

Solar prices have come down so significantly that Nevada regulators want to do a new study on the resource's cost, just two years after E3's analysis found widespread benefit. CBS points out that the firm's report was recently used by opposing sides in the state's debate over net metering, meaning a new review is needed.

PUC officials told CBS that the new study could help with rate decisions being made this summer.

E3 in 2014 presented its report, "Nevada Net Energy Metering Impacts Evaluation," to the PUC, concluding "overall, we do not estimate a substantial cost shift to non-participants due to [net energy metering] going forward given the current and proposed reforms to the program."

"We estimate a total [net present value] benefit of 2004-2016 NEM systems to non-participating ratepayers of $36 million during the systems’ lifetimes," the report concluded.

However, the firm also cautioned that some key data points can significantly alter the equation, noting that planned reforms in the state "significantly reduce costs to non-participants while reducing the financial proposition to those that would install self-generation."

SolarCity last month rolled out a new study, using the public tool designed for the E3 study, stating rooftop solar systems deliver 1.6 cents in net benefits per kWh generated to all ratepayers regardless of owning rooftop arrays. With environmental benefits included, the number rises to $0.036/kWh. 

Earlier this year the PUC refused to grandfather existing solar customers into original net metering rates, extending the state's new, lower-rate net metering policy to all systems. The changes gradually implement the new rates and fixed charge increases over a period of 12 years, raising them from $12.75 to $38.51/month by 2028.