Dive Brief:

• The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) on Tuesday approved a final set of rules governing the state's new expanded solar access program, drawing praise from clean energy advocates.

• The rules require electric utilities to submit plans to the PUCN every three years to expand solar access in accord with Assembly Bill 465. The plans must demonstrate how the utilities will make the financial and economic benefits of rooftop solar available to customers who cannot install solar panels on their own properties.

• The expanded access program should help level the playing field between residents and businesses who can install rooftop solar panels, and those who cannot because they are not homeowners or because their property is not suited to rooftop solar, clean energy advocates said.

Dive Insight:

Clean energy advocates believe more Nevadans will have access to solar energy — and to jobs in the state's rapidly growing solar industry — thanks to a new set of rules finalized by the PUCN last week.

The rules govern how Nevada electric utilities will manage, and report on, expanded solar access programs mandated by Assembly Bill 465, which was passed in 2019. The new rules define how electric rates for customers participating in the programs will be calculated, setting a cap on potential charges for low-income customers and creating a mechanism by which utilities may recoup potential costs associated with the program. The rules also require reports on the program and its progress at each utility, to be filed every three years.

Nevada utilities have already begun to implement expanded solar access programs. NV Energy has selected two sites for future community solar projects from which customers may apply to get power.

According to the newly released rules, low-income customers, disadvantaged businesses, nonprofit organizations, and customers who cannot install solar on their property due to physical or legal constraints are all eligible to apply for the expanded solar access programs. Applicants must be selected according to a lottery system.

Elspeth Cordua DiMarzio, a senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Nevada, said the new rules should help disperse the savings typically associated with solar in Nevada more equitably.

"Not only is clean energy cheaper than fossil fuels," DiMarzio said, "it's better for our economy, and generated in Nevada.  All the fossil fuels burned in the state, whether coal or gas, are just money we're sending out of state and it really does nothing for Nevada."

The potential use of community-based solar projects, which could be constructed atop commercial warehouses or on shade structures above parking lots, will also allow Nevada to generate power within urban areas, according to Cameron Dyer, a managing senior staff attorney for Western Resource Advocates.

The growth of solar developments in the region will also help to expand workforce education, training and job placement in the sector, advocates said in response to the order.

"It's difficult for people who are interested in clean energy to break into the industry if they don't have reliable transportation that will get them 50 miles outside of Las Vegas every day," Dyer said. "Having this type of program allows people to have these opportunities, and instructs them where to go so they can get trained on these projects and create potential for a career in this field."