Dive Brief:
- A solar trade group's assessment of state solar policies found no major reforms of net metering in 2014, which Vote Solar and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council called "a significant outcome," given that many regulatory changes had been proposed.
- Two states that already held high 'A’ grades, Vermont and Massachusetts, raised their program caps to further expand consumer access to net metering, the study found. Overall, the research indicated more than two-thirds of U.S. states qualify for good ‘A’ or ‘B’ grades when it comes to solar-friendly interconnection policies.
- About half of the states, however, need to simplify interconnection procedures which should be transparant and simply, the report said. Ohio improved its procedures, improving its grade to an ‘A.’ Half of U.S. states receive good ‘A’ or ‘B’ grades.
Dive Insight:
The eighth edition of "Freeing the Grid" finds states nationwide have generally upheld and in some cases strengthened solar-friendly interconnection and metering policies. "There were no declines in state grades over the past year, a significant outcome considering that net metering policies were under review in many states," Vote Solar and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council noted.
Seven states, including Ohio, California and Virginia, received an 'A' grade for interconnection policies and 17 states and the District of Columbia received the top grade for net metering policies. Oklahoma received an 'F' for its net metering policy and South Carolina received the same grade for its interconnection policies, PV Magazine reported.
"Oklahoma's net metering policy could be improved in many ways, most significantly by raising the system capacity cap (limited to facilities with total generation of 25,000 kWh or less annually) and requiring utilities to compensate customers net excess generation," the report found.
While net metering policies remained largely unaltered, there were some changes in state solar policies. This month, Wisconsin regulators approved increases in fixed charges for two of the state's utilities, a move solar advocates see as an attack on rooftop panel ownership.
