Opinion: All Solar Wants is a Level Playing Field – Justin Pentelute.
Fine for now, but we have to focus on a major point: continuing national and state institutional support of solar is essential. It needs to be a broad, long-term priority. In a political climate that is partisan and contentious, support for energy innovation sometimes gets lost in the ether. That’s a mistake.
In this same category, I am disappointed in the actions of some state legislatures and utility regulatory commissions. Some have acted with disturbing inconsistency, setting helpful programs in place that foster solar installations and then pulling the plug on them before the benefits have really taken hold. What’s equally disturbing is what I call “the race to unviability,” where programs are put in place to imminently fail and be canceled. It seems unfair for homeowners’ access to affordable solar electricity to depend on the state in which the home happens to be built and the all-powerful utility company that provides their electricity. This is a countrywide priority and we should deal with it that way.
Think of the societal good that comes from continued development and implementation of solar electricity. There would be less carbon in the atmosphere if our electric utilities can build fewer new fossil-fuel power plants. That could happen because solar electric can supplement power-grid electricity generated by these plants. Moreover, solar electricity often feeds into the grid when its output exceeds its need in residential and other applications. That’s a plus because not many electric utilities today are anxious to build expensive new generating plants…Read on>