Energy & Environment
| More

Paying the Ratepayer

Can solar power come mostly from rooftops, rather than from vast solar farms in the desert? Some say yes.

BY: | June 30, 2009



Can solar power come mostly from rooftops, rather than from vast solar farms in the desert? Proponents of renewable energy say yes--but only if state regulators and municipal utilities pursue an approach pioneered by Denmark, Germany and Spain.

It's called a "feed-in tariff." The idea is to encourage homeowners and businesses to install rooftop solar systems that produce more electricity than they actually need for their own use. As an incentive, they can sell excess power back into the grid and keep the profit. In theory, big new power plants would no longer be necessary, as each home essentially turns into its own tiny power plant.

That's a lot different from how rooftop solar works now in most parts of the United States. In sunny Palm Desert, California, homeowners who install large 5,000-watt systems typically add more energy to the grid than they give back. But they don't get compensated for it. Instead, they accumulate credits with the local utility--but at the end of the year, any leftover credits get wiped out. Palm Desert's Pat Conlon says that's not fair, and is a major obstacle that's holding back any further adoption of rooftop solar systems.

By contrast, European countries have used feed-in tariffs to underwrite striking buildouts of distributed solar energy, without the need for creating new transmission lines. Recently, the city of Gainesville, Florida, which owns the local electric utility, became the first city in the U.S. to give the idea a try. In March, Gainesville Regional Utilities began paying customers 32 cents per kilowatt-hour for excess power pumped back into the electric grid.


If you enjoyed this post, subscribe for updates.

John Buntin
John Buntin

John Buntin is a GOVERNING staff writer. He covers health care, public safety and urban affairs.

E-mail: jbuntin@governing.com
Twitter: @governing

Comments



Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. GOVERNING reserves the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

Comments must be fewer than 2000 characters.

Latest from Energy & Environment

  • Report Shows Lax Federal Oversight of Gas Drilling
  • Federal policing of oil and natural gas drilling on public lands is lax and inconsistent, with only 6 percent of violations resulting in monetary fines over 13 years, House Democrats said in a new report.
  • Will Air Quality Rules Put Power Reliability At Risk?
  • Do new air quality rules announced by the EPA raise the risk that some electrical utilities could have reliability issues in keeping the lights on? That was a chief question debated by attendees at a utilities forum in Washington, D.C. Tuesday.
  • San Francisco Expands Plastic Bag Ban
  • Shoppers in San Francisco will have to pay 10 cents per bag and more retailers are now banned from handing out plastic bags under a proposal approved Tuesday by the city's Board of Supervisors.
  • Pennsylvania Gas Drilling Fee Bill Debate Ends Without Vote
  • Pennsylvania, the only major gas-producing state that does not tax the taking of natural gas from its soil, moved closer Tuesday to imposing a fee on the drilling in the vast Marcellus Shale reserves that have transformed the state in recent years.
  • Ron Paul: States Should Resolve Land Management Issues
  • Republican Rep. Ron Paul railed against the federal government during campaign stops in Nevada on Thursday, saying states are in the best position to resolve conflicts over the management of wild horses and roads on public lands.

More From Energy & Environment

Events & Webinars


  • GOVERNING Summit on Sustainability - 2012
  • June 20, 2012 , Annenberg Beach House | Santa Monica, CA

  • Beyond “thinking green” the Summit will address the topic of sustainability in the context of economic, health, social and environmental issues. As a critical strategy for long-term economic vitality for a region, we’ll discuss best practices and policies around jobs, finance, energy, facilities, infrastructure and urban planning.

More Events & Webinars


© 2011 e.Republic, Inc. All Rights reserved.    |   Privacy Policy   |   Site Map