[MCN] A reality check on net-metering
Lance Olsen
lance at wildrockies.org
Sat Jun 11 11:39:16 EDT 2016
Grist Jun 9, 2016
Solar panels don't raise regular utility rates - and might even lower them
By Heather Smith
Excerpt
In the early days of solar, there was some
concern - nay, terror - of how it could destroy
utilities and make power more expensive for all
the plebes sans solar panels. A confession: Even
Grist partook in such fearmongering:
Solar power and other distributed renewable
energy technologies could lay waste to U.S. power
utilities and burn the utility business model,
which has remained virtually unchanged for a
century, to the ground.
But we took it back!
<<http://grist.org/climate-energy/rooftop-solar-is-just-the-beginning-utilities-must-innovate-or-go-extinct/>>
Even if utility models crashed and burned, their
customers - and the utilities themselves, if they
were smart enough to adapt - would be just fine.
That less apocalyptic, much chiller view of the
end of utilities as we know them was recently
confirmed by a new report from the Brookings
Institution.
<<http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/05/23-rooftop-solar-net-metering-muro-saha#>>
So here's the good news: Residential solar
(specifically net metering, which enables solar
installations to sell surplus electricity back to
the grid) has not destroyed any American
utilities. Nor has it created a dystopia of solar
panel-having fat cats who profit off the grid
while ordinary ratepayers are forced to assume
more and more of the cost of maintaining it.
End excerpt
--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Just remember, this is not your grandfather's
atmosphere. Things are different now, and will
get even more-so in the coming years "
http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2015/12/02/the-coming-winter-part-two-the-elephant-in-the-room/
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