What will net metering eventually become?

When distributed solar energy isn’t used in the grid, it transfers into solar-plus-storage. This triggers the struggle to develop economies of scale to reduce its prices to levels of competitive with traditional generation. Growth trends display the penetration level is coming in California and Massachusetts.
 

Policymakers experiments new rate designs for solar-plus-storage growth

Net energy metering (NEM) is the policy that solar depended on its impact for growth is evolving. Policymakers are experimenting new rate designs to drive solar-plus-storage growth the way NEM drove solar. This is why the new policy debates surfaced with utilities and solar advocates at the state level and utility commissions. 

The Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) was one of the groups that highly supported California’s original renewables mandate and its increases. Over time, California has morphed into large deployments of clean energy, distributed resources. The state’s mission of "just building MWs" must change to appropriately service the grid and fulfill the state's climate goals as well, Executive Director V. John White told Utility Dive. “We are seeing a shift away from incentives for deployment to incentives that encourage these resources to add value to the grid and do work or provide services the grid needs,” he said. Two instances of this shift;  time-of-use rates and three-part rates with demand charges have materialized in policy actions in the United States. 
 

Handling shifts and secrets at the policymaking level 

Updated results from the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) Q1 2018 50 States of Solar show solar policy debates are accelerating. Contention continues for solar-related issues by NCCETC for set charges, NEM levels, and caps.
“But the dirty little secret of solar is that the more we add, the less it’s worth,” CEERT’s White said. “We are now seeing new tariffs that do not encourage rooftop solar by themselves."

Where higher penetrations and growth trajectories exist, policymakers are designing rates and incentives to protect solar-plus-storage from conflict between solar advocates, utilities, and their allies over costs and caps. More precise rate designs and incentives are geared for solar-plus-storage to be so valuable to the electric distribution system that utilities will choose it over traditional solutions, CEERT’s White said. “The challenge is to use portfolios of renewables technologies that combine distributed solar with storage and other distributed energy resources (DER) to provide system needs.” The shift toward rate designs and incentives that contradicts solar-only growth of DER is not obvious but its manifesting, Proudlove said. Key variables for electric vehicles (EVs) and “the solar-plus-storage revolution,” she added. 

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