Utilities and Solar Energy

Statistics share the growing relationship between utilities and clean energy is growing. It continues to move the power system's transition to higher solar power penetrations along.

"Utilities of all kinds and in many places are accelerating from zero to 100 on solar in response to record-low prices," Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) research manager and paper lead author Daisy Chung told Utility Dive.

Seb Henbest, lead author of Bloomberg New Energy Finance New Energy Outlook, wrote July 25. "By 2050, we're painting a picture of an electricity system utterly reshaped around cheap wind, solar and batteries."

Renewable Energy Integration

Both wind and solar were 8.2% of U.S. generation last year, with solar at 1.9%, U.S. networks are integrating record levels of solar energy effortlessly. Wind and solar created 64.6% of California's power on May 26, 2018.

Investors say, "phenomenally abundant" solar energy could contribute to a trillion-dollar U.S. market by 2030 and clean energy will play a vital role, according to an April American Council on Renewable Energy survey. Utilities included 42 GW of clean energy to the network, including 7.4 GW in 2017.

Public power utilities included 1,210 MW of solar and are "gaining industry recognition," SEPA reports. In some areas, low prices make renewable energy a factor. For instance, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority included 27.3 MW of renewable energy last year, a 913 watts of solar per customer rate. This decision ranked 7th in SEPA's watts per customer ranking, to feature smaller utilities' incredible works.

The creation was with Arizona public power network Salt River Project. An agreement as signed focusing on 500 MW more on Navajo land. There were 148 state renewable energy policy actions between April 1 and June 30, according to the Q2 2018 clean energy policy update from the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. The 116 state-level policy actions are about net energy metering (NEM).

At least 59 note using an alternative to the NEM retail electricity rate compensation for solar owners' generation exported to the network. Clean energy continues to face policy difficulties that are typically local concerns. For example, legalizing leasing in Florida, that doesn’t emphasize national growth.

Client’s Choice

The SEPA report evaluates future innovations that utilities and solar can share; solar-plus-storage, advanced inverters and microgrids. The price reduction expands the utility-solar friendship. Clean energy will become the new normal in a green portfolio and accepted by utilities.

Renewable energy is the customer choice where utilities facilitate and optimize choices of services and resources. The utility will deliver dependable and economical electricity. The transition to clean energy being a big portion of utilities will be a healthy one as as long as it doesn’t compromise their customers' ownership of clean energy.

If you want to join the solar revolution, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years. For more information about solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for guides and articles.

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