How much is rooftop solar worth? Advocates seek Utah data to counter utility's 'lowballing' - Salt Lake Tribune
For years, renewable-energy advocates and Utah’s largest utility have argued about the value of electricity generated on customers’ roofs, staking out positions that could have a huge impact on the future of solar power as more residents consider investing in photovoltaic panels.
The stakes for the solar industry are huge, yet no one has initiated the analysis that could settle the debate — until now, under a survey of Rocky Mountain Power customers proposed by the advocacy group Vote Solar.
“It’s really important to have the best available understanding of how and when rooftop solar is interacting with the grid,” said Briana Kobor, a regulatory director with Vote Solar, a nonprofit dedicated to making solar more accessible and affordable.
Rocky Mountain Power contends that rooftop-generated power is not worth much, while clean-power advocates and the solar industry counter that rooftop systems provide broad benefits to the public at large and to the utility in the form of reduced stress on the electrical grid and power-generation needs.
The critical issue: How much should the utility compensate its solar customers for the emission-free electricity they don’t use and RMP sells to neighbors? That rate would have a major bearing on whether other homeowners decide to spend thousands of dollars rigging their roofs with panels.
Over RMP’s objections, Vote Solar now is seeking to gather electrical generation and export data from thousands of Utah’s solar-equipped homes in an effort to demonstrate how it believes this electricity is not just good for the planet but also for all of RMP’s customers — whether or not they made the investment in solar panels.
“Rocky Mountain Power protects its customers’ identity, location, and usage data and will only provide identifying information to Vote Solar with the property owner’s advance knowledge and express consent,” reads the letter. It goes on to invite those customers to opt in if they are comfortable with a third party accessing the data about their 2019 use and generation of electricity.
“We’ve had an overwhelming response. My phone’s been ringing off the hook from people that are interested in helping but [are] a little bit confused about the language in the letter that they received,” Kobor said. “By opting into the study, they can help us to make it more beneficial for their friends and neighbors who have not yet gone solar and then protect their own rates going out some number of years.”
Currently, solar-equipped customers whose systems predate Nov. 15, 2017, earn a one-for-one credit for each kilowatt hour they export to the grid. Those who signed on later are awarded 9.2 cents for each kilowatt hour they generate but can’t use.
The contentious rate case will determine the price per kilowatt hour RMP must pay for rooftop-generated power starting 2032 for customers who signed on to solar before the 2017 cutoff. For those who came aboard after that cutoff date, the new — and possibly reduced rates — take effect in 2021.
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“They’re going to be deciding what the fair price is to pay customers for their exported energy,” Kobor said. “Electricity has very different prices, depending on the time of day, the time of year and the location on the grid. You have some areas of the grid that are more congested than others.”
The utility is expected to ask the PSC to reduce that rate for Utah customers when it files its proposal in February. In a case pending in Idaho, it is asking that state’s regulators to set the price at 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
“They’re trying to lowball the value of solar moving forward, and it’s going to have consequences ... for all solar customers,” said Salt Lake City resident Stan Holmes of the group Utah Citizens Advocating Renewable Energy, or UCARE.
Tribune file photo by Rick Egan Stan Holmes' home in Salt Lake City is among 36,000 served by Rocky Mountain Power that are equipped with rooftop solar panels. Electricity generated by such panels but not used by the resident is exported onto the electrical grid and the utility customers are compensated for each excess kilowatt hour they produce. The advocacy group Vote Solar is seeking generation and export data on all of the utility's solar customers to build a case for keeping compensation rates high.
RMP has its own study underway analyzing the electricity solar-equipped customers produce and export. But with only 110 homes involved, this study’s sample size is too small, critics say, and not representative to produce reliable results.
The company emphasizes that power generated on Utah roofs covers just a small fraction of the power consumed by RMP’s customers.
"Some [invest in rooftop solar] for environmental reasons and others for cost savings," said utility spokesman Spencer Hall. "Those are all fine, but it's important that you put it in context of total generation."
The real expansion of renewable power is occurring at the “utility scale,” he added, not so much by the customers themselves with tiny rooftop systems.
"It is a drop in the bucket," Hall said. "The utility-scale generation we buy is already 10 times what is done on rooftops."
The utility plans to add 3,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2037. That’s 10 times the capacity of all the rooftop systems, including more than 1,000 on commercial structures, currently installed in RMP’s Utah service area, according to Hall.
Solar advocates say widespread adoption of rooftop solar would generate enough power to substantially lessen RMP’s reliance on coal, while imposing a minimal footprint compared with sprawling photovoltaic arrays covering hundreds of acres.
“It’s in the long-term interests of all ratepayers to have more solar and to have it incentivized rather than disincentivized, which is what we’re afraid Rocky Mountain Power is going to try to do,” Holmes said. “They’re just heavily invested in coal and also natural gas. These things are not only degrading our broader environment through climate change, but also we’re basically propping up a system that’s going to cost us dearly at the local level.”
Outlook on India's Solar Rooftop Market, 2019-2022 - Impact Analysis of SRISTI Scheme in Uplifting the Grid-Connected Solar Rooftop Capacities till 2022 - PRNewswire
Examining state wise opportunities for grid-connected solar rooftop applications and market sizing for discoms, OEMs, EPC contractors, project developers into residential, industrial, commercial and government segments.
The government of India is projected to make an investment by giving subsidies to the amount of USD 3.3 Billion for scaling up the solar rooftop installations in the country under Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India (Sristi) Scheme
The economics of solar power has improved in India. It's a far more cost-competitive source of electricity generation than it was a decade back or more. The sharp decline witnessed in the module and installation cost of the solar photovoltaic systems in the country and all across the globe has been a significant reason for such a development, and have also pulled up the solar power capacities higher than before. Presently, India boasts a solar power installed capacity of 24 GW, which was not even 1 GW in mid-2000s.
Solar's changing economics is already influencing the business consumption and investments and given the push from the Indian government, the sector is progressing towards a multi-faceted growth. Talking about consumption, a new demand segment for solar power is picking up the trend i.e. solar rooftops. A good number of companies especially the PSUs with large physical footprints and high power costs are switching towards installing commercial-scale rooftop solar systems, often at less than the current price of buying power from a discom. Also, for the industrial belts where power requirement is massive and congestion in the transmission lines is also high, rooftop systems can be utilized to get some respite.
For instance, as per the latest developments it is to be noted that the premises of Power Grid Corporation in Madhya Pradesh shall be installing solar rooftop systems for its self-consumption and is anticipated to get the electricity at a tariff of INR 1.58/unit, which is way cheaper than what they use to pay erstwhile to the discoms. Similarly, many other government buildings in the state have decided to go ahead with solar rooftop systems with the per unit electricity cost to be INR 1.67. This has been achievable with the deployment of RESCO programme in the state.
The RESCO model facilitates the beneficiary consumer to buy solar power with zero upfront investment and at a tariff much below the prevailing DISCOM rates. Likewise, the government has been coming out with various other schemes, policies and incentives for increasing capacity additions from solar rooftop systems in order to achieve the target of 40 GW by 2022.
Business Case for Solar Rooftop Segment in India:
40 GW of grid-connected solar power capacity in India is targeted to come through rooftop solar power installations by 2022
In a bid to promote production and usage of non-conventional energy in the State, Chhattisgarh government approved the solar power policy in June 2017- under which grid connectivity facility shall be provided up to 10 kilowatt
Grid-connected solar rooftop and small solar power plants programme to scale up a budget from INR 600 crores during 12th FYP to INR 5000 crores for implementation over a period of five years up to 2019-20 under National Solar Mission (NSM)
15% government subsidy for non-commercial and non-industrial categories for using domestic solar panels
With the constant effort of the Ministry, State Electricity Regulatory Commissions of seventeen states have notified regulatory framework on net-metering /feed-in tariff to encourage rooftop solar plants
Government proposes INR 23,450 crores of rooftop solar scheme named SRISTI
In many Indian states and market segments, the cost of electricity (LCOE) of rooftop solar is already lower than the existing average grid rates of tariffs
Rooftop solar is already achieving grip parity in the residential sectors in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan
In the government sector rooftop solar has become competitive in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh , Karnataka, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh
In other states, the gap b/w rooftop solar and conventional sources of electricity are fast decreasing
Key Highlights - Top current set of incentives for solar rooftops in India:
Capital Subsidies - Capital subsidy of 30% is applicable to residential, institutional and social sector rooftop solar power plants for General Category States/UTs and Up to 70% of the benchmark cost for the Special Category States i.e. North Eastern States including Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Island
Tax Benefits - Direct and indirect tax benefits such as sales tax, excise duty exemptions and custom duty exceptions have been given. Project developers were exempted from income tax on all earnings from a project in its first 10 years of operation and accelerated depreciation (AD) for solar energy producers to claim 40% of the costs in the first year itself
Net Metering Incentives - The electricity generated could also be used for self-consumption with the net metering approach. A net metering mechanism allows for a two-way flow of electricity wherein the consumer is billed only for the net' electricity supplied by the discoms
Assured Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) - The electricity generated from solar PV rooftop could be entirely fed into the grid at regulated feed-in-tariffs (FiT). State utilities guarantee the purchase of solar power through a PPA which offers a high price equal to that of the peaking power on demand for the solar power which is secondary power or negative load and an intermittent energy source on a daily basis
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) - RECs are tradable certificates that provide an incentive to those who generate green power by providing financial incentives for every unit of power they generate. The solar PV rooftop is eligible for issuance of renewable energy certificate (RECs) as specified under Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
Report Insights:
Assessing the rooftop solar market in India till 2022
Examining the current & futuristic market size for inverter suppliers, project developers, EPC contractors in installing solar rooftop systems to 2022
State-attractiveness indexation for determining major demand centres for solar rooftop systems in India till 2022
Impact analysis of SRISTI scheme in uplifting the grid-connected solar rooftop capacities till 2022
Evaluating opportunities in off-grid and decentralized solar rooftop applications to 2022
Examining policy and regulatory track for solar rooftop market in India
Examining the current & futuristic market size for players in setting up solar rooftop systems at industrial, commercial, residential, government and social institution buildings
A Must Buy For:
Central Power Generation Companies
State Power Generation Companies
Power Distribution Companies
Independent Power Producers
State Electricity Boards
Project Developers
EPC Contractors
Original Equipment Manufacturers
Renewable Power Developers
Renewable Developing Agencies
Government Agencies
Research firms/ Institutes
Project Consultants
Industry Associations / Technical Consulting Group
Key Topics Covered
Contents and Coverage
An overview of rooftop market in India
Key policies & initiatives for solar rooftop PV systems at the central and state level
Business case evaluation for solar rooftop systems in India to 2022
Examining opportunities in off-grid and decentralized solar rooftop applications
Impact analysis of SRISTI scheme on the grid integrated solar rooftop segment to 2022
Evaluating gains for industrial consumers to 2022: Examining tariff and operation based D2I model for all major discoms in India for rooftop installations
Evaluating gains for large domestic consumers to 2022: Examining tariff and operation based D2I model for all major discoms in India for rooftop installations
Evaluating gains for government buildings & institutions to 2022: Examining tariff and operation based D2I model for all major discoms in India for rooftop installations
Evaluating gains for power distribution companies to 2022
Region wise market sizing for solar rooftop systems and identifying major demand centres to 2022
Sector-wise market opportunity examination for solar rooftop systems - determining market size for players in industrial, commercial, residential and government sector
Policy & regulatory track for solar rooftop market in India
Market opportunity sizing for OEMs, EPC contractors, project developers etc. to 2022
Issues and challenges for solar rooftop market in India
Best fit filtration of solar rooftop future market potential with likely tariff matrix
State wise best consumer fit analysis for rooftop market to 2022
Parker Solar Probe’s First Discoveries: Strange Phenomena in Space Weather, Solar Wind - SciTechDaily
A rendering of Parker Solar Probe as it circles the sun—closer to a star than any spacecraft has ever ventured. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
NASA mission named for pioneering University of Chicago scientist produces landmark research.
Last summer, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe split the predawn skies in a blaze of light as it headed closer to the sun than any other spacecraft. Named for pioneering University of Chicago astrophysicist Eugene Parker, the probe has now made three of its 24 planned passes through the sun’s corona—enough for scientists to announce their first discoveries.
In four papers published Dec. 4 in Nature, researchers describe strange space phenomena and a flood of new data that will help us understand everything from the nature of stars to improving our forecasting of solar storms that can affect electronics on Earth.
Professor Emeritus Eugene Parker. Credit: University of Chicago
Sidling up to the nearest star that humans can reach, the Parker Solar Probe learned new information about two types of major space weather events. It also saw the first signs of the zone around the sun where cosmic dust disappears—predicted decades ago, but never seen—as well as an entirely new phenomenon: bizarre “switchbacks” in the solar wind that flows off the surface of the sun. Scientists said it will dramatically change our theories of the corona and solar wind.
Scientists are eager to learn more about the solar wind—a flow of charged particles off the surface of the sun which radically affects the Earth and the entire solar system, which University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Eugene Parker first proposed in 1958. NASA named the solar mission after the famed astrophysicist in 2017.
Parker, now 92, is poring over the probe’s early results with interest. “Now that the data is finally coming in and being analyzed, things are getting really exciting,” he said. “We’ve already seen evidence for some very surprising phenomena—which you should always expect when you travel into regions where spacecraft have never been before. That is part of the excitement of these missions, and I’m looking forward to what comes next.”
“It is appropriate that a spacecraft named in honor of our colleague Eugene Parker, who made contributions across nearly all of heliophysics, should have findings that are so immediately diverse and interesting,” said Angela Olinto, dean of the Division of the Physical Sciences and the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. “These findings represent an incredible opportunity to help us unravel the many mysteries that stars still hold.”
Solar mysteries
Though it may seem placid to us here on Earth, the sun is anything but quiet. Our star is magnetically active, unleashing powerful bursts of light, particles moving near the speed of light and billions of tons’ worth of material.
What happens on the sun is critical to understanding how it shapes the space around us. Most of the material that escapes it is part of the solar wind, a continual outflow of ionized gas, called plasma. This plasma carries with it the sun’s magnetic field, stretching it out through the solar system in a giant bubble that spans more than 10 billion miles.
A simulation of “switchbacks,” reversals in the direction of the magnetic field embedded in the solar wind. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez
Closer to the solar wind’s source, Parker Solar Probe saw a much different picture from the one we have on Earth: a complicated, active system. One event in particular drew the eye of the science teams: flips in the direction of the magnetic field, which flows out from the sun, embedded in the solar wind. These reversals, dubbed “switchbacks,” last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes as they flow over Parker Solar Probe. During a switchback, the magnetic field whips back on itself until it is pointed almost directly back at the sun.
“Waves have been seen in the solar wind from the start of the space age, and we assumed that closer to the sun the waves would get stronger, but we were not expecting to see them organize into these coherent structured velocity spikes,” said Prof. Justin Kasper, AB’99, of the University of Michigan, a UChicago alum whose team helped build one of the instruments aboard the probe. “We are detecting remnants of structures from the Sun being hurled into space and violently changing the organization of the flows and magnetic field. This will dramatically change our theories for how the corona and solar wind are being heated.”
Shedding light on solar wind and dust
Another longstanding solar mystery is about how the solar wind flows out from the sun.
Near Earth, we see the solar wind flowing directly from the sun, straight out in all directions. But the sun rotates as it releases the solar wind, so at some point between the sun and Earth, the solar wind transitions from rotating along with the sun to flowing directly outward. Where that transition happens has implications for how the sun sheds energy; finding that point may help us better understand the lifecycle of other stars or the formation of planets.
For the first time, Parker Solar Probe observed the solar wind while it was still rotating. Parker Solar Probe’s solar wind instrument detected rotation starting more than 20 million miles from the sun, and as the probe approached, the speed of the rotation increased. The strength of the circulation was stronger than scientists had predicted.
“These findings represent an incredible opportunity to help us unravel the many mysteries that stars still hold.” — Angela Olinto, dean of UChicago’s Division of the Physical Sciences
“The large rotational flow of the solar wind seen during the first encounters has been a real surprise,” Kasper said. “While we hoped to eventually see rotational motion closer to the sun, the high speeds we are seeing in these first encounters is nearly ten times larger than predicted by the standard models.”
Another question approaching an answer is space dust—the cosmic crumbs of collisions that formed planets, asteroids, comets and other celestial bodies billions of years ago. Scientists have long suspected that, close to the sun, this dust would be heated to high temperatures by sunlight, turning it into a gas and creating a dust-free region around the sun. But no one had ever observed it.
For the first time, Parker Solar Probe actually saw the cosmic dust begin to thin out—a little more than 7 million miles from the sun. This decrease in dust continues steadily to the current limits of the probe’s measurements at a little more than 4 million miles from the sun.
Space weather insights
Finally, Parker Solar Probe’s measurements have given us a new perspective on two types of space weather events: energetic particle storms and coronal mass ejections.
Events on the sun can send energetic particles rocketing out into the solar system at nearly the speed of light. These particles carry a lot of energy, so they can damage spacecraft electronics and even endanger astronauts, especially those in deep space, outside the protection of Earth’s magnetic field. Parker Solar Probe’s instruments have measured never-before-seen energetic particle events—so small that all trace of them is lost before they reach Earth or any of our near-Earth satellites.
Simulation of particle activity near the sun. Credit: NASA
Instruments also provided unprecedented detail on coronal mass ejections, massive clouds of solar material that the sun sends hurtling out into the solar system. Coronal mass ejections can trigger a range of effects on Earth and other worlds, from sparking auroras to inducing electric currents that can damage power grids and pipelines. Looking alongside such events as they travel away from the sun, Parker Solar Probe has already shed new light on the range of events our star can unleash.
As Parker Solar Probe continues on its journey, it will make 21 more close approaches to the sun at progressively closer distances, culminating in three orbits a mere 3.83 million miles from the solar surface.
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