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Tuesday, Dec 02, 2014

Financial Impacts of Net-Metered PV on Utilities and Ratepayers: A Scoping Study of Two Prototypical U.S. Utilities

As distributed generation continues its rapid expansion, these new resources will have an increasingly larger role. This analysis focuses on two prototypical investor-owned utilities, one in the southwest and one in the northeast. For each utility, this study models the potential impacts of PV over a 20-year period, estimating changes to utility costs, revenues, average rates, and utility shareholder earnings and return-on-equity (ROE).

Wednesday, Nov 12, 2014

Solar Valuation and the Modern Utility's Expansion into Distributed Generation

Residential solar's diffusion across the U.S. power grid is inspiring concern in the utility industry. Of particular debate have been net energy metering policies (NEM), which engender revenue losses and lead to cross-subsidization of solar customers by non-solar customers. An emerging alternative to NEM is the value of solar tariff (VOST), which is designed to pay residential solar generation based on a more nuanced benefit-cost analysis to determine the actual value of residential solar to utility operations.

Monday, Nov 03, 2014

Photovoltaic System Pricing Trends

With significant variance in estimates of cost and price within the solar market, DOE's Sunshot Initiative with scientists from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkley National Labs, have released their report that seeks to address these differences.

Monday, Oct 06, 2014

Rethinking Standby & Fixed Cost Charges: Regulatory and Rate Design Pathways to Deeper Solar PV Cost Reductions

Utilities have taken on the practice of applying standby and fixed cost charges specific to solar PV for customers choosing to go solar as a means to recover costs resulting from net energy metering (NEM). These charges are not the most efficient or best means for utilities to recover costs and this report finds that an integrated approach that includes the items below will allow for both effective utility cost recovery and minimal impact on the U.S. PV market. 

Monday, Sep 22, 2014

How Much Do Local Regulations Matter? Exploring the Impact of Permitting and Local Regulatory Processes on PV Prices in the United States

While PV modules and other hardware costs have dropped significantly over recent years, non-hardware soft costs have also fallen, but not nearly as sharply. This research report, authored by experts from Yale University, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin and the US Department of Energy, focuses on the impacts of city-level permitting and other regulatory processes on residential PV prices in the US. Key Findings:

Wednesday, Aug 13, 2014

SEIA Comments in Response to IRS REIT NOPR

On August 12, 2014, SEIA filed comments in response to the IRS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the definition of real property for the purposes of real estate investment trusts (REITs). SEIA praised the IRS for taking steps to make REITs accessible to the solar industry but also suggested ways to improve REIT regulations.FINAL SEIA REIT NOPR Comments - 8 11 14.pdf

Monday, May 12, 2014

LBNL Analyzes Project Finance Impacts Under Reduced ITC Scenario

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) recently released a report detailing possible impacts on solar project financing in light of possible reductions to the Investment Tax Credit (ITC).  The report finds that a reduction in the ITC will lead to increased use of debt instruments and decreased use of tax equity.

Monday, Jan 27, 2014

SEIA Applauds Efforts to Eliminate Tariffs on Environmental Goods

WASHINGTON, DC - Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released the following statement today in support of efforts by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to eliminate tariffs on environmental goods:

Wednesday, Dec 18, 2013

SEIA Expresses Concerns About Newly-Released Senate Tax Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After reviewing a draft tax plan released today by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released the following statement:

Tuesday, Nov 19, 2013

New NREL Report Explores REITs and MLPs for Solar

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently released a report discussing the opportunities and challenges inherent in utilizing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) as investment vehicles for the solar industry. The authors also discuss proposed rule changes that could enable renewable energy REITs and MLPs and possible investor reaction to those changes.

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