The 2015 Top 500 Solar Contractors issue featured comments from solar executives on a variety of topics. Below are responses provided by Top Contractors on working with utilities. To read the whole issue, including all Top Contractor Q&A’s, click here.
How is your relationship with Arizona utilities?
We have a dichotomous relationship with utilities: On the one hand, we work directly with excellent, professional people in their renewables and interconnection teams, but equally it is no secret that a number of policy initiatives advanced by Arizona’s utilities in recent years have been expressly anti-distributed generation. Whether competitive renewable energy providers serving to reduce the net energy use of consumers should in fact have the right to do so—an opinion we hold by our very existence—is a complex question that energy regulators across the country are going to have to adjudicate. Their decision will ultimately determine whether we see continued adoption of solar systems for homes and businesses, or whether utility-controlled solar farms are the sole opportunity for continued U.S. solar growth.
– Rob Dallal, CEO, Natural Power and Energy (No. 79 Overall)
How does North Carolina’s allowance for monopoly status for utilities and prohibition of third-party sales affect the growth of solar?
To date, our company’s growth has been supported mainly by the Renewable Portfolio Standard and the 35% Renewable Energy Tax credit in North Carolina. However, as we look for future growth opportunities in our company, the ability to offer our clients competitively priced, long-term electricity rates through third-party sales of solar energy offers tremendous potential. Like in many other states, the citizens of North Carolina want options for where and from whom they purchase their energy. Allowing qualified companies to compete with the utilities by providing clean, renewable solar energy at stable prices will offer a very desirable alternative for non-profits, municipalities and many citizens in the state.
– Stew Miller, co-founder and president, Yes! Solar Solutions (No. 265 Overall)
How has smarter inverter technology changed your relationship with utilities?
We’ve installed hundreds of solar inverters and worked with utilities across North America to bring large-scale projects to market. We know utilities have a need for grid control—grid management is the primary role of that business—and advancements in inverter technology are meeting that need and making solar more attractive to utilities. In fact, utilities typically require inverters with grid control functionality for interconnection. New inverter technology lets utilities bring more solar online because it stabilizes the effect of intermittent solar energy. Projects with advanced inverters can better provide reactive power compensation when the utility needs it. Looking forward, renewable energy assets integrated with storage capabilities presents a great opportunity to meet utilities’ needs from coast to coast.
-Ben Fischer, president and CEO, Signal Energy (No. 6 Overall)
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