Decisions by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission earlier this week will make it faster and easier to connect solar + storage systems to the grid. The decisions primarily adopt recommendations by SEIA and the Colorado Solar and Storage Association (COSSA).
In the joint request, SEIA and COSSA asked the PUC to reevaluate interconnection rules that had resulted in unnecessary confusion for solar + storage customers in Colorado. The decisions help to drive deployment innovation and provide much needed transparency and predictability for customers and solar installers across Colorado.
“Energy storage is a critical part of our clean energy future, and outdated, unsupportive interconnection rules have been an impediment to clean energy growth in Colorado,” said Sean Gallagher, SEIA’s vice president of state and regulatory affairs. “These decisions will clear up years of uncertainty and reduce the amount of time it takes for solar + storage customers to connect to the grid. We commend the Commission for prioritizing customer needs and making decisions that will benefit the local solar + storage market for years to come.”
“The interconnection proceeding lasted over two years and many stakeholders worked hard to modernize Colorado’s electrical grid,” said Mike Kruger, COSSA’s president and CEO. “We believe that the final result will ensure that customers have a clear path to installing more solar and energy storage, especially if the PUC approves incentives for deployment.”
Colorado gets nearly 4% of its electricity from solar energy and more than 6,700 Coloradans have a solar career. Opening the market to include more storage could lead to innovation, even more job creation, help with grid resilience and add billions of dollars of private investment to the state.
The PUC decisions will:
- Maintain flexibility for solar + storage customers so they can use a variety of solar + storage configurations, helping to preserve customer choice and retain options for solar installers;
- Allow solar + storage customers to draw from their solar energy system or from the grid and empower them to use the stored energy whenever and however they want; and
- Clarify interconnection rules, make it easier for residential and commercial solar + storage projects to qualify for fast-track processing and hold utilities accountable for sticking to interconnection deadlines.
News item from SEIA
The last two points: “Allow solar + storage customers to draw from their solar energy system or from the grid and empower them to use the stored energy whenever and however they want; and”
This allows arbitrage to charge the battery pack in off peak hours, so the home owner can use off peak utility energy as the first two hours of the wake up time of day usually 6AM to 8AM when solar PV isn’t making good usable power at that time. This also allows the homeowner to use a smaller battery pack and get more bang for the buck.
“Clarify interconnection rules, make it easier for residential and commercial solar + storage projects to qualify for fast-track processing and hold utilities accountable for sticking to interconnection deadlines.”
Paperwork excuses have been run into the ground over the years. There is NO legitimate excuse since solar PV programs were introduced over 20 years ago in the public programs sector. Dilatory commissioning by utilities is being used as an end run around PPAs terms of service, hoping to get a prejudiced determination from the PUC in a future rate filing. IF the PPA is net metering and a one to one electricity credit, and a case filed in front of the PUC is for Net Billing, the utility will be more likely to stall commissioning home or even business systems until the PUC votes on the change filing. If one digs deep enough, you might find this kind of practice is being widely used by utilities across the U.S.. After all of this ‘time’, the last 20 years, and all of the technology brought along in the last 20 years, the ratepayers have a better position than the utilities for energy cost, use and control. Now the position of a (microgrid) at the community, business or home level can abrogate the utility and their so called “infrastructure” to the back burner. Those that realize this will partner with the public and remain relevant, those that think they can file rate cases to keep their revenue streams alive will fail and become a pennies on the dollar opportunity for utilities that actually “get it”.