Cindy Pollard, PG&E spokesperson, clarifies views on net-metering and FITs

Click to Play

Cindy Pollard, spokesperson for Pacific Gas & Electric Company PG&E), provides details of the company's views on net-metering, feed-in tariff "performance standards," and the need for PG&E to get the energy credits associated with green electricity from FITs, recorded from Sacramento, California, on July 6, 2009

1. How much have net metering costs raised consumer prices under the 2.5% cap?

And 2. What does PG&E project would be the cost increase under a 10% cap?

That is the information that the CPUC was required to determine before the cap was raised. The cost benefit analysis has not been conducted, and we would still like to see just how much it will cost our customers. We believe it’s very important to look at the data before decisions on cap increases are made. The CPUC report on the costs and benefits of solar is due early next year.

We have not had that much solar in our territory until recently and PG&E is currently at only 1.3% of its system peak demand so the question is what will the costs be when we reach 2.5% and should we reach 10%.

We do know that NEM customers are credited at the full retail rate, which includes the power, transmission and distribution, and public purpose programs, which they do not currently pay. In addition they receive a rebate to help pay for the system and relief from the interconnection costs. The difference between what they pay and what they are credited is shifted to our non-solar customers.

3. What specifically does PG&E want for "performance standards"?

We want to make sure that if we’re going to head down the path of a solar program that we get what we think we’re going to get. We need have some reasonable assurances that the program is going to work. We would like to have firm deadlines for the projects to come online; performance assurance to protect against system operation and reliability costs associated with procurement planning should a program fail to materialize and commission authorization to establish other terms and conditions that are reasonable to ensure that the FIT program results in reliable renewable energy delivery.

4. Doesn't the logic of avoiding increases to customer prices under net metering also apply under feed-in tariffs?

Yes it does if you're overpaying for power as we are with the full retail credit we currently pay NEM customers. It is important to make sure the price is fair and that we get the renewable energy attributes, meaning that this power counts towards our renewable portfolio standards requirements.

PG&E's main objection to AB 1106 concerns "performance standards"

Click to Play

Cindy Pollard, spokesperson for PG&E, voices opposition to AB560, the Net Metering Cap Expansion Bill, and objects to AB 1106, the feed-in tariff bill, principally on grounds that it doesn't provide adequate "performance standards" for distributed generation connections to the grid, recorded from Sacramento, California, on July 3, 2009

Ted Ko at FIT Coalition talks about REESA and AB 1106

Click to Play

Ted Ko, Associate Executive Director of the FIT Coalition, talks about that group's efforts to amend AB 1106 to include a thorough-going feed-in tariff incorporating Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG), recorded from San Francisco, California, on July 2, 2009

Claudia Eyzaguirre at Vote Solar on AB 560, net-metering cap raiser

Click to Play

Claudia Eyzaguirre, Solar Advocate at the Vote Solar Initiative (www.votesolar.org), discusses net metering and the effort, through AB 560, to raise the cap on this solar-friendly policy mechanism, recorded on July 2, 2009

AB 560--Net Metering Cap--hearing rescheduled for Thursday

Rosalind Jackson at Vote Solar in San Francisco tells Etopia News that the hearing scheduled for 9:00 am PDT tomorrow in Room 2040 of the California State Capitol to consider AB 560, a bill by Berkeley Assemblymember Nancy Skinner to raise the net-metering cap from 2.5% to 10%, has been postponed until Thursday, July 2nd. The change in schedule was just confirmed by the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee, which says the meeting will be held at the same time and place on the 2nd of July.

PG&E, one of California's three big investor-owned utilities (IOUs), is rapidly approaching the 2.5% level of net-metering, a system under which utility customers are able to reduce their energy bills by feeding green electricity generated on their premises back into the electrical grid from which they otherwise receive it. PG&E opposes AB 560.

Net-metering differs from "feed-in tariffs" (FITs) in that FITs require utilities to pay for all the electricity they receive from user-producers, while net-metering involves driving the electric meter backwards, up to the point where the customer has a zero bill, after which time any additional electricity provided by the customer to the utility is being given for free to the power company.

Statewide net-metering exists on account of provisions of the California Solar Initiative, SB1. As generally understood, that law stipulates that when a utility derives 2.5% of its sold power from net-metering, the net-metering provision will expire and the utility will no longer be required to offer the program to its customers. Accordingly, unless the net-metering limit is raised from its current level, the success of this program will mean its imminent demise, which some observers believe would deal a crushing blow to California's solar industry.

Accordingly, Assemblymember Skinner has authored AB560, which would raise the net-metering program cap to 10%, in order to maintain the existence of the program and the health of the state's solar industry.

Mike Antheil, Executive Director, talks about FARE's July 11, 2009 annual meeting

Click to Play

Mike Antheil, Executive Director of the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE), talks about the upcoming July 11, 2009, annual meeting of the organization, recorded from Florida on June 29, 2009

Siemens supports DESERTEC

Click to Play

Etopia News anchor Marc Strassman reads a statement from Siemens AG outlining their support for the DESERTEC project to generate massive quantities of solar electricity in North Africa for export to Europe via high-voltage direct-current power lines, recorded in Los Angeles, California, on June 26, 2009

Cutting-edge projects and pioneering engineering achievements have always been typical Siemens merits – from intercontinental telegraph links to the Shannon project for the electrification of Ireland. “Desert power for Europe“ is again one such visionary project.

There is an enormous dormant energy potential in the desert regions on our Earth’s solar belt: There the sun is available for power generation for over 4800 hours a year, which is equivalent to more than three times the total annual insolation in Germany. Within 6 hours the Earth’s desert regions receive more energy from the sun than mankind consumes within a year. An area measuring 300 by 300 square kilometers fitted with parabolic mirrors would be sufficient to meet the world’s entire power demand.

Why shouldn’t we develop CO2-free power generation across continents in the 21st century, just like we developed intercontinental telecommunications in the 19th century. This unites sustainability, technological competence and visionary entrepreneurship. And precisely these aspects have been our focal areas for over 160 years.

The Desertec concept describes sustainable power supply for Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa based on renewable energy sources. The power is to be generated by solar thermal power plants primarily located in northern Africa and by wind farms off the coast of northern Africa and northern Europe.

Together with a number of renowned industrial companies Siemens has a commitment in the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Desertec II). The objective of this initiative is to develop over the mid-term a technical and economic concept for solar power from Africa. Work will also focus on the clarification of legal and political issues.

The technology for implementation of the Desertec concept is available. Solar thermal power plants have a track record spanning 20 years and will experience a boom that is currently still difficult to assess. Low-loss, long-distance transmission of large quantities of power is also technically feasible, and is already being successfully implemented in China and India.

Siemens is a world leader in offshore wind farms and steam turbines for solar-thermal power plants. Through its equity stake in the Italian company Archimede Solar Energy, Siemens can also offer solar receivers and thus a further key component for the construction of solar power plants. By combining these two technologies we will enhance the efficiency of these plants and further reduce solar power production costs.

Siemens is also a leading company in the field of high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission, which is essential for low-loss power transport over long distances to Europe’s load centers
.
A fundamental prerequisite for the successful implementation of such large-scale projects like Desertec is, however, common political will at international level.

Siemens is backing the concept with its solutions. Desertec could in the future make a contribution toward a clean power generation mix.