News

Lawmakers in Minnesota have proposed legislation to encourage the putting of energy loans on utility bills. The proposed law says that banks that lend money are responsible for unpaid loans, not the utility’s shareholder or ratepayer. It also says that a customer who moves is responsible for paying off the loan, not the next owner or tenant of a property. Thirdly, it says utilities would not be allowed to shut off service due to an unpaid loan. Read more here.

In its updated S-1 filing today, AEE Member Company Opower has set its IPO price range at $17 to $19 and intends to sell 6.1 million shares during its upcoming IPO. It is also offering 915,000 shares to underwriters. Opower could raise $110 million at the mid-point of the price range. Read more here.

New York City utility Con Edison and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power have teamed up on five solar projects totaling 360 MW on the West Coast. Four of the projects, located in California,  are owned by ConEd’s subsidiary Consolidated Edison Development and total 100 MW. The fifth, is the Sempra-owned 250 MW Copper Mountain Solar Project near Las Vegas and is still under construction.

AEE member company SolarCity has announced that it has put a halt on paying application fees for grid interconnections on behalf of solar-plus-battery customers with California’s three big investor-owned utilities – Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric – citing a backlog and slowdown. Utilities say they are reluctant to grant net-metering rights when these customers could collect electricity in batteries and then feed it back into the grid. The company is seeking intervention by the state’s PUC to resolve the dispute. Read more here.

AEE member company First Solar has begun to pursue smaller projects and customer-sited installations as demand has shifted from utility-scale installations to distributed generation. The company expects higher demand for commercial and industrial rooftops in the U.S. CEO Jim Hughes predicts that this strategy would yield an increase of about 36 percent in sales over the next three years. 

According to a study by AEE partner Clean Energy Trust, almost 97,000 Illinois residents work in clean energy, with growth of 9 percent expected in 2014. Renewables accounted for 21 percent of the jobs while positions in energy efficiency were responsible for 62 percent of the jobs. Positions in efficiency included those in heating, ventilation and air conditioning as well as building controls. Read more here. 

New York City utility Con Edison is offering significantly higher incentives for landlords to reduce their power consumption during summer-time peak hours. The richer rewards for participation in demand response are part of an effort to see how much electricity consumption can be reduced in case the Indian Point nuclear power plant, which provides 20% of the city’s power, is shut down when its license expires in 2016. Con Ed is also offering incentives for load-shifting technologies like battery and ice storage. Read more here. 

Arizona State University and AORA Solar NA have teamed up to build a hybrid concentrated solar power plant that produces electricity and thermal energy. It will be designed to move from solar to natural gas or biogas for 24/7 power. Read more here. 

Farmers in Kansas are opposing the construction of a major Clean Line Energy Partners built power line, which would deliver wind power to Indiana. If built, Green Belt Express Clean Line would begin operation in 2018. The farmers are worried about a change in property values and property right issues. Read more here.

A federal judge rejected key arguments made by groups seeking to overturn environmental permits for the Cape Wind offshore wind farm project in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts. However, he directed two federal agencies to review the possible risks the project could have on wildlife. The project is valued at $2.6 billion and will be the first offshore wind farm in the U.S.