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Sierra Club Agreement Promotes Renewable Energy Growth in California
Case Updates:
March 27, 2012
Sierra Club has reached an agreement with private utilities, renewable energy producers and advocacy groups before the California Public Utility Commission that will facilitate more local clean energy throughout the state. The agreement revises Electric Rule 21, which governs the process by which small-scale local energy projects such as roof-top solar and combined heat and power (CHP) connect and supply to the distribution grid of utilities like PG&E.
The existing Rule 21 was not designed to facilitate the interconnection of a significant volume of projects that seek to sell energy to the grid. As a result, projects seeking to participate in the Commission’s renewable and CHP programs were left without an effective and transparent path to interconnect, creating significant delays and uncertainty. The Revised Rule agreed to by the Sierra Club and other settlement parties significantly increases transparency and accountability in the interconnection process, thereby producing less confusion, delays, and reduced transaction costs. In addition, the Revised Rule creates more opportunities for expedited interconnection review to allow more projects to efficiently interconnect. Collectively, the changes are an important step in reducing barriers to local clean energy in California.
Details and Documents:
News Articles:
Utililty regulators more than double California's solar power goal
May 25, 2012 by Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
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