Last Week from ILSR’s Energy Self-Reliant States: Why Master Limited Partnerships are a Lousy Policy for Solar, Wind, and Taxpayers

A thorough explanation of what’s in Minnesota’s new solar law (net metering, CLEAN/FIT, and more!) and why I think Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) would be a lousy idea for renewable energy.

Sincerely,

John

Why Master Limited Partnerships are a Lousy Policy for Solar, Wind, and Taxpayers

If you follow the renewable energy industry and haven’t been sleeping, then you’ve probably heard about one of the few pieces of federal legislation purported to help clean energy that’s actually moving: expanding Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) to cover wind and solar energy. (H.R.1696) This is not a good thing. MLPs originated in 1986, when…

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Expect Delays: Reviewing Ontario’s “Buy Local” Renewable Energy Program

Launched in 2009, Ontario’s “buy local” Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program promised to deliver hundreds of megawatts of new renewable energy and create 50,000 new jobs by the end of 2012. The program has had some notable achievements, and the province has worked hard to remedy some of the remaining roadblocks to success. The bottom line…

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Half of Germany’s 63,000 Megawatts of Renewable Energy is Locally Owned

Courtesy of Craig Morris and the Germany Renewable Energy industry, evidence that Germany’s renewable energy program remains people powered.  Total megawatts represent wind and solar only.

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Minnesota’s New (Standard Offer) Solar Energy StandardA friend at Fresh Energy generously called me the “architect” of Minnesota’s new solar energy standard (signed last week), and although that may be a bit generous, I’d like to provide a detailed description of the nation’s newest solar energy standard. The topline: 1.5% solar standard for the state’s investor-owned utilities (with some exemptions) for…

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A Community Solar Gold Standard: Episode 9 of Local Energy Rules Podcast

Joy Hughes was living in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, a place with a “tremendous amount of solar potential,” so good that the valley’s residents were being overwhelmed by proposals for large scale solar power plants. One had a “field of things like radar dishes” and another included a “600 foot tower.” The influx…

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Popular Resources

• Germany Has More Solar Power Because Everyone Wins

• Local Energy Rules Podcast

• Rooftop Revolution Resources

• Hawaiian Sunblock: Solar Facing Unexpected Barriers Despite Low Cost

• U.S. CLEAN Programs: Where Are We?  What Have We Learned?

• Energy Self-Reliant States, 2nd edition