The Ohio bill freezes mandates that require utilities to gradually phase in the purchase of 25 percent of their power from alternative sources, including wind, solar and emerging technologies like clean coal production, by 2025. While the freeze is in effect for two years, a commission would study the issue.
One recent study predicts the cost of electricity in California alone could jump 47% over the next 16 years, in part because of the state’s shift toward more expensive renewable energy.
California, a world leader in wind energy development in the 1980s and 1990s, now ranks behind Texas in wind power capacity and industry jobs, according to the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association.
The reform will slow the growth of green energy, which accounts for 25 percent of Germany’s electricity, and force new investors in green power to take some risk.
Germany’s exports would have been €15bn higher last year if its industry had not paid a premium for electricity compared with international competitors, according to an analysis published on Thursday.
A commission of experts appointed by the German parliament has recommended Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to abolish all subsidies for green energy, highlighting mounting opposition to plans to reform instead of scrap the system.
Experts have estimated that electricity from giant solar projects will cost at least twice as much as electricity from conventional sources. But neither the utilities that have contracted to buy the power nor state regulators have disclosed what the price will be, only that it will be passed on to electricity customers.
California energy regulators have proposed a set of sweeping changes to the way most of the state’s residents pay for power. The current system, in which electricity prices are based on the amount used, would be fundamentally altered by 2018, under the proposal issued this week by the California Public Utilities Commission.
Spain has good reason for wanting to take action. It is facing a growing deficit — about $40 billion now — because it has never passed on the true cost of producing energy to its consumers, a problem that has ballooned with the economic crisis. If it does not do something, that deficit will only grow, experts say.
PG&E said the increase is due to rate changes, effective Wednesday, to pay for higher wholesale energy purchase costs and for work to maintain and modernize the utility’s infrastructure.
David Cameron has vowed to cut consumer bills by reining back several green energy initiatives in a move that will set him on a collision course with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners. Mr Cameron, who once declared “vote blue, go green,” has found himself on the back foot amid double-digit-percentage rises in household energy bills and a renewed political focus on the “cost of living”.
Welcome to SolarCity, the latest booming green company that has never recorded a profit. The startup’s stock price has soared by 600% since its IPO last December—it closed on Monday at $57 a share—and spiked after the company announced a couple of weeks ago that it expects business to grow by 70% to 90% next year. Yet the company, based in San Mateo, Calif., and specializing in deploying rooftop panels, ended the first six months this year $61 million in the red. Ordinarily, that sort of number might disconcert investors. But SolarCity’s business model is powered by government subsidies, which also fueled the 500% stock run-up and turn to profit this year of the electric-car maker Tesla. Steering both companies is Elon Musk.
This study evaluates the ratepayer impacts of the California net energy metering (NEM) program and fulfills the requirements of Assembly Bill (AB) 2514 (Bradford, 2012)1 and Commission Decision (D.) 12-05-036 to determine “who benefits, and who bears the economic burden, if any, of the net energy metering program,” by October 1, 2013.
Sacramento, Calif. — California state economic development director Kish Rajan today announced an effort to streamline the permitting process for zero emission vehicle fueling stations and significantly expand California’s hydrogen and electric vehicle capacity.
“Solar power itself is a good thing, but Germany’s pro-renewables policy has been a disaster. It has the absurd distinction of completing the trifecta of bad energy policy:
1. Bad for consumers
2. Bad for producers
3. Bad for the environment (yes, really; I’ll explain)
Pretty much the only people who benefit are affluent home-owners and solar panel installation companies. A rising tide of opposition and resentment is growing among the German press and public.”