Agenda - 05-05-2009 - 3b - Laserfiche WebLink

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24 DEVELOPMENT OF A SOLAR CLUSTER IN ORANGE COUNTY April 13, 2009 Orange County Economic Development Commission structure aze net metering and interconnection. Net metering determines how a generator deals with excess energy. Interconnection is how the generator is able to connect to the existing utility grid. Several renewable energy trade groups develop an annual `report card' on each of the 50 states' net metering and interconnection status. In the 2008 report, North Carolina received an `F' in net metering, and a `B' in interconnection (`Freeing the Grid', published October 2008 by NNEC, Vote Solar, Interstate Renewable Energy Council and The Solar Alliance). The roadblocks in net metering that resulted in a failing grade include a low system size limit (20kW limit for residential, 100kW for non-residential), a limit of overall program size (limited to 0.2% of the utility's peak load from the previous year), treatment of excess energy produced by the generator (the excess is credited to the next bill but at a time of us rate or less; any excess credits are granted to the utility on an annual basis), and ownership of the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that are produced by the generator -the RECs are considered the property of the utility, rather than the generator. The NCSEA has recently petitioned the NCUC for changes to North Carolina's net metering regulations; a decision is expected soon. Additional challenges stem from the fact that the existing energy infrastructure system is not conducive to handle `distributed generation (energy created close to the point of generation), and the existing transmission lines are owned by the lazge utilities (Cherry and Saha, 2008). Conversely, another benefit of renewable energy on our energy supply is the increased reliability of the `aging electric grid by reducing the demand placed on it' (Solar American Initiative, 2007). In comparison to traditional electricity generation For EDC use only 18