Is a co-located storage facility and wind or solar facility considered to be one qualifying facility (“QF”) under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (“PURPA”)? Or multiple QFs? How will the aggregate capacity of such storage plus wind/solar QF(s) be measured?  If the storage will only be charged from the co-located wind/solar facility, will the aggregate capacity of the storage plus wind/solar QF be the net power production capacity of the wind/solar facility? Or will…

In a recent order from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (the “Commission”), Minnesota took a big step to update the state’s interconnection process and standard interconnection agreement for distributed energy resources or “DERs.” This ongoing process relates to Minn. Stat. § 216B.1611 which directs the Commission to establish generic standards for utilities’ tariffs that govern the interconnection and parallel operation of distribution generation with a capacity of up to ten megawatts (“MW”). Minnesota’s original DER…

On June 21, 2018, the United States District Court, District of Minnesota issued an order and memorandum rejecting a challenge to the constitutionality of Minn. Stat. § 216B.246 and granting defendants’ motions to dismiss. The statute, which was enacted after FERC Order 1000 (and eliminating the federal right of first refusal or “ROFR”), provides incumbent electric utilities with the ROFR to build and own electric transmission lines that connect to their existing facilities (thereby creating…

On June 1, 2018, only two days after the completion of 12th SNEC International Photovoltaic Power Generation Conference, the world’s biggest solar conference and a central gathering of all the Chinese PV manufacturers, the Chinese central government announced a nation-wide solar subsidy cut that resulted in the Chinese solar stocks tumbling with the falling range from 7% to 31%.[1]  Specifically, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the National…

The California Public Utilities Commission (“Commission”) voted recently to approve $768 million in expenditures for electric vehicle infrastructure programs proposed by the state’s three investor-owned utilities (“IOUs”). The programs are part of a directive of SB 350 that requires utilities to undertake transportation electrification activities. Here is a brief overview of the approved programs: Approved at $137 million, SDG&E’s program provides rebates to up to 60,000 residential customers that install Level 2 (“L2”) charging stations,…

The New Jersey legislature recently passed a bill (the “Bill”) that would set a goal of reaching 600 megawatts of energy storage capacity by 2021 and 2 gigawatts by 2030.[1] This represents one of the largest energy storage implementation goals in the country and likely signals the coming of a large new market for energy storage. The Bill requires the Board of Public Utilities (“BPU”), with PJM Interconnection’s consultation, to conduct an energy storage analysis covering a wide…