Inside Clean Energy: Rooftop Solar Gets a Lifeline in Arkansas

Workers install PV modules in September 2016. Credit: Dennis Schroeder/NREL Inside Clean Energy One of the big debates in the regulation of renewable energy is about how best to compensate owners of rooftop solar for electricity they sell back to the grid. This fight over "net metering" is playing out across the country, with utilities often trying to make rooftop solar less of a financial winner for customers. In Arkansas, solar advocates are feeling a sense of relief after state regulators ruled on Monday that utilities must keep the current net metering system in place until at least the beginning of 2023 for systems that are less than 1 megawatt. That means no additional fees and no changes to rates that now pay rooftop solar owners the full retail price of electricity for any excess electricity they sell to the grid. Arkansas is one of a band of states in the South that have an abundance of sun but have been slow to develop solar power. The state ranks 31st in the country in installed solar, with 220 megawatts. If the United States is going to move swiftly on the transition to clean energy, these sunny Southern states must […]

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