Greentech Lead America: Leading rooftop solar companies in America have announced the formation of The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) to facilitate the switch from utility power to distributed solar power.
Founding members of TASC include the majority of the U.S. rooftop solar market and include SolarCity, Sungevity, Sunrun and Verengo.
Most immediately, TASC will focus on ensuring the continuation of Net Energy Metering (NEM). Currently in place in 43 states, NEM provides solar consumers with fair credit for the energy they put back on the grid, which utilities then sell to other customers.
Conventional utilities view rooftop solar as a threat to their monopoly business model. A recent report from utility trade association Edison Electric Institute (EEI) has described the increasing popularity of consumer-driven rooftop solar, energy efficiency, and demand response as a “vicious cycle.”
Distributed solar reduces expensive and inefficient investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure and decreases the need for expensive conventional power, TASC said.
“Americans are choosing solar in record numbers to save money on electric bills,” said TASC member and Sunrun co-founder Edward Fenster . “While this benefits the American consumer and the economy, monopoly utilities want to stop this progress to protect their own interests.”
“Without consumer choice and empowerment, the utilities will continue to increase their rates and profits,” said TASC member and SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. “If Americans are denied the right to choose how they produce and consume electricity, monopoly utilities will continue to choose their profits over the interests of consumers.”
Studies in Arizona, California,
For example, a study published this year by Crossborder Energy shows solar customers with net metering will deliver a financial benefit of more than $92 million annually to all California ratepayers, not just those with solar.
Rapid cost reductions and business innovations like third-party ownership have made distributed solar even more attractive and affordable today. Two-thirds of home solar installations are now occurring in low and median income neighborhoods, according to a July 2012 California Solar Initiative report issued by the California Public Utilities Commission.