Monday, May 7, 2012

John Farrell's Three Steps to Community Power

John Farrell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance is one of the most important thought leaders in our movement. This is a very succinct description of the policy changes needed.

- Joy

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There are three policy solutions needed to enable community power:

1. Community net metering – to allow project owners to share the project's electricity output.  Right now, most state policies require utilities to allow net metering, but only for a solar or wind project on your own property.

2. Simplified securities law – to make community-based projects easier.  Right now, there's little difference between setting up a mutual fund and setting up a community solar project, and both take a lot of lawyers.  (Learn more in this report)

3. Smarter federal tax incentives – to allow community-based institutions to host community-based projects.  Non-profits, cooperatives, cities and counties are logical entities to build projects, but they can't (easily) use federal tax incentives for solar and wind power.  This raises the stakes for problem #2.

Read more:

http://www.ilsr.org/massive-supply-demand-imbalance-for-solar-and-wind-project-financing/

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

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