Survey:Utilities, Regulators the Solar Industry Actually Agree on Net Metering - SolarStar

Last week we published our second look at GTM Squared""s Annual Survey Report: The Future of Global Electricity Systems. As we prepare to publish the 80-page report for Squared members, we are offering sneak peeks of trends we""ve spotted.

Calculating the value of customer-sited solar is becoming increasingly important across the U.S. The market segment is witnessing record growth, the subsequent pressure on local utilities from existing net-metering regimes is influencing regulatory debates innearly every state.

Recent net-metering decisions hed down by state commissions have been a mixed bag of progressive, conservative reactionary rulings that aim to define a fair value.

As part of GTM Squared""s upcoming survey report, we asked 500 industry experts what customer-sited solar should be valued at by the year 2020. The results are below.

Q: In 2020, as a rule, exported electricity from distributed, customer-sited solar should be valued at ...

Source: Annual Survey Report: The Future of Global Electricity Systems

Surprisingly, we see a degree of harmony here among utility, regulatory solar industry respondents on what has long been the industry""s most contentious issue. Retail electricity rates (less compensation for grid usage) is the number-one choice across each segmentation, that regulatory model finds real-world precedent in California""s recentNEM 2.0 ruling.

While assigning retail electricity value to customer-sited solar may be today""s gr bargain the way forward for many markets, our survey saw a groundswell of support for market-based solutions such as a calculated "value-of-solar" tariff, particularly among respondents who selected the answer "Other."

"Locational time-based wholesale prices, plus location-specific time-based value of distribution services," one commenter offered as a way to calculate the value of solar.

"LMP energy plus avoided transmission, plus credits for pollution avoidance," replied another respondent, adding, "long-term capacity contracts reflecting value of plants that can ramp up or down at will."

The final 80-page survey report will include deeper insights 20 additional inquiries into the key trends shaping tomorrow""s power market. The report will be made available to GTM Squared members during the week of February 1, 2016. Click here to download the report""s table of contents.