Recently in Net Metering Category

Control4 is a maker of home automation software, and have been pulled into the smart grid space by utility companies seeking suppliers with experience in home networking.

The Control4 Energy Management System (EMS) 100, is a combination of a Zigbee-enabled thermostat and touch-screen energy controller for viewing home energy data and accessing other home management applications. The EMS 100 package is set for launch in April.

The EMS 100 combines the functionality of a home area network controller with demand response support, with a wireless thermostat and energy management software to provide utilities a cost effective, flexible, home area network solution for their smart grid deployments.  

Leveraging Control4® Home Automation product technology, the EMS 100 is the only home energy management solution that delivers customer usage data via the smart meter and a standards-based, secure platform that can control many devices in the home.

Since research shows that information availability is essential to effective energy conservation, The EMS 100 serves as an effective communications tool, providing utilities an efficient means to alert customers of demand response events and send signals directly to devices in the home during peak times.

The EMS 100 solution features the following:

•    The Control4® Energy Controller EC-100 5-inch color touch screen display - The EC-100 delivers usage data and energy costs for the home and the ability for the customer to take such actions as powering down lights or adjusting shades to reduce energy use.
•    The WT-100 Thermostat - A simple, elegant, ZigBee-based programmable wireless thermostat that connects directly to the EC-100 for total control of heating and cooling throughout the home.  Programming the WT-100 thermostat is managed through the EC-100 display.
•    Control4® Network Management Software - Control4® Network Management Software enables the monitoring, optimization and reporting of all deployed energy controllers.  The network management tools provide cost effective Tier 1 technical support and remote diagnostic capabilities.
•    Control4® ECO Software - Control4® Energy Consumption Optimizer (ECO) Software collects, analyzes and compresses energy use and behavior data on the EC-100, then communicates with the utility's load management software to treat demand response events as a dispatchable resource.  
•    Control4® Platform - The standards-based, secure Control4® software platform is based on industry standards of embedded Linux and Adobe Flash Lite.  The platform is secured through ZigBee SE, SSL, and OpenSSH technology.  The platform is extensible, allowing third parties to develop new applications, providing enhanced functionality to the system over time. For example, utilities can develop their own applications such as the monitoring of gas and water or a home's carbon dioxide output.
•    Control4 Automation & Control -- Using ZigBee, Wi-Fi and Ethernet standards, Control4's solutions give homeowners the ability to control and automate their thermostats, lights, spa or pool, sprinklers and more, to manage power usage with one easy to use interface.

As the operating system for the connected home, Control4 brings home automation and control to the broad market. Control4 technology is at the heart of an expanding ecosystem of leading consumer electronics products designed to work together with ease.

By 2030, new commercial construction

in the United States will be zero-Energy.

This can be achieved by implementing

aggressive energy efficiency measures to

reduce demand by 70 - 80% and

meeting the remaining energy requirements through renewable resources.

The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) will convene the Zero-Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium in order to support the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative.

NASEO is comprised of senior officials from the energy offices of both the states and territories, in addition to affiliates from the private and public sectors, and will provide leadership for the Consortium.

The Consortium will include representatives from more than 300 organizations from the following building areas:

• The design professions, including national associations of architects and professional engineers
• The development, construction, financial, and real estate industries
• Building owners and operators from the public and private sectors
• Academic and research organizations with extensive commercial building energy expertise
• Building code agencies and organizations, including a model energy code-setting organization
• Independent high-performance green building associations or councils
• Experts in indoor air quality and environmental factors
• Experts in intelligent buildings and integrated building information systems
• Utility energy efficiency programs
• Manufacturers and providers of equipment and techniques used in high-performance green buildings
• Public transportation industry experts
• Non-governmental energy efficiency organizations.

THE GOAL: Affordable and marketable net-zero energy commercial buildings in all climate zones by 2025

In turn, the Consortium will support DOE, DOE national laboratories, and the Commercial Building Energy Alliances and Commercial Building Partners in achieving affordable and marketable net-zero energy commercial buildings in all climate zones by 2025.

The Consortium will provide access to technical expertise, communicate the emergence of new technologies to the commercial building community, and promote the demonstration of high-performance building technologies. A steering committee made up of NASEO members and lighting, window, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning suppliers will outline and drive the Consortium's goals and objectives.

More information can be found at the Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative Web site. Details about the Consortium and its membership are available at the Zero Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium Web site.

RESOURCE:  http://zeroenergycbc.org/

Insurance requirements as part of interconnection procedures continue to be an area of debate among utilities, legislatures and renewable energy cogeneration operators.

Utilities and regulators often start from the view that, if a customer's generator damages the grid, then, as a matter of fairness, the customer generator should pay for the damage.

From a cost causation standpoint, this view has intuitive appeal on fairness grounds: ratepayers should not bear the burden for damage to the utility grid caused by customer generation.

However, with over 70,000 solar arrays interconnected across the United States, the authors at the IREC are not aware of any case of line worker injury or significant utility property damage attributable to solar energy systems.

Property Owners Insurance..."Green Insurance?"

Moreover, solar arrays are expensive assets that are almost always covered under a property owner's insurance which would typically provide protection if damage or injury occurs.

Because of this, prohibiting additional insurance requirements in order to interconnect appears to have little practical cost impact for utility ratepayers, but requiring additional insurance does add cost for the system owner.

Virginia has recently implemented interconnection procedures which require customer-generators to carry insurance, but the amounts are no more than what property owners would generally carry:

• systems under 10 kW must carry $100,000,
• systems between 10 kW and 500 kW must carry $300,000, and
• systems between 500 kW and 2 MW must carry $2,000,000.

The IREC participates in state and municipal level workshops, proceedings, and rulemakings focused on net metering, interconnection, and financing of distributed renewable energy technologies.

Net Metering

Twenty-two states and DC changed or adopted net metering laws/regulations in 2009.

New in 2009?  Kansas and Nebraska established new net-metering policies, raising the national state total to 42.

Old news? Many states have seriously flawed rules that inhibit market growth.

According to the IREC, changes implemented in the other states address increasingly complex policy issues, including

• the treatment of net excess generation
• renewable energy credit (REC) ownership
• community-owned systems
• third-party ownership

Net metering rules by state, using the grades applied in Freeing the Grid 2009, are available at
www.newenergychoices.org.

"Super-sized" net metering (i.e., a 1-MW or greater individual systems capacity limit for at least one customer type) now exists in 20 states.

The most important issue for net metering continues to be the treatment of energy delivered to the electric grid.

The touchstone of the debate centers invariably on concerns over the potential for inter-class subsidies when implementing or expanding net metering programs. This issue was front and center in several states including California due to legislative efforts to expand the aggregate program cap for net-metered systems and the California commission's consideration and ultimate adoption of a cost-benefit methodology for assessing the costs and benefits of distributed generation including net metered systems.

Utilities typically view any framework which values net metered excess generation above avoided costs rates as an undue subsidy to customer-generators from non-participating ratepayers.

Many utilities continue to hold this view despite the ever mounting research finding that the benefits of renewable distributed generation justify valuing net metered excess generation from renewable resources well above a utility's typical avoided cost of generation.

Concerns over the potential for inter-class subsidies underpin many decisions legislatures or state utility commissions make in placing arbitrary caps on the aggregate capacity of net metered systems allowed to participate in state net metering programs.
 

Interconnection Standards

Interconnection standards continue to serve as an essential component of state renewable energy policy. Seven states and Puerto Rico improved interconnection standards over the last year.

For a comprehensive description of IREC's positions on net metering and interconnection issues, see IREC's newly revised model procedures and other documents on IREC's website. For a thorough analysis of the procedures developed in the states in which IREC was active in the past year, see www.dsireusa.org.