Wind-Solar Coming in Hot
In Minnesota Juhl Energy is pioneering a new way to create highly efficient renewable energy farms. This is being done by pairing one or more wind turbines with a solar array. When it’s done like this only one inverter and one grid connection is needed which reduces equipment costs compared to doing two separate projects. The price of solar has dropped as well so that’s another reason why companies are looking to add it to their wind power projects. It’s a match made in heaven since the solar will be strong during the day and the wind will flex its muscles mainly at night.
Trump Administration again Seeking to Cut Renewable Funding
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy budget is under attack again by the Trump Administration which is seeking to cut it from $2.3 billion to $700 million. With Democrats now ruling the house it’s likely the proposal won’t pass. “It’s a shutdown budget,” said Mike Carr, who served as the No. 2 official within the energy division under President Barack Obama. “That’s apparently what they (Trump Administration) want to signal to their base -- they still want to shut these programs down.”
Programs such as research into technology for electric vehicles, research of using waves to create power, technology to make wind power competitive with coal, cutting the costs of LED products, and much more would be under the chopping block if this bill were to go through.
Compromise is Reached on Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program
The Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program let’s you pay for home energy upgrades through your property taxes and lets you write off the interest in most cases. At the same time some PACE programs have high interest rates and invoke liens on homes. Over 180,000 home owners nationwide have used this program and PACE has been under attack recently due to some predatory lenders using the PACE program in an unethical fashion. After behind the scenes work between Senate staffers, consumer groups, mortgage lenders, and PACE proponents, a compromise has been reached through a large banking bill that was overwhelming supported by the Senate Banking Committee. It’s not clear what changes we’re made but this is a rare win for the solar industry after the Trump administration and Republicans have killed the Clean Power Plan and stalled energy-efficiency standards. What all homeowners should know moving forward is to be very careful with any PACE loan that is offered because of everything that has happened. PACE does have potential to offer a great solutions for home energy upgrades but now it’s clear that it can be dangerous as well so this is another lesson for homeowners to be even more careful whenever taking a loan for energy upgrades.