SHINING BRIGHT
Annual report shows OKC's solar progressing
Count Oklahoma City as a “solar builder.”
Shining Cities 2020, an annual report released by Environment America and the Frontier Group, designated Oklahoma City as such Wednesday. The report shows OK Chad enough per capita solar cap acit yin stalled by the end of 2019 to rank 57th among the nation' s top 65 communities, with 5.7 megawatts deployed.
Oklahoma City has been ranked by the report since 2015, when it had a total of 1 megawatt of energy deployed. At the end of 2018, it ranked 64th, with a report co- author describing the city's improvement as being notable.
“That is good news for Oklahomans ,” said Ben Sonnega, a Go Solar campaign associate with Environment America. “It shows the community is beginning to take the lead in deploying a technology where there is a whole lot of sun available.
“More and more local elected officials are recognizing a whole host of benefits that solar energy can bring to their communities. This is a trend that we continue to believe will charge forward.”
Some of that growth in Oklahoma City, he agreed, likely is attributable to regulatory changes enacted by the
Oklahoma Corporation Commission last year that required regulated utilities to change how they compensate solar system owners for excess energy generated by the systems that flow back to the grid.
On average, about 20% to 40% percent of a solar energy system's output flows back. Before Oklahoma's rules were changed, utilities only were required to provide a monthly credit back to system owners for that could, if big enough, zero out a bill for power they used from the grid to help energize homes or businesses.
Now, the utilities provide the owners with credits that can be used to defer costs on future bills. Some states require credits to equal retail rates for the energy while in Oklahoma, owners are compensated at wholesale energy costs.
The report indicates the use of solar power to energize homes and businesses continues to expand rapidly across the nation. It states the U.S. had 77.7 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity installed at the end of 2019 — more than enough to power one in every 10 homes in the nation.
The report notes America's major cities continue to play a key role in sol ar' s growth because t hey are both major sources of electricity demand and have millions of rooftops suitable for solar panels.
“Cities are leading the charge to install clean, renewable solar energy,” said Wendy Wendlandt, Environment America Research & Policy Center's acting president.
“Mayors and local officials recognize the benefits that solar energy can offer their communities. Each year of our study we've f ound t hat more l ocal leaders are pursuing solar projects and smart local policies to help their constituents tap the power of the sun.”
Policy changes encouraged
The report urges cities, states and the federal government to keep the industry growing by adopting strong policies to make it easier for homeowners, businesses and utilities to “go solar.”
More than 150 cities in the U.S. have adopted 100% renewable electricity goals (in Oklahoma, only Norman has adopted plans to operate its facilities using renewable energy sources by 2050).
The report also encourages them to bar restrictions enacted by neighborhood associations to keep the technology out, and to encourage or require new home builders to install solar panels and/or make their homes zero net-energy users. Oklahoma' s legislature passed a law this year that prevents counties or municipalities from enacting requirements forcing builders to tailor their projects to use one type of energy source over others.
It also calls for local governments to improve permitting, zoning and inspection processes, to install solar systems on public buildings and to offer financing programs making solar energy available to all residents, including low-income households, nonprof - its, small businesses and apartment dwellers.
In Oklahoma, some communities and counties are fostering the technology' s growth by using the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program.
State governments, meanwhile, should set or increase renewable energy targets for utilities, adopt specific solar energy requirements and preserve strong statewide interconnection and net metering policies.
As for the federal government, the report calls on it to maintain policies that promote the technology through both continuing existing tax credit programs and creating others to encourage non profits, housing authorities to adopt the technology.
It also asks the federal government to lead by example by putting solar installation son every possible rooftop it controls.
Advantages promoted
Proponents note solar systems produce no carbon emissions (though the process to manufacture and deploy such systems does).
Still, they assert that solar systems emit 95% less greenhouse gas emissions over an entire life cycle than coal plants do, and 90% less than natural gas fired electrical generating stations.
The report states greenhouse gas reductions improve public health through reducing poor air quality-induced strokes, heart disease, acute respiratory disease, asthma and lung cancer.
Also, it notes solar systems generate the most energy during demand peaks. As its deployment continues, the need to operate older, less-efficient and higher-polluting peaker plants declines, it states.
Finally, the resource's ability to be deployed as a stand-alone energy system (when combined with battery storage) keeps critical facilities such as hospitals, fire stations and storm shelters energized when natural disasters take larger grids offline.
As for home and business owners, they enjoy the benefit of consuming their own electricity, helping to protect them from spikes and general increases in fossil fuel prices (particularly when they pair their solar panels with energy storage systems, such as batteries), it states.
Lindsey P ever, a founding member of the Oklahoma Solar Association, applauded Oklahoma City's advancement among communities that are tracked by the report for solar deployment, adding that the technology's use across Oklahoma continues to grow.
“We have great leadership to improve our ranking, both at the local level with Oklahoma City's Office of Sustainability, and at the state level with elected Corporation Commissioners who have proven their willingness to reassess rules that were deemed unfair to some and a hindrance to an industry ,” Pever said.