 Hello, aloha, and welcome to Power Up Hawaii, where Hawaii comes together to walk towards a clean, renewable, and just energy future. I am your hostess, Raya Salter. I'm a clean energy attorney, clean energy advocate, and community outreach specialist. I'm also the principal attorney of Imagine Power LLC. Hawaii is facing cutting-edge energy challenges. While our policies are helping to lead the way, similar issues with regards to rooftop solar, energy efficiency, and other topics are playing out here and throughout the nation. It's in our interest to stay on top of laws and policies happening elsewhere in the country. So today we're going to go over some important energy and utility news from around the country as reported in the news last week. The first is a story about Hawaii, right here where we are. On December 21st, Pacific Business News reported that Oahu's solar energy industry continues to take a tumble more than a year after Hawaii state regulators ended a popular incentive program. The city and county of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting issued 434 permits for photo PV photovoltaic systems in November. Now that's down 40% from the same month last year. This is according to data collected by Margo Mangelsdorf, president of Big Island-based Provision Solar. For the first 11 months of the year, a total of 4,590 permits were issued by the city agency, down 32% from the same time period last year. The total value of these projects was down 23% compared to last year, with a cumulative value of 218.4 million in 2006, compared to 283.5 million in 2015. This means that there's less money in the economy coming from the solar industry in Hawaii. There's also been news on solar on similar issues in other parts of the country. Let's take a look at what's been going on in Nevada. Now on December 23rd, Utility Dive reported that the public utility commission of Nevada voted to reinstate full retail rate net metering for solar customers in northern Nevada after terminating it last year. Just a reminder, net metering is a popular billing mechanism that credits residential solar customers, usually at the retail rate of electricity, for any excess energy exported to the grid. But increasingly, the policy has come under fire. Utilities say those customers don't pay their fair share for grid upkeep. On the other hand, solar customers argue utilities and regulators fail to quantify all the benefits distributed solar provides to the grid, including avoided costs and transmission and environmental impacts. Regulators said in this instance, any cost shift to non-solar ratepayers is reasonable under the facts of this case. Now I'll stop and mention one of the reasons that net metering comes under fire is because the utilities and others say that it costs more than it brings benefit to the system. And any time that happens, that's a cost that could be passed on to other ratepayers. In Nevada they've decided that in this instance that could be reasonable, though last year regulators chose to end that state's retail net metering program, replacing it with lower rates and higher fees. They also applied the new rates not just to new solar customers, but existing ones as well, an unprecedented move that sparked the most controversy. After the decision, two leading solar developers exited the state and national and a national wave of backlash slammed the decision, leading to the governor to form an energy task force and choose not to reappoint two commissioners. After that decision, the incumbent utility, NV Energy, collaborated with solar interests, including Solar City, to come up with a grandfathering proposal. Solar City, in conjunction with the Natural Resource Defense Council, Kavyat, I used to be an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, also produced a study showing that rooftop solar provides a net benefit of 1.6 kilowatts per hour. With this win for solar advocates, it appears that the solar sector in Nevada is on course to reclaim some of the financial ground it lost through the decision last year. However, the reinstatement is confined to less than 2,000 customers. It remains to be seen whether or not this decision will spread to the rest of Nevada. Also, important and interesting news on solar and net metering coming out of Arizona. In a complete different result than in Nevada, Arizona regulators voted to end retail net metering in its value of solar proceeding. On December 23rd, UtilityDive reported that Arizona regulators voted four to one to eliminate retail net metering and replace it with a reduced compensation mechanism for new solar customers after a two-day proceeding that focused on the value of solar. This is according to the Arizona Republic. The compensation rate for new solar customers will be decided through a rate case, and existing solar customers would keep their original rates for 20 years from the date of interconnection. An administrative law judge recommended that utilities buy the excess rooftop solar at an avoided cost rate. Customers from Vote Solar and the Alliance for Solar Choice said such a reduction will trim the compensation about 30 percent for solar customers. The commissioners said they didn't really want the reduced credit to fall more than 10 percent in a given year, but acknowledged the initial decline will likely be more than that. In other news, moving beyond solar, clean energy is surging in Las Vegas. As reported by the Huffington Post in December, the city of Las Vegas is now powered entirely by renewable energy. Las Vegas just became the largest U.S. city to rely solely on green energy to power its municipal facilities. City officials announced that all Las Vegas city facilities, from government buildings to streetlights, are now running entirely on renewable energy. The achievement marks the completion of the city's nearly decade-long goal to fully transition to clean energy only, a project that was expedited after the city partnered with public utility company Envy Energy almost a year ago. While all government facilities are now only powered by renewable energy, many residential and commercial buildings are not. Officials were able to make the announcement after Boulder Solar One, a massive solar array in the southeast corner of Nevada, went online last week. Las Vegas is now the largest city in the United States to run off of renewable energy. The shift to renewable energy started in 2008 and has since saved the city roughly five million annually, and decreased energy consumption by more than 30 percent, reports the Las Vegas Review Journal. Now, let's talk about, there's some interesting news in several jurisdictions about new investments in electric vehicles. This has been happening around the country, and I think this is something that is extremely important here in Hawaii as well. There's a huge desire, folks really want to see electric vehicles take off and particularly on the island, but, as can be imagined, it can only happen if we have access to charging. So it makes all the sense in the world that an island the size of a wahoo is ideal for electric vehicles. Why would you need gas if you could charge your car battery and drive from here to the North Shore and back and up to Kailua to Waini and back without having to worry about it? Well as we understand, that's not the case, and we're working here in the state to have more charging stations, and that's going to mean more investment in grid and charging infrastructure. Now this is work that is happening across the country as well. So let's go ahead and talk about what is happening in North Carolina. As reported by Metering and Smart Energy International, Duke Energy will invest one million dollars into EV infrastructure in North Carolina. To do this, the utility will partner with multiple institutions including universities, owners of shopping malls, and providers of electric vehicle charging technologies for the implementation of this project. The utility will provide grants of up to five thousand dollars for the purchase and installation of the electric vehicle charging ports. Recipients of grant funding will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the charging stations. The EV charging stations will be built in areas including shopping centers, libraries, and public spark parking spaces. The project will increase the number of public EV charging stations in North Carolina by 30%. So you can see this is an interesting mechanism to try and increase electric vehicle charging stations. So instead of the utility deciding that it's going to buy and build and operate those stations, instead they're going to do grants and the folks that are granted to will be responsible to maintain those stations, but it's going to mean a big increase in electric vehicle charging in North Carolina. So we shall see what that means in terms of does that also increase electric vehicle ownership and just the enjoyability that electric vehicle owners have with their cars. And I suspect the answer to that will be yes. It is also, there's also big electric vehicle activity happening in California. As reported by the smart grid consumer collaborative on December 23rd, Pacific Gas and Electric will soon bring up to 7,500 electric vehicle chargers to Northern California. The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a decision directing PG&E to move ahead with what will be the country's largest utility-led electric vehicle charging deployment. The charge smart and save plan includes 7,500 electric vehicle charging points in workplaces, multi-unit residential buildings, and disadvantaged communities and is capped at a cost of $130 million. $130 million is quite a lot of money. We will see what the 7,500 new electric vehicle charging stations ultimately means for the electric vehicle industry and owners and drivers of electric vehicles in California. Now we are going to take a break and then we will be back with more news from energy from around the country on Power of Hawaii. Think Tech Hawaii covers stories that matter to tech and to Hawaii. I'm Elise Anderson and I'm Kauai Lucas. For our show next time, we're doing a Think Tech special, Home Alone and Homeless Alone at Christmas. We want to learn more about the isolated, disconnected people alone in our community. Lots to come on Think Tech. Tune in 10.30 p.m. this Sunday. See you then. Hello, this is Martin Despeng. I want to get you excited about my new show, which is Humane Architecture for Hawaii and Beyond. We're going to broadcast on Tuesdays, 5 p.m. here on Think Tech Hawaii. Hello and welcome back to Power of Hawaii. I am your host, Raya Salter. And today we're talking about news from around the country. Today we're reporting on news from around the country on clean energy. Now one thing that is very exciting is that multiple states are looking at big new plans for renewable portfolio standards and energy planning. Now renewable portfolio standard means is when a state or entity or organization decides they're going to mandate that they want to have a certain number of renewables come from the electricity sector by a certain date. Now these are good because they set the standard. They let industry know that that particular state is open for business. And they direct utilities and others to know that we are going to reach renewable energy targets by a certain time period. So new renewable portfolio standards have been cropping up across the country. And we've had some news on it just this week. First, in Michigan, there is a new RPS in Michigan. Where officials have enacted a major overhaul in energy policy, which includes a new portfolio standard. As reported by the Detroit News on December 21st, Missioner Governor Rick Snyder has begun a policy overhaul that establishes a new long term planning process for traditional utilities as they continue to retire coal fired power plants and consider replacements. This plan increases renewable energy requirements and lists a cap on energy efficiency incentives. The new policy will require Michigan utilities to buy or produce at least 15% of their energy from renewable sources by 2022. The renewable portfolio standard pushed by Democrats and environmental groups. caveat, I have worked for several environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund. Builds on the 10% standard utilities already met in 2015. The law also creates a new goal of meeting 35% of the state's energy needs through waste reduction and renewable sources by 2025. It increases incentives for utilities to offer efficiency programs to their customers. Now, I'll talk about why incentives for energy efficiency can be so important. As you can imagine, many, the traditional utility model means that a utility earns more money when it sells more energy. So you can imagine an energy efficiency project, that's something that works to actually save energy and have customers spend consume less energy. So in some instances, customers spending less money on energy could cause the utility to lose money and that is against their business model. So there are a number of ways that utilities can be incented to continue to pursue energy savings, which actually are a win-win for the system. So it is good news when we have more incentives for energy efficiency. So this final plan dropped a proposed charge for energy customers who propose in net metering programs, generating their own supply through solar panels or other renewable sources to add back to the grid. Instead, the legislation tasks the Michigan Public Service Commission with developing an appropriate tariff for new net metering customers after determining whether their use of power lines or other energy infrastructure creates a significant strain on the system. According to the Detroit News, it is unclear just how the legislation will ultimately affect ratepayers in Michigan who pay currently very high rates of electricity. This news out of Michigan is important as that state will be looking to Hawaii as we develop our own new tariffs for net metering in upcoming markets. One of the key conversations that will happen there is, as we've heard from stories out of Arizona and also Nevada, what is the fairest and best way to calculate the value that solar energy and other renewable energy assets bring to the system? That is going to be a debate between stakeholders, including the utility and the solar industry, that is going to be extremely important in Hawaii just as it has been extremely important throughout the country as we've discussed today. Back to the big news happening on renewable portfolio standards across the country, Massachusetts is now thinking about a new renewable portfolio standard as reported by Utility Dive on December 24th. Proposed Massachusetts air regulations target 80% decarbonization by 2050. With its 80% decarbonization goal by mid-century, Massachusetts is one of the few states with a greenhouse gas goal that roughly aligns with the Paris Accord. But in May, the state's highest court found its economy was not keeping pace and ruled deeper emissions cuts were needed to comply with the law. Utilities under this new contemplated plan would be required to purchase credits for clean generation in increasing proportions starting with 16% of their retail load in 2018 and growing to 18% and then 20% in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Renewables, nuclear and CCS fossil plants would generate the credits that's carbon capture and sequestration. After 2020, the standard would increase 2% a year until it reached 80% of each retail provider's portfolio in 2050. So it is exciting news about progress on renewable portfolio standards from across the country. However, there have also been for what a clean energy advocate like myself would consider distressing news for the clean power plan. Now, the clean power plan is the set of rules and regulations that the Obama administration put together designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the utility sector in the United States. It was the clean power plan that allowed for President Obama to go to Paris in 2015 and make the extremely important accord to curb greenhouse gas emissions growth amongst nations. So as we have heard, President-elect Trump has said that he would like to roll back those regulations. And now we are seeing that states are asking for a rollback of the clean power plan. So while some states, as we discussed, have taken leadership on clean energy, others are pushing for an end to those federal clean energy rules. As reported by utility dive on December 23rd, two dozen states have sent a letter to Vice President-elect Mike Pence and other Republican leaders calling for the incoming administration to roll back the clean power plan on its first day in office. Led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey, the states asked that President-elect Trump issue an executive order instructing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to not enforce the rule. Scrapping President Obama's signature climate rule was a campaign promise Trump made in September, along with others to roll back regulation and empower fossil fuel mining and use. So this is, I think, an important thing also to take note of. While it can seem very distressing that we could get so many states deciding to not want to participate in the clean power plan, I think it's important to understand that the way that the clean power plan was designed, it was always designed where states were going to have a lot of options and how they decided to pursue greenhouse gas emissions. So the states that were many of the states that are now asking for the rollback are probably those who would have elected for the very lowest level of requirements from the rule. The states that are progressive on clean energy, we hope and believe should be free to continue to pursue clean energy policies. Now that's not a promise, but that is a clearly a hope. Now we're going to take another short break and we'll be back with more news from around the country on clean energy. Hi, I'm Ethan Allen, host of likeable science on Think Tech Hawaii. I hope you'll join me every Friday at 2 p.m. to discover what is likeable about science. We bring on scientists of all ilk, astronomers, physicists, chemists, biologists, ecologists, and they talk about their work and more importantly, they talk about why you should talk about their work, why you should think about their work, why you should like their work. I help them bring out why their work is understandable, why it's meaningful, why people should care about it, why people should support science. We have a good time. We talk about current events and interest. We talk about historical events sometimes. We dig deep into their research, why they do, what the joys and delights and frustrations of their work are, and in all, we show a real world of science, a real world of likeable science. I hope you'll join us every Friday at 2 p.m. Hi and welcome back to Power Up Hawaii. My name is Raya Salter and I am your host today. We're talking about clean energy news from around the country as reported in the last week. The next story is something that you may not have thought very much about but could have important implications for the energy system and that is the energy implications for legal marijuana. On December 23rd, Green Biz reported on the need to plan for the electricity demand brought on by the new and growing legal marijuana business, another issue that will also be important for Hawaii or could be important for Hawaii in the near future. Now on November 8th, voters in California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine voted to legalize recreational marijuana joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia where it's already legal. This means some 67 million Americans will live in places where recreational pot is legal and almost 300% increase and this means huge new demand for electricity. Over 90% of legal marijuana is grown indoors where it requires high intensity lighting and climate control, giving grow facilities energy density similar to those of data centers. In 2015, Colorado's marijuana industry consumed 300 gigawatt hours of electricity, including over 2% of Denver's total demand. OK, wait a minute, let me say that again. 2% of Denver's total demand. The Pacific Northwest is expected to see marijuana load on par with electric vehicle load over the next 20 years. California and the other new states may see several terawatt hours of new demand, comparable to the, and we don't, I can't, I think that might be the only time I've said that out loud, a terawatt, comparable to the entire demand for Washington, DC or Rhode Island. So I think it's important to say, folks, growing pot is a highly energy intensive business. Who would a thunk it? And this is actually, there's nothing really humorous about it when you think about it, because if we start talking about having additional or more fees for marijuana growers, that's going to mean a big cut to the bottom line. And we could see this being a big political fight. And it could also be a problem if all of this load happens at peak times, as this could cause the need for upgrades on the energy system. As reported by GreenViz, states may wish to consider time of use rates or special demand charges that apply to legal marijuana growers. Another trend that has been happening throughout the states is new emphasis on grid modernization. This is something that we're seeing in Hawaii as well, where our electric utility has come forward with a plan for smart grid, which can also mean smart meters and better ways that the utility can get information from customers and customers can get information to the utility to help us save money and save energy at the same time. But this, of course, is an expensive endeavor. Yet our grid, as it currently stands, is aging dirty and polluting. So we've got a hundred year plus grid that needs modernization as it turns out more jurisdictions across the country are beginning to grapple with this. On December 23rd, UtilityDive reported that four U.S. governors have rolled up their sleeves to tackle grid modernization. Formed three years ago, the National Governor Association's Center for Best Practices on Energy in the Environment and Transportation has had an increasing focus on the power sector and how to modernize the electric grid. Now, Kentucky, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington will now escalate their involvement with this division. A policy academy, the organization says, will build on modernization efforts going on in more than two dozen other states. Of the four states, Rhode Island is the only one launching a grid modernization proceeding to look at ways distributed energy resources can be used to meet system needs. Whether the other three will follow suit remains to be seen, but this latest move underscores the growing interest among states to shore up the grid and find more cost-effective ways to merge smart grid technology onto the grid. According to the Association, through the project states will address those challenges, learning how to effectively navigate the power sector's transformation. The goal is to help create a clear path for states to align market incentives with policy goals that include cleaner power and a stronger grid. Our last story will be about renewables in New Mexico. On December 23rd, Utility Zipdive reported that Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in New Mexico has announced plans to serve its 29,000 customers with all renewable power within six years, but it needed a big decision from the federal regulators and help from a solar developer to help bring the concept together, as reported by PV Magazine. A June decision from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission upheld cooperative power providers' rights to purchase energy from independent renewable generators, nixing the terms of a contract Kit Carson had signed with the tri-state generation and transmission. FERC's decision, according to PV Magazine, opened the door for glisman renewable energy partners to purchase Kit Carson's contract for 37 million dollars and agreed to develop solar facilities in excess of 30 megawatts for the cooperation. So that wraps up another edition of Power Up Hawaii. I hope that you've enjoyed highlights from around the country on this week's Energy and Utility News. Thank you. Mahalo and Aloha. I'm Raya Salter.