The next Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) webinar will
be jointly hosted with The Solar Foundation and will be held on
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 2pm EDT (1pm CDT, noon MDT, 11am PDT). The
topic will be Community Purchases: An Emerging Method for Solar
Purchases.
This webinar will be jointly presented with The Solar
Foundation as part of their weekly webinar series. When you
register for this webinar, you will be registered for the entire Solar
Foundation webinar series.
Speakers: Kevin Fox, IREC; Gwen Rose, Vote Solar Initiative;
Andria Jacob, Solar Now! (Portland, OR)
Recently, a number of states and utilities have begun to
implement community solar programs as a means of facilitating customer
investment in renewable energy. Interest in community solar
appears, at least in part, to come from recognition that while current
policies promoting onsite generation have found increasing success, many
ratepayers are not able to host an onsite system.
In this webinar, the Vote Solar Initiative and the
Interstate Renewable Energy Council will provide an overview of the
programs that have been implemented thus far with a particular focus on
(1) how projects are being financed, (2) how energy from community
projects is being used, and (3) different approaches that have been taken
thus far with regard to payment of utility distribution charges. The
presentation will focus on what has worked so far, lessons learned,
identifying problems with current methods, and any novel solutions. In
addition, Ms. Andria Jacob will speak about Solarize Portland, a
current, successful volume purchasing program that lowers the costs and
logistical hurdles of going solar and has taken Portland by storm, and
how this model could be spread to other communities across the U.S.
Register for the webinar.
For more information on The Solar Foundation, please visit www.thesolarfoundation.org.
For more information on the Interstate Renewable Energy
Council, please visit www.irecusa.org.
About IREC: IREC focuses on some of
the current and often difficult issues impacting expanded renewable
energy use such as rules that support renewable energy and distributed
resources in a restructured market, connecting small-scale renewables to
the utility grid, developing quality credentials that indicate a level of
knowledge and skills competency for renewable energy professionals, and
getting the right information to the right people.
