Black Hills Energy to Reinstate Solar Program

Similar to what happened earlier this year with Xcel Energy and its Solar*Rewards program, Black Hills Energy has agreed to restart their solar rebate program here in Colorado. Just like with Xcel, the program will have to be approved and ruled on by the PUC. The program will most likely move to a smaller upfront rebate with a performance-based incentive and will hopefully be back up and running by the end of May. The rebates are now determined by the size of the system and the performance-based incentives will be paid out over 9 years.

Incentives are funded through the end of 2012, with the 2012 plan subject to the approval of the Black Hills' 2012 Compliance Plan which should be done by the end of the month. For more information, visit COSEIA's website.

SunShot Initiative helping make solar competitive

To help reach President Obama's renewable energy goals, the Department of Energy has introduced the SunShot Initiative which will work to reduce the total costs of solar arrays by about 75 before the year 2020. This major program will help to make solar energy costs competitive with all other forms of energy and will "leverage the combined technical expertise of research laboratories, academic institutions, and industry across the country". The goal is to re-establish the United States' leadership in the renewable energy industry and to reinforce our economic competitiveness in the worldwide clean energy race, which is being compared to President Kennedy's "moon shot" goal.

The four main goals of the SunShot Initiative are:

    1. Reach Cost Parity with Baseload Energy Rates

    2. Increase Solar Photovoltaic Market Shares

    3. Boost Solar Manufacturing

    4. Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

To read more about the DOE's SunShot Initiative, click here for more information.