Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Solar industry buys statewide TV ads urging lawmakers to raise solar cap

Solar Ad Buy

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Paid for by the Alliance for Solar Choice, this ad criticizes NV Energy and politicians and says that thousands of jobs will be on the line if lawmakers don’t raise the solar cap before the end of the session.

A new ad campaign backed by a team of rooftop solar companies urges lawmakers to raise a controversial cap that currently limits how many consumers can power their homes and the grid with renewable energy.

The six-figure ad buy, paid for by The Alliance for Solar Choice, will air throughout Nevada starting today and is the latest attempt by the rooftop solar industry to draw attention to a debate that’s sparked public outcry and a wave of lobbying in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The Alliance, made up of rooftop solar companies like SolarCity and Sunrun, is battling against the state’s biggest power provider, NV Energy, in what’s revealed itself to be a dogfight about consumer choice, ratepayer subsidies and a marketplace dominated by a regulated monopoly. The commercial is likely a response to a recent ad campaign by NV Energy in newspapers across the state.

The ad criticizes NV Energy and politicians and says that thousands of jobs will be on the line if lawmakers don’t raise the solar cap before the end of the session.

The heart of the debate, which has landed Nevada in national headlines, centers on a policy called net metering, in which NV Energy offers rooftop solar customers a six-cent credit for every kilowatt they provide to the grid. The utility pans the credit as a subsidy that benefits one class of ratepayer over another. Currently, the cap limits participation to 3 percent of the utility’s peak power generation, which is around 7,500 megawatts, or roughly the amount of power required to supply 9,000 Super Walmarts. More than 2,500 Nevadans currently participate in the program.

State lawmakers say rooftop solar is one of the most lobbied issues of the session and has piqued consumer interests so much that thousands of emails have flooded their inboxes asking them to raise the cap. The solar industry says it will hit the cap by the fall and come to a halt if lawmakers don’t act before the session ends June 2. NV Energy says the cap will be hit by March.

Solar companies are also frustrated by what they see as legislative inaction this session. Lawmakers didn’t hold a public hearing on the matter until Wednesday, following three months of high tensions and closed-door meetings between lobbyists, lawmakers, Gov. Brian Sandoval and NV Energy.

An amendment added onto a construction bill and sponsored by Sen. Patricia Farley, R-Las Vegas, is viewed as a compromise in the debate. It asks to shift control of raising the cap from the Legislature to the Public Utilities Commission and was adopted by Senate lawmakers on Saturday.

The amendment also asks the PUC, which regulates utility companies in the state, to add a tariff to the power bills of net metering customers. On Sunday, the Senate unanimously passed it without holding a public hearing. The Assembly's meeting on Wednesday was the first step before the chamber’s lawmakers decide whether they will take a vote in the session’s final days.

“This is an important discussion to have with the entire population,” said Bryan Miller, co-chairman of the alliance and senior vice president of public policy at Sunrun, a rooftop solar company with more than 1000 employees in the state. "When you pass a bill on the weekends when nobody is watching you have to tell the public what’s going on."

NV Energy has come out in favor of the compromise, saying it will create long-term rate stability for all customers.

"Placing this in the hands of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada will ensure a transparent and thorough review process and is in the best interest of all customers," NV Energy spokeswoman Jennifer Schuricht said.

The credit is the heart of the rooftop solar business model. Solar companies lease panels to consumers and the electricity that is not used at a home or business goes to the grid and returns to consumers in the form of the credit. After solar panel users pay the leasing company and fees to NV Energy, their total savings hover around 20 percent, according to the solar industry.

That model has boosted solar jobs in the state. The CEO and founder of SolarCity, Lyndon Rive, told lawmakers on Wednesday that the industry created 7,000 jobs in the state.

The debate asks lawmakers to weigh the benefits of a growing industry versus an age-old model that’s built infrastructure and provided jobs in the state for decades. NV Energy employs more than 2,000 people.

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