Wind, solar deliver stunning 98 percent of new U.S. power capacity in January, February

[Fritz Walter]

3. At the risk of painting a dark cloud behind this silver lining

Take a look at what JEA -- the municipally-owned utility in Jacksonville FL -- is doing: as they scramble to build their own solar "farms" on any land they own or can lease, they have drastically cut back on "net metering" for residential rooftop solar arrays. In the Sunshine State!

Net metering is the common practice where the utility buys the surplus energy generated by customers, ideally at the same rate they sell it to one's next door neighbor. Effective April 1, JEA cut the rate from $0.11 per kWh to $0.03, essentially making the return-on-investment for rooftop solar almost impossible, despite the ~25-year life of solar panels and inverters. To sugar-coat this turd of a policy, they are offering a rebate on storage systems (batteries) which the customer can use to time-shift the kilowatts to nighttime, or possibly use for emergency backup (restrictions apply to the latter). The high cost of the batteries puts them out of reach for most residential customers. And -- to put a cherry on top of the sugar-coated turd -- they are selling the names and email addresses of rooftop solar customers to companies that sell the batteries.

There is a lawsuit in the works, and on-line petitions available. The lawsuit -- filed by the League of Women Voters and Community Power Network Corporation -- is intended to "prevent the destruction of rooftop solar expansion in the Jacksonville area," according to a local TV station.

Bottom line: the utility companies still maintain their monopoly status in most areas.