By Jerry Brown
BrownonGreen.Net
The Colorado Renewable Energy Society has withdrawn its opposition to the “solar garden” bill in the Colorado House after Rep. Claire Levy of Boulder and other sponsors agreed to three amendments dealing with the organization’s concerns about the proposal.
“The amendments to H.B. 1342 were enough to tip how our Policy Committee thinks about this bill,” said Becky English, chair of the CRES committee. The amendments would:
English was clearly happy CRES could now support the bill. “She (Levy) is one of the clean-energy heroes in the Colorado Legislature,” English said. “We all wanted very much to support this bill because she’s been such a friend to clean energy.”
BrownonGreen.Net
“The amendments to H.B. 1342 were enough to tip how our Policy Committee thinks about this bill,” said Becky English, chair of the CRES committee. The amendments would:
- Remove a 1.5x multiplier CRES believed would have reduced solar use and favored solar gardens over individual solar users.
- Phase solar gardens in more slowly, over a three-year period instead of two years to give the market more time to adjust.
- Limit solar gardens to 20 percent of the retail distributed generation Xcel Energy can use to meet a requirement to obtain a percentage of its electricity from retail users whose renewable-energy systems are intended primarily for their own use.
English was clearly happy CRES could now support the bill. “She (Levy) is one of the clean-energy heroes in the Colorado Legislature,” English said. “We all wanted very much to support this bill because she’s been such a friend to clean energy.”
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