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NJ Environment & Solid Waste Committee posts four bills for Feb. 22

The Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee will meet remotely at 3:15 P.M on Monday, Feb 22, 2021

Bills to be considered:

A-1976 Stanley/Pinkin/Benson	Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to issue up to $20 million in bonds to finance cost-effective energy efficiency improvements in State, local, and school district buildings.
A-2863 Moen/Swain/Tully S-968 Singleton/Lagana	Requires public water systems to provide notice of elevated lead levels in drinking water to customers and local officials; requires landlords to notify tenants of elevated lead levels.
A-3352 Pinkin	Requires all newly constructed warehouses to be solar-ready buildings.
A-4899 Benson/Verrelli	Extends existing plug-in electric vehicle incentives to plug-in electric motorcycles.

Due to the public health emergency, the State House Annex remains closed to visitors. The public may not attend the Committee meeting in person but may view and participate in the meeting via the New Jersey Legislature home page at https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/.

The Committee will take oral testimony on bills, by telephone and video. If you are interested in registering your position with the Committee, please fill out the Registration Form located on the New Jersey Legislature Home Page under the applicable Committee heading.

For those individuals who wish to testify, please check the box “Do you wish to testify?” on the Registration Form. Instructions for testifying before the Committee will be forwarded to you after you submit your Registration Form. The form must be submitted by 3:00 PM on February 19, 2021.

The public may also submit written testimony electronically in lieu of oral testimony. Written testimony will be included in the Committee record and distributed to all the Committee members. Written testimony should be submitted to OLSAideAEN@njleg.org.

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Solar pilot program considered by Cherry Hill

A small solar garden may be on its way to the roof of CubeSmart Self Storage

By Anthony Bellano, Patch Staff

A small solar garden may be on its way to the roof of CubeSmart Self Storage. (Shutterstock)

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Cherry Hill is exploring the possibility of bringing a community solar project to the township under a state pilot program.

The small solar garden would be located on the roof of CubeSmart Self Storage, 1820 Frontage Road, according to Cherry Hill Township Chief of Staff Erin Patterson Gill.

Cherry Hill Council approved a resolution in support of a company applying to bring the program to the township during its meeting Monday night.

“It’s important we act as good stewards for our environment for future generations, and I’m excited to see the potential of this pilot program,” Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Shin Angulo said.

The program allows residents to opt-in to the solar garden and get credits on their energy bills, according to Gill.

Normally, residents would have solar panels on their home that are connected directly to their own panel. Under this program, energy would be generated in the garden and put back into the grid. Residents who opt-in to the program receive credits toward their energy bills.

Sixty homes would be eligible for the program, and 51 percent of those homes would have to meet requirements to be qualified as low- and moderate-income housing.

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The Top 10 Solar-Powered States

The U.S. has installed almost 89 GW of total installed solar power capacity. See where your state stands.

What is a Solar Panel Farm? - Carolina Solar Quote

By Jeff Postelwait T&D World

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The United States now has enough installed solar power capacity to power 16.4 million average homes, according to the latest data from the Solar Energy Industries Association.

This year, installations bounced back to 14% higher during the third quarter as compared to the second, when shelter-in-place orders caused a historically low level of solar installations.

On the utility scale, a total of 9.5 GW (dc) came online with the completion of many photovoltaic solar power projects. The utility-scale solar power pipeline stands at 69 GW, according to SEIA’s Solar Market Insight Report.

“Solar accounted for 43% of all new electricity generating capacity added in the U.S. through the third quarter this year, beating out all other generation technologies,” according to the report’s executive summary.

SEIA also ranked the states of the union on how much solar they have build. Click our informative photo gallery to see whether your state made the list.

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Hawaii to power its clean grid with 6,000 home batteries

Swell will link batteries in 6,000 different homes to create a decentralized power plant for the local utility.

By Julian Spector, gtm

Hawaii’s largest utility enlisted a new tool in its quest for a carbon-free electricity system: thousands of batteries installed in people’s homes.

Hawaiian Electric won regulator approval for a $25 million plan to harness solar and batteries at 6,000 homes across the islands of Hawaii, Maui and Oahu. Venice Beach, Calif.-based startup Swell Energy will oversee customer outreach, installation and operation of the network, which will serve as a virtual power plant.

Once complete, the portfolio will supply 25 megawatts of solar power and 80 megawatts of battery capacity, which Hawaiian Electric can use as electricity during hours when grid demand surges, as well as delivering rapid-fire fast frequency grid response.

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The virtual power plant model offers homeowners backup power and power bill savings from self-supplying electricity for more hours of the day. The battery capacity is also available to the utility to deal with the systemwide challenges associated with the transition to cleaner energy. This requires balancing grid needs with ensuring that customers are backed up and fairly compensated.

“What do homeowners think about this? Folks dig it,” CEO Suleman Khan told Greentech Media in a December interview. “The dual use case is quite efficacious for both parties.”

This is still an emerging asset class, but last month Swell revealed it had raised a $450 million project finance fund from Ares Management Corp. and Aligned Climate Capital. The fund provides the venture-backed startup with low-cost capital to build out battery networks, in anticipation of the long-term contracted revenue Swell will earn from utilities once the fleets are operational.

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Canada wants the U.S. to exclude it from the list of countries hit with solar import tariffs

By Derick Lila, pvbuzz

In a series of statements by Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade — Canada has requested consultations with the U.S. to be excluded from the list of countries hit with tariffs on the import of solar cells and modules.

“Canada is a trusted partner of the U.S. with long-established cross-border supply chains that enhance North American competitiveness,” the Minister said in the statement. “Canada has requested consultations with the U.S. on its continued tariffs on solar products, as first steps in the CUSMA dispute settlement process.”

The U.S. had imposed Section 201 tariffs on imports from Canada in 2018.

Since its introduction, the tariffs have caused an 82 percent decrease in Canada’s solar products export to the U.S.

According to Ng, the tariffs are unwarranted and clearly violate the provisions and the spirit of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

With a new progressive President due to take office later this month, there is a greater chance these tariffs on imported solar cells and modules may be lifted within the first 100 days.

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Extending Solar Tax Credits Tentatively Linked to Covid Aid Deal

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is sun.jpg

By Ari Natter and Laura Davison, Bloomberg

Package of tax credits eyed for must-pass spending bill
Agreement reached among House and Senate tax committees

U.S. congressional leaders have tentatively agreed to a package of tax incentives including extension of credits for wind and solar projects that would be incorporated into a must pass-government funding bill if a deal on Covid stimulus can be reached, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified.

The package renewing tax breaks, which could also provide tax cuts for beer-brewers and the storage of carbon dioxide, has been the subject of bipartisan talks that have yielded agreement on the House and Senate tax writing committees, according to a congressional aide, who also asked not to be identified.

An extenders deal hinges on leaders in the House, Senate, and White House agreeing on a broad spectrum of largely unrelated issues and a breakthrough on an economic relief bill, which has eluded lawmakers for months.

An agreement to extend these tax breaks for multiple years last year fell apart after he White House balked at some of the clean energy incentives and Congress instead passed a narrow one-year extension of some non-controversial tax breaks.

There is support for the inclusion of a one-year extension of lucrative tax credits for the wind and solar industries at their current level as well as the multiyear extension and expansion of a tax credit for the underground storage of carbon dioxide backed by both environmental groups and oil companies. Also being pushed are credits for energy storage and offshore wind.

In all, more than 30 tax breaks for energy-efficient equipment, movie producers and race-car tracks and other targeted industries expire at the end of the year. Also among the expiring tax breaks is a special write-off for race horses, a favorite provision of the senior senator from Kentucky: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will have large say over whether extenders end up in a final version of the legislation.

Several solar stocks including SunPower Corp. and Sunrun Inc. were up sharply Tuesday, though it was unclear whether the bill was a catalyst.

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