January 23rd came and went with nary a peep from the Department of Public Service. They were supposed to read their emails and the case documents respond by that date, upon an order from the Public Utility Commission.
Then this happened.
The PUC sent me a ‘Procedural Order’ saying in essence that it wasn’t clear to them that our application was an amendment to an existing CPG (that of Phase I) and that they were confused as to whether this was a standalone project or not. This after explaining in great detail that the two Phases were to be combined as one, that they share common interconnecting equipment, wiring, etc, in all our exhibits! The PUC asked me to resubmit all documents and exhibits clarifying that this was not a standalone project and inserting wording that this was an ‘amendment to an existing CPG’.
Insert choice swearwords here.
I spent a week inserting this wording in, in all the testimony, proposed findings, order and exhibits and making it quintuply clear that this was not a standalone project. And uploaded about 50 documents. They have two weeks to respond.
Let’s see what devilment they come up with now.
It has become incredibly clear that community solar will not survive if the regulatory and permitting process is not immediately and vastly simplified. To put it in simple terms, it’s a year and a half and counting, to get the CPG for Phase II. The Phase I CPG for an identical project size took two months to get, in 2015. In 2017, as you know, the net metering regulations changed, and this is the result.
Vermont will not meet her commitments to reduce our carbon footprint by going 90% renewable by 2050, unless regulations are changed again, immediately.
To all those who are reading this, I have a request. Contact your state rep forthwith and explain to them that we need to do better. We can do better. The choice of going down this path will only lead to Vermonters losing money, installers losing jobs, higher carbon emissions and lower growth. This is no choice at all.
Then this happened.
The PUC sent me a ‘Procedural Order’ saying in essence that it wasn’t clear to them that our application was an amendment to an existing CPG (that of Phase I) and that they were confused as to whether this was a standalone project or not. This after explaining in great detail that the two Phases were to be combined as one, that they share common interconnecting equipment, wiring, etc, in all our exhibits! The PUC asked me to resubmit all documents and exhibits clarifying that this was not a standalone project and inserting wording that this was an ‘amendment to an existing CPG’.
Insert choice swearwords here.
I spent a week inserting this wording in, in all the testimony, proposed findings, order and exhibits and making it quintuply clear that this was not a standalone project. And uploaded about 50 documents. They have two weeks to respond.
Let’s see what devilment they come up with now.
It has become incredibly clear that community solar will not survive if the regulatory and permitting process is not immediately and vastly simplified. To put it in simple terms, it’s a year and a half and counting, to get the CPG for Phase II. The Phase I CPG for an identical project size took two months to get, in 2015. In 2017, as you know, the net metering regulations changed, and this is the result.
Vermont will not meet her commitments to reduce our carbon footprint by going 90% renewable by 2050, unless regulations are changed again, immediately.
To all those who are reading this, I have a request. Contact your state rep forthwith and explain to them that we need to do better. We can do better. The choice of going down this path will only lead to Vermonters losing money, installers losing jobs, higher carbon emissions and lower growth. This is no choice at all.