GO SOLAR!

Making Clean Energy more affordable and more accessible for every Coloradan.

The string of energy legislation last year was a great start to our new energy economy but the laws have been more successful in motivating the few, rather than the many to become a part of the effort. The challenge now is to give all Coloradans the opportunity to help build the New Energy Economy by removing barriers and creating incentives. Together, we can make Colorado more energy secure and a leader in addressing global warming.

Creating the incentive
Homeowners and businesses that have small-scale renewable energy systems often do not utilize all of the energy they generate.  This excess energy does not have to be lost. The utility can buy the electricity generated and use it to meet its overall demand. 

For the ratepayer, this kind of program creates a greater incentive for them to implement renewable energy projects because the upfront cost is paid back at a faster rate.  For the utility, a buy-back program can mean a more inexpensive way to meet peak demand. 

In Colorado, investor-owned utilities, Xcel and Aquila Energy, already provide their ratepayers with a fair rate for the excess energy produced by homeowners and businesses.

Unfortunately, rural electric cooperatives (coops) and municipal utilities (munis) provide few, if any, incentives of this nature. 

Good for Colorado
Making Colorado more energy secure.  The more clean, renewable energy we harness here at home, the less we must import from foreign countries and the less we need to rely on exhaustible resources.  Colorado can become a leader in the production of renewable energy.  All homeowners and small businesses should have the opportunity to take part.   

Making renewable energy more accessible and more affordable.  Nearly 1 million Coloradans do not have the ability to receive a fair retail rate for excess electricity they produce.  Every Coloradan should have this incentive to take part in building the new economy.      

A boon to the Colorado economy.  The renewable energy industry is booming.  Nearly all growth in the industry has occurred where utilities provide this payback we can continue to attract new jobs and new investment to Colorado by keeping this industry strong. 

Homegrown Renewable Energy Act, H.B. 1160  (Rep. Solano, Sen. Shaffer)

• Requires coops and munis to buy distributive energy from up to 10 kW residential renewable systems and 25 kW business renewable systems, including farms and ranches.
  
  
• Provides consumers with "rollover kilowatts."  Extra electricity generated in one month is credited in kilowatts on the customer's next month's bill. 
  
  
• Gives coops and munis flexibility as to how they handle net excess generation at the end of each year.