By Herman K. Trabish | GreenTech Media
Rocky Mountain Institute is working on a way to end the conflicts raging between utilities and the solar industry.
“Solar has become a lightning rod. Reaction and defensiveness on both sides is not productive,” Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) Principal Lena Hansen said of the struggles between SolarCity and Xcel Energy over interconnection practices and between Sunrun and Arizona Public Service (APS) over net metering.
The conflict between solar and utilities is understandable and will continue, Hansen said, because decisions are being made in real time in regulatory proceedings that engender that kind of debate.
RMI’s Electricity Innovation Lab (eLab) was started a year ago, Hansen said, to “break through the conflicts in a way that works for the utilities and the solar companies.”
The eLab has brought together innovators, thought leaders, and decision-makers from both sides, Hansen said, “in a dialogue grounded in facts and good analysis.” The goal is to create a long-term solution while identifying “ideas that can be used in the near term on the path toward future systems.”
