SOLAR STILL FIGHTING IOWA UTILITIES

Iowa utilities: No net metering for third-party solar projects

Karen Uhlenhuth, June 19, 2015 Midwest Energy News

Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy, two of Iowa’s dominant electricity providers, are challenging assumptions in the 2014 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that it is legal for solar installer Eagle Point Solar to build third party owned projects. Alliant, supported by MidAmerican, is refusing to allow net metering to Eagle Point’s installations for the City of Asbury and argues the Iowa Utilities Board’s rulings on rates limits net metering to customers who buy all of their power from the utilities. In a third party ownership (TPO) financing plan, the solar hosts buy part of their electricity from the solar owners. The Asbury TPO installation is Eagle Point’s first since the Supreme Court decision. Alliant and MidAmerican are “trying to make the same distinction that the court rejected,” according to attorney Josh Mandelbaum of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, the firm that argued the Supreme Court case. “It doesn’t make a difference if a project is leased or paid for outright or paid for through a (power-purchase agreement),” he added, and “certainly the spirit (of the ruling) is being violated.” click here for more

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