Content area
Full Text
(TNSres) -- The Southern Environmental Law Center issued the following news release on Dec. 21, 2022:
The Southern Environmental Law Center has completed the fifth year of tracking regional utility solar policy data through its Rates of Solar website, including identifying the biggest trends that are "making" and "braking" Southerners' ability to go solar.
Rates of Solar enables individual customers to determine whether their utility is encouraging or impeding access to solar and provides a comprehensive picture of utilities' policies regionwide.
"No path to widespread solar adoption can bypass the South," said Senior Attorney and Leader of SELC's Solar Initiative, Jill Kysor. "Despite the fact that some Southern states have embraced our region's significant solar potential over the last five years and have seen significant economic benefits and local job creation as a result, there are still many utilities that continue to pursue policy roadblocks with the goal of making it harder -- not easier -- for people to go solar."
When SELC launched Rates of Solar in 2018, there were roughly 10,000 megawatts of solar installed or committed to be installed in the South. Today, solar has more than doubled across the region, reaching 23,000 megawatts installed or committed to be installed over the next several years. Approximately 25,000 homes and businesses in our six-state region had rooftop solar in 2018; today, that total has quadrupled to over 100,000.
"Tracking utility solar policies in the South over the last five years has given us a very clear picture of both the progress and roadblocks to date," said Kysor. "Many utilities have implemented good solar policies that lower customer electricity bills, create local jobs and advance the clean energy economy. Others have opted...