PECO Convenes Solar Collaborative to Advance Region’s Renewable Power

By

Keystone
Above photo of a solar farm in Pennsylvania courtesy of CommunityEnergyInc.com.

PECO recently convened a Solar Stakeholder Collaborative, modeled on processes the company used previously to develop conservation and wind-energy programs, to explore ways to advance renewable power in the region.

“We’re committed to providing that same leadership and dedication to advancing solar energy,” Craig Adams, PECO’s chief executive, told about 80 energy experts and advocates at the daylong gathering at the Hub Commerce Square, writes Andrew Maykuth of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The path to broader adoption of solar power in Pennsylvania has a number of obstacles, including some requiring policy changes by a legislature that has been unreceptive to expanding renewable-power mandates.

According to Maykuth, the underlying message was that it would be difficult for PECO to meet activists’ demands to buy more solar power than the law requires, and specifically from projects benefiting low-income neighborhoods.

Christopher A. Lewis, a Blank Rome energy lawyer, said that utilities are required by law to buy a growing amount of solar power each year, but the transactions are conducted at arm’s length by third parties through a structured process.

Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act of 2004, which requires utilities to obtain 18 percent of their power from alternative energy suppliers in 2021, includes a lower target for solar power than most surrounding states.

According to Maykuth, the Pennsylvania law requires utilities to obtain 0.5 percent of the power they sell from solar suppliers by 2021, compared to 3.47 percent in New Jersey, 2.25 percent in Delaware, and 2 percent in Maryland.

“I think it’s obvious they chose a low threshold,” Lewis said.

Click here to read more about PECO’s exploration of more renewable power in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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