Grand Traverse County is now one of just seven counties and two cities in Michigan to adopt the local ordinance, known as Property Assessed Clean Energy. PACE allows local governments to place private business efficiency loans on local tax rolls, collect repayment via special assessments on property tax bills, and foreclose on properties that default.
As work group meetings continue, interviews with solar panel owners confirmed that they are glad they built their systems, but have suggestions for improving the utilities’ solar pilots and the state’s net metering rules.
Five years ago, when DTE Energy and Consumers Energy launched small pilot programs offering premium rates to customers for power from their solar panels, Oak Electric and Four Elements Energy became very busy installing solar systems on homes and small businesses. But, in 2012, the roof fell in for rooftop solar in Michigan, when the utilities significantly changed their pilots. That happened, installers said, because DTE’s Solar Currents and Consumers’ Experimental Advanced Renewables Program (EARP) drastically cut their rates for new participants, citing sharply falling solar panel prices.
Representatives of Michigan’s two largest utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, made their first presentation to the state’s solar work group, and expressed little enthusiasm for expanding the use of customer-generated, jobs-producing, clean solar energy.
Two weeks ago, MLUI was selected to participate in a fundraising challenge offered by Moosejaw and Patagonia through Crowdrise. We raised a total of $21,778 for our cause from more than 225 people! On behalf of everyone here at MLUI, I’d like to thank each and every one of you who donated. Thanks to you, we nabbed third place.
Two weeks ago, MLUI was selected to participate in a fundraising challenge offered by Moosejaw and Patagonia through Crowdrise. We raised a total of $21,778 for our cause from more than 225 people! On behalf of everyone here at MLUI, I’d like to thank each and every one of you who donated. Thanks to you, we nabbed third place.