Entergy New Orleans Taking Responsible Approach to Solar

In a blog piece published last week, PACE explained that taking a stance against taxpayer subsidy of rooftop solar generation doesn’t mean you have to oppose solar technology in general. We have praised approaches such as community solar, for example, that work well with the grid and that help hedge against cost shifts. Other approaches, such as overpaying customers for their excess solar through retail net metering, make less sense. In the end, the question isn’t whether solar should be part of our energy future, but how it will be.

That’s why an announcement by Entergy New Orleans is particularly timely. The utility, which serves more than 171,000 customers in the metro area, plans to build a utility-scale solar project in the city, using property it already owns. The 1-megawatt project will be the first of its kind for the utility and the only one in the city. Importantly, the project will also incorporate battery storage as a way to make the solar installation more useful to customers. Because peak solar generation comes earlier in the day than peak customer use, solar projects often provide less value to the grid than they could. Battery storage helps alleviate that timing issue by storing electrons for when they are needed the most.

According to information released by the utility, officials expect the project to be in service in a little more than a year, with more details about vendors and other participating parties yet to be released.

The addition of battery storage to a utility-scale solar project sets a good precedent for future projects of this kind, but the approach being taken from a taxpayer standpoint is equally meaningful. Entergy New Orleans is pursuing the project because it makes sense for its customers and for city leaders, not because it is being propped up by subsidies. It is the kind of approach to solar that seems to be a win for everyone, not the least of whom are taxpayers who aren’t being asked to pony up pricy subsidies. In short, this is the kind of solar project Louisiana needs more of.

This October, Entergy New Orleans is scheduled to begin work on its 2015 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), a plan for how the utility will meet future energy demand in the city. With an eye toward responsible approaches to diversifying energy sources in the area, city leaders begin asking in September for utility-scale solar to be considered in that plan. Although there are lots of details yet to come, it looks like city leaders might see utility-scale solar on the grid earlier than expected. Customers, too, have cause to be optimistic; their utility has taken the responsible approach of answering the city’s call for more solar, without sticking taxpayers with the bill. Hopefully, Louisiana’s energy leaders will take note – this is the way solar ought to be done.