Decentralizing Electricity Production

• Distributed Energy Resources, which goes beyond solar, includes battery storage, efficiency measures, and energy demand flexibility. Even electrified vehicles have a role to play as distributed resources. These resources, working together, will help manage the grid of the future, which will depend more on resources like solar and wind generation.
• Distributed generation refers to a variety of technologies that generate electricity at or near where it will be used, such as solar panels. Distributed generation may serve a single structure, such as a home or business, or if paired with energy storage, it may be part of a microgrid that can island if the larger grid goes out.
• Net metering is the policy that allows customers to tie their renewable energy system and receive fair and equal credit (1:1) for the energy they send to the grid. Nationally, utilities have been are attacking this policy. The LPSC dropped their “retail net metering” policy and adopted a “distributed generation” policy which deeply devalues (roughly 1:3) the energy customers provide to the grid. The New Orleans City Council has held the position that New Orleanians who put solar at their homes and businesses should receive equal credit for their excess energy. New Orleans is the only parish in the state that protects full retail net-metering credit.

The Alliance is working tirelessly to protect Louisiana citizens’ rights to invest in energy independence, lower their bills, and decrease their carbon footprint.