Indiana Michigan Power building 5 solar energy facilities
Indiana Michigan Power building 5 solar energy facilities
Denise Abdul-Rahman, Indiana NAACP: “Solar energy helps promote equality”; Oppose HB 1320!
Solar energy helps promote equality
Denise Abdul-Rahman, 3:18 p.m. EST February 1, 2015
(Photo: Michelle Pemberton / The Star)
The utility companies are promoting House Bill 1320 and the “inequities” of non-distributed generation ratepayers (folks who don’t have solar) that are contributing to “subsidies” for distributed generation ratepayers (folks who have solar).
Bryan Bullock, an attorney and environmental advocate out of Northwest Indiana, thinks that “SB (Senate Bill) 412 and HB 1320, must be opposed. The bills, pushed by the corporatist, anti-democratic coalition of corporations called ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), are simply another attack on the rights of Hoosiers to determine the environmental policies of their state. ALEC is focused on pushing an anti-environment, anti-racial equality, voter disenfranchisement agenda that only benefit the coalition of corporations that make up its membership.”
So where are the utility companies when it comes to the inequities suffered by folks who live near the fossil-fuel burning plants? Where is the House bill or Senate bill to legislate this injustice?
A 2010 Report by the National Resource Council calculates that particulate matter pollution from coal-fired power plants is responsible for causing 1,530 deaths per a year. In addition, properties within close proximity to toxic facilities average 15 percent lower property values. There are approximately 90 coal plants in Indiana, Indiana is second in the nation in coal power generation, and thousands of Indiana residents’ health and property values are impacted by these facilities.
The Indiana NAACP subscribes to the vision of a clean and renewable energy future for all. We realize that many of these 600 early adopters of rooftop solar may not be low-income, people of color, or African-American. But we also realize that in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “None of us are free, until all of us are free.” Free to make a just energy choice; free to lead our state into a green economy by creating inner-city jobs and contracting opportunities; and free to live in healthier designed communities, with less toxic emissions. [Emphasis added[
The cost of solar is continuing to come down and the more folks who are able to acquire solar, the less it is likely to cost. Thereby making it accessible to people of color, African-Americans, elderly, and low-income persons.
The NAACP of Indiana is in opposition to HB 1320, which claims that folks who are early adopters to rooftop solar in Indiana are being subsidized for their use of the grid. We are in favor of clean air, clean water, uncontaminated land, as well as economic well-being and good health for all, and we see advancing solar development as a key brick in the path to get us there.
Abdul-Rahman is an executive board member of the Indiana NAACP.
Blue Earth : Sells Its 4.732 MWdc Indiana Solar Project to NRG Solar DG LLC; IPL Rate REP Project using VFIT
Blue Earth : Sells Its 4.732 MWdc Indiana Solar Project to NRG Solar DG LLC
01/10/2015 | 01:00pm US/Eastern
Blue Earth, Inc. a renewable/alternative energy and energy efficiency services company, announced today that it has closed on a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement to sell its wholly owned, Lenape II Solar LLC, that held the rights to develop, own and operate a 4.732 MWdc photovoltaic (PV) generating facility located in Indianapolis, Indiana to NRG Solar DG LLC.
Blue Earth Solar, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BBLU, is providing the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the rooftop and carport PV project. Completion of the project is expected during the third quarter of 2015.
We are delighted to establish a working relationship with NRG as they are a premier company in the solar PV space, stated Ruben Fontes, President of BE Solar, Inc.
Brad Morton: Taking a Stand: Vote ‘no’ on House Bill 1320; Will you join him in taking a stand?
Brad Morton, President of Evansville-based Morton Solar
Taking a Stand: Vote 'no' on House Bill 1320
Posted: Jan 29, 2015 6:41 PM EST
Updated: Jan 29, 2015 6:41 PM EST
(WFIE) -
By: Brad Morton
Solar energy prices are at an all-time low, and as utility rates continue to escalate, more Hoosiers are investing in solar and saving money by producing electricity on their rooftops.
Indiana's current laws are working, but because it cuts into utility revenues, they are out to stop the growth of solar with Indiana House Bill 1320.
HB 1320 is an over reaching piece of legislation deceptively written by utility lobbyists to gut the solar industry in Indiana.
Although the language of the bill uses terms like Consumer Protections and Electricity fairness, the bill taxes solar producers by adding monthly fees and reducing the credit for solar production, returning any cost savings for homeowners to the utility company.
HB 1320 makes solar energy cost prohibitive, giving monopoly utility companies even more of a stranglehold on Hoosiers pocket books.
We believe this bill is designed to killer Indiana's growing solar industry to eliminate any competition for the utility.
If you are considering solar for your home, or if you want to keep utilities prices in check, contact your local legislatures and tell them to vote NO on House Bill 1320
IndianaDG Editor's Note: You can speak out against HB 1320 by visiting this website and sending a message to the members of the House Utilities Committee: