Net-Metering in West Virginia, a Rant, and some other stuff

On September 21, 2007 in Solar News

Today I stumbled upon another news article that touches on some topics worthy of note.  Net-metering isn’t going to get us everywhere we need to go, but I am certainly glad to see that it is catching on in more areas. The most important part of the article though I believe, was more or less tucked in at the end behind some fluff.

If people start to design alternative energy systems into their new homes, they are certainly more likely to have the money available to actually install a system that will be able to satisfy most of their energy needs.  Most conventional homes consume large amounts of energy. Were people to be more diligent about designing low energy homes, and then completing the picture by using the sun, wind, or other power, banks would likely be more willing to give them a loan to facilitate such an undertaking.*

The fact of the matter is that if you are going to use PV cells alone, the project will cost a decent sum of money. The best way to come about such a thing for most people is from a bank, because who has several thousand dollars laying around? If you can get a bank to give it to you at the same time as the money you are borrowing to construct a house, everything will work together much more nicely if only because you designed the house and alternative energy system as one, instead of retrofitting something on a previously designed house with a not so similar purpose.

*I am not a loan officer or any other financial consult nonsense. Ask someone that is, the above is merely my opinion.

From The Charleston Gazette

September 09, 2007

“ATHENS — In a week or so, a small farmhouse on the outskirts of this town will become West Virginia’s newest electric utility.

It sits under a newly erected 100-foot freestanding steel-lattice tower, and atop the tower is a three-bladed fiberglass wind turbine. The turbine’s power will light up the house, and whatever excess energy it generates during especially windy months will be channeled into the Appalachian Power Co. system to be parceled out to other customers. The house’s owners will get a credit for the excess energy toward their future bills.

Since the beginning of this year, state residents have been able to enter into such “net metering” contracts with their electric utilities, under rules that the state Public Service Commission adopted in October. Athens house, belonging to members of the Clarke family, will be the first net-metering residence in Appalachian Power’s West Virginia market, once the final paperwork is completed.

“People are looking for a better way to make their own energy,” says Matt Sherald, co-owner of Pimby LLC, the Thomas-based company that installed the Clarkes’ wind turbine. “We’re seeing a real interest in renewable energy systems.”

Pimby’s name is an acronym for the company’s slogan, “Power in My Back Yard,” which is a pun on the common anti-civic slogan “Not in My Back Yard.” Sherald and co-owner Jeff Melnick formed the company a year and a half ago, sensing that there was a growing demand for do-it-yourself energy.

Since then, they’ve equipped 10 houses and small businesses in Maryland, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia with turbines or solar panels. They’ve had four other jobs in West Virginia, all of them for clients whose power systems operate “off the grid,” or outside the commercial power networks.

Do-it-yourself energy is in its infancy in West Virginia, but the net-metering rules could accelerate it dramatically.

The PSC rules allow for net-metering power generation from wind turbines, solar panels, small hydroelectric generators, fuel cells, “landfill gas” (fuel produced by the fermentation of biodegradable waste) and “biomass,” or through the burning of plant and animal matter by converting it into fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.

Apparently, only one other net-metering project has been completed in West Virginia, for a house in Berkeley County in the Monongahela Power Co. network.

Allen Staggers, spokesman for Mon Power parent Allegheny Energy Inc., said he can’t divulge the homeowner’s name and he didn’t know the name of the company that installed the power generator.

According to Larry Hutchison, who coordinates net-metering projects for Appalachian Power parent American Electric Power Co., Pimby is the only company involved in net-metering installations in AEP’s West Virginia network.

However, two other companies have told AEP they’re interested: ESHTech LLC of Blacksville and Southern Energy Management of Raleigh, N.C. Neither company returned phone calls for comment.

In Ohio, where net-metering has been allowed since 1999, there are 40 projects, Hutchison said. There, a range of state loan and grant programs has added to the incentive, he said.

For net-metering to have a meaningful impact on West Virginia power use, the state needs to investigate similar incentives, Sherald says.

“Net metering is a big step for West Virginia, but it’s a baby step for renewable energy,” he said.

North Carolina’s NC GreenPower Production Incentive, by contrast, pays people up to 22 cents per kilowatt hour for solar-generated electricity in net-metering networks; the Appalachian Power credit that the Clarke home will get will be worth the equivalent of 6 cents per kilowatt hour, Sherald said.

Even in states such as Ohio, where net-metering is more established, it is generating too little power today to impact output elsewhere, Hutchison says. The sources of the energy also are too unreliable to affect AEP’s schedules for production, he said.

“From AEP’s perspective, the energy is not predictable,” Hutchison said. “We don’t know how much or when it will be generated.” Even solar energy is diminished because of cloud cover and storms, he said.

For all the precautions that AEP takes in inspecting net-metering systems the power production still runs the risk of interfering with AEP lines’ voltage regulation, which could damage equipment, Hutchison said.

The Clarke turbine cost about $36,000, which puts it on the high end of Pimby’s offerings. The company’s solar-panel and turbine installations range in price from about $10,000 to $80,000.

Sherald said his analysis of wind patterns suggests the 12-foot-long blades will generate an average of about 1,300 kilowatt hours per month, or about 78 percent of the home’s electricity. Typical all-electric houses consume about 15,000 kilowatt hours a year, while the Clarke house will use up 15,600, he said.

In breezier months, it’s very likely the turbine will overproduce, he said. “The wind can take the porch furniture and throw them down the hill,” Sherald said.

(Family members declined to discuss their net-metering project and asked not to be identified individually.)

There needs to be a strong wind supply to justify building wind turbines, naturally, but plenty of space is required, too. Sites must have sufficient flat space for laying down the turbine tower before it’s hoisted up by crane, Sherald said. And the turbine must sit at least 30 feet above any obstacle on the ground within 500 feet. It helps also to have a good field of view to the north and northwest.

For solar panels, homeowners would need to be able to position the panels facing south in a space that’s unshaded between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Sherald said.

These kinds of questions are resolved in preliminary site assessments and by consulting wind-power maps. If the site passes muster, the homeowners fill out an application with their electric utility.

Under the PSC rules, the utility has to approve of the installation of the generator, making sure it’s up to electrical code and that there’s no chance the generator could electrify power lines when the utility is experiencing outages nearby, putting line workers in danger. The Clarke house is waiting for AEP’s final inspection.

Pimby’s owners, meanwhile, are moving on to an off-grid project in Pendleton County.

Sherald, 32, had been working researching and designing maps for the Canaan Valley Institute, and Melnick, 48, was employed as a master electrician when they decided to start the company.

For about a year, they studied at Appalachian State University and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association in Custer, Wis.

They’ve built up a backlog of clients — mainly through referrals, a little advertising and by getting listed as a dealer for some of their equipment — but it has taken some time, Sherald said.

“We found there’s a lot of enthusiasm for renewable energy, but not always the dollars to back it up,” he said.

The big breakthrough probably won’t come, he said, until people building homes start to think about integrating net-metering systems into their blueprints and home loans.

“It would be a great thing to get these folks to build in the cost,” he said. “To retrofit is very expensive, but it would be great, especially for younger builders.”“

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