Articles by John Farrell
John Farrell is the author of Energy Self-Reliant States and a senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, where he focuses on renewable energy policy.
All Articles
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Minnesota’s First Community Solar Project Doubles Down on Local
As community solar grows in popularity, an innovative solar project by the Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association in Minnesota highlights the opportunity of merging local ownership with locally assembled solar panels. Earlier this fall, this cooperative serving communities just north and west of the Twin Cities metropolitan area announced Minnesota’s first community solar project. The 40 kilowatt […]
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Get Ready, Utilities: Solar is Coming
Quick question. Your state has good sunshine, lots of open rooftops, and the cost of solar energy has been falling by 10% per year. Do you think it will take 13 years to double the 10 megawatts (MW) of installed solar power? Yes, if you’re the largest corporate utility in my state, and willfully ignoring […]
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Community Solar Shouldn’t Be This Hard
Sunlight falls almost anywhere, in every community. So it would make sense for any number of people in that community to team up to harness the sun and make clean, local power. Sadly, it isn’t as easy as it should be, as illustrated by the Vashon Community Solar Project in Washington State. The Vashon project […]
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California County’s PACE Program Could Get Feisty with Feds
Does a Riverside County, CA, residential energy financing program put thousands of homeowners on a collision course with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)? In a proposed rule-making, the FHFA has suggested that Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) policies represent a threat to the safety and soundness of mortgages held by government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie […]
