Zeeland Board of Public Works Unveils Online Portal For Customers
October 7, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 7, 2021
Michigan public power utility Zeeland Board of Public Works recently unveiled an online portal that will allow customers to track their energy and water usage, pay bills, and get notifications for unusual energy and water use.
“We’re pleased to provide more technology to our service area and consider this a step closer to empowering our customers with meaningful usage information that can be leveraged to control utility bills,” said Andrew Boatright, General Manager of Zeeland Board of Public Works, in a statement.
With daily, weekly, and monthly usage reports, the utility’s “MyMeter” portal gives customers insight into how much electricity and water they are using.
With the investment in MyMeter, Zeeland BPW is also launching a multi-year project to upgrade all meters to digital advanced meters.
Electric meter replacements to new digital advanced meters have already begun and are anticipated to be substantially deployed by the end of 2022. Water advanced metering deployment will begin in 2022 and is targeted for completion by 2025.
Senate Committee Approves Cyber Incident Report Legislation
October 7, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 7, 2021
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Oct. 6 approved S. 2875, the Cyber Incident Reporting Act of 2021.
The legislation would require critical infrastructure owners and operators to report to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within 72 hours if they are experiencing a cyber-attack.
The bill would also create a requirement for critical infrastructure entities and other organizations, including nonprofits, certain businesses, and state and local governments, to notify the federal government within 24 hours if they make a ransom payment.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chairman of the committee, wants to offer the bill as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) when it comes to the Senate floor. It is currently unknown when the Senate will consider the NDAA.
In late August, Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association, and Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, said that if Congress chooses to enact broad mandatory cyber incident reporting legislation for critical infrastructure, the associations agree with the principles laid out in an August 27 letter lead by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) and endorsed by numerous other critical infrastructure sector entities and associations.
In that letter, ITI and the other entities and associations said that in order to ensure an effective incident reporting regime that leverages the limited resources of federal agencies, enables regulatory compliance, provides liability protections, and advances national cybersecurity interests, policymakers in Congress should, at a minimum, follow five key principles:
- Establish feasible reporting timelines of no less than 72 hours
- Limit reporting regulations to verified incidents and intrusions
- Limit reporting obligations to the victim organization, rather than third-party vendors or providers
- Harmonize federal cybersecurity incident reporting requirements
- Ensure confidentiality and nondisclosure of incident information provided to the government
Utilities Can Be Recognized For Proper Tree Care Standards
October 7, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 7, 2021
The Arbor Day Foundation has opened applications for utilities to be recognized for their commitment to safe and reliable electric service by demonstrating best practices in public and private utility arboriculture.
Last year, almost 150 utilities across the U.S. attained the foundation’s Tree Line USA status.
The foundation, which is based in Nebraska, said that Tree Line USA utilities benefit from lower line clearance costs from proper pruning, lower peak energy demand and more public exposure by meeting Tree Line USA requirements.
To receive Tree Line USA recognition, eligible utilities must meet the following core standards:
- Perform quality tree care
- Report annual worker training
- Conduct yearly tree planting and public education opportunities
- Have a tree-based energy conservation program
- Hold an Arbor Day celebration
Recognized utilities will receive a plaque, emblem, decals and other promotional materials to increase public exposure of their Tree Line USA recognition.
For more information about the Tree City USA program or to apply, visit www.arborday.org/TreeLineUSA.
Applications are available through the end of the year depending on the state.
OPPD Awards Contract For Design And Construction Of New Power Plants
October 7, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 7, 2021
Nebraska’s Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) on Oct. 4 said that it has made a key selection for its Power with Purpose project, which will add 400 to 600 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar and 600 MW of natural gas to OPPD’s generation portfolio.
The utility awarded an engineer, procure, and construct (EPC) contract to Zachry Group. The company will be responsible for the design and construction of both of OPPD’s new natural gas generation facilities — Standing Bear Lake Station, a 150 MW facility in Douglas County, and Turtle Creek Station, a 450 MW facility in Sarpy County – as well as their associated substations. Both of these plants are peaking plants.
The solar and gas generation capacity that the Power with Purpose project will build “supports reliability and resiliency of the system as our communities grow, while significantly positioning OPPD on a path to meet its net zero carbon goal in 2050,” OPPD noted.
Preliminary grading at both natural gas generation sites related to the project has begun and major construction is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2022.
In July, OPPD announced two other contracts related to Power with Purpose. The utility selected Siemens Energy to provide two combustion turbines to power the 450 MW Turtle Creek Station, a simple-cycle turbine facility. This facility will be in commercial operation by late summer of 2023.
OPPD also selected nine Wartsila reciprocating internal combustion engines to power the 150 MW Standing Bear Lake Station. Standing Bear Lake Station will be in commercial operation by late spring of 2023.
In a recent episode of the American Public Power Association’s Public Power Now podcast, Javier Fernandez, President and CEO of OPPD, provided details on the Power with Purpose project and discussed how the project fits in with his overall vision for OPPD’s future generation mix.
CPS Energy’s Paula Gold-Williams Named As New Member Of Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board
October 6, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 6, 2021
Paula Gold-Williams, President and CEO of San Antonio, Texas-based CPS Energy, has been named as a new member of the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board (SEAB).
The members of the SEAB are appointed for a two-year term and represent academic institutions, nuclear security experts, labor unions, utility companies, energy equipment manufacturers, low-income consumers, and non-governmental organizations.
The SEAB meets quarterly to advise the Secretary of Energy on how best to achieve the priorities of the Department of Energy, help identify emerging issues related to the DOE’s activities, and offer suggestions for improvements to its operation. For the first time ever, the SEAB is majority women.
“I am honored to be appointed to the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and extremely humbled to join my esteemed colleagues,” said Gold-Williams. “I am looking forward to working with them and to providing input on how best to achieve the Department of Energy priorities,” she said.
“As a leader of a municipally owned utility, this opportunity also allows me to further share the perspectives of public power providers and the communities they passionately serve. I want to thank Secretary Granholm and Dr. Arun Majumdar for their confidence in me and for allowing me the opportunity to make a real impact on our nation as our broad industry makes significant progress in transitioning to a clean energy future,” Gold-Williams said.
Majumdar, who previously served on the SEAB from May 2014 to January 2017 and was the first Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, will serve as Chair. Madelyn Creedon, who previously served as Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, will serve as Vice-Chair.
The terms of the appointed members of the SEAB expire on August 30, 2023.
A list of the other SEAB members is available here.
Five Midwest Governors Sign MOU to Foster EV Adoption
October 6, 2021
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
October 6, 2021
The governors of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin at the end of September signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at accelerating vehicle electrification in the Midwest.
The Regional Electric Vehicle for the Midwest Memorandum of Understanding (REV Midwest MOU) provides a foundation for cooperation on fleet electrification along key commercial corridors. The parties to the agreement also say it will help ensure that the Midwest will be able to compete for new private investment and federal funding for vehicle electrification.
Under the MOU, the participating states agree to evaluate strategic challenges and opportunities in fields such as manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and energy. The participating states also agreed under the MOU to coordinate on regional electric vehicle infrastructure siting and deployment strategies with an initial focus on target routes of commercial significance.
They also agreed to share best practices to inform the standardization of regulatory schemes and public communications, to develop a common customer experience across state lines, and to coordinate on best practices for working with energy providers to ensure sustained electricity supply and grid resilience.
The participating states also agreed to identify and engage with historically disadvantaged communities to understand the challenges to bringing the benefits of electrification to those communities.
Each of the participating states agreed to maintain a task force of senior leadership and to meet regularly to share updates and input and to complete progress reports at regular intervals.
The MOU is not legally binding, and any participating state may withdraw at any time at its sole discretion. This MOU may also be modified, terminated, or expanded by unanimous agreement of the participating states.
TVA Adds Another Solar Project To Its Green Invest program
October 6, 2021
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
October 6, 2021
Danish energy company Ørsted has completed a 227-megawatt (MW) solar project in Alabama for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
The Muscle Shoals photovoltaic solar project in Colbert County has a long-term power purchase agreement with TVA. The project will support the sustainability goals of Facebook’s data center in Huntsville, Alabama that just started operations.
TVA’s Green Invest program is available to businesses and local power companies in TVA’s territory.
In May, TVA announced a new Green Invest partnership with Facebook and RWE Renewables that will build a 150-MW solar facility near Millington, Tenn. Facebook will use 110 MW of the solar energy to support their data center operations in Gallatin, Tenn., and the broader Tennessee Valley.
In January 2020, TVA announced a partnership with Nashville Electric Service and Vanderbilt University for a 35-MW solar project in Bedford County, Tennessee. In March 2020, TVA entered into a deal to secure 212 MW of solar power for Knoxville Utilities Board’s customers.
Since 2018, TVA’s Green Invest program has attracted nearly $2.7 billion in solar investment and procured over 2,100 MW of solar power on behalf of its customers.
Since 2005, TVA says it has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 63 percent. With a variety of initiatives, including long-term customer partnerships for Green Invest projects, the utility hopes to reduce its emissions to 70 percent by 2030, 80 percent by 2035, and to achieve net-zero emission generation by 2050.
ElectriCities of North Carolina CEO Highlights Supply Chain, Resource Mix Reliability Challenges
October 6, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 6, 2021
Roy Jones, CEO of ElectriCities of North Carolina, recently addressed reliability challenges facing the bulk electric system at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) technical conference.
Jones focused on supply chain concerns, the industry’s evolving resource mix and its impact on resource adequacy, and the criticality of industry/government coordination with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC).
At the Sept. 30 FERC Commissioner-led reliability conference, Jones participated in a panel that focused on bulk power system reliability and security. He appeared at the conference on behalf of the American Public Power Association, the Large Public Power Council and the Transmission Access Policy Study Group.
With respect to the supply chain, Jones highlighted that FERC must assist industry in pressing for additional government assistance in influencing supplier cybersecurity practices. Specifically, FERC must push for the development of a third-party certification program — administered by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — to secure vendor-supplied high and medium impact bulk electric system cyber components. FERC and NERC can play a role in convening vendors to develop the program.
Jones said that vendors must take supply chain security on as a fundamental responsibility. If that is to happen, the electric industry, the Commission, and governmental partners at DOE and DHS “must bring the vendors to the table to discuss certification criteria and a consensus-based approach to participation,” said Jones in his statement for the conference.
With respect to the changing resource mix, Jones said that “We all acknowledge it. We know it’s coming. But we also need to acknowledge the critical role that natural gas and the existing nuclear fleet is going to play in this transformation.”
Jones also pointed out that the country’s rapidly evolving resource mix presents challenges to resource adequacy and grid reliability. The challenge is attributable to the rapid shift away from centralized generation to non-synchronous resources, including renewables, battery storage and other technologies. As this shift accelerates, industry and regulators must keep a close eye on resource adequacy and coordinate on flexible ramping and load-following resources, along with energy-assured generation.
Jones stressed that while public power utilities continue to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions FERC must work concurrently to monitor and maintain grid reliability.
In his statement, Jones said that “Keeping the lights on during a dramatic change in the nation’s resource mix may be the single most important challenge of the mid-21st century for utility managers and state and federal regulators,” he said.
Finally, Jones made the case for greater coordination between the E-ISAC and government partners in order to maximize the E-ISAC’s effectiveness and, as a result, the security of the bulk electric system.
Along with his role as CEO of ElectriCities of North Carolina, Jones also serves as Vice Chairman of the Member Representatives Committee of NERC.
ElectriCities is a not-for-profit membership organization of municipally-owned electric utilities that are spread across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
FERC Chairman Sees Two Main Threats To Grid Reliability
In his opening remarks at the conference, FERC Chairman Richard Glick said that there are two main threats to grid reliability.
The first is climate change and extreme weather, he said. “Extreme cold, extreme heat, wildfire seasons that start earlier and end later, massive droughts that are getting longer and having greater impact –obviously hurricanes that are much more ferocious. This is a serious issue. This is happening more and more and it’s having a big impact on the reliability of the electric grid.”
Glick said the second major threat to grid reliability comes from potential attacks — whether they be cyber or physical — against the grid.
Nation-states are growing ever more sophisticated “in their ability to attack our computer systems, whether it be in the electric industry, the natural gas industry or elsewhere and it’s something we need to pay attention to,” he said.
In addition, “cyber gangs are out there with ransomware. We saw that with the Colonial Pipeline incident and that’s certainly a threat to the electric grid as well.”
Other panels at the conference addressed extreme weather risks and challenges, managing cyber risks in the electric power sector, and maintaining electric reliability with a changing resource mix.
APPA Report Details How Public Power Utilities Are Well Positioned To Manage Grid Of Future
October 5, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 5, 2021
A new report from the American Public Power Association details the many ways in which public power utilities are especially well-positioned to manage the grid of the future.
“Having already established superior metrics with regards to price and reliability, public power utilities also can take advantage of their relative small size and connectedness to the local community, as well as their regulatory flexibility and community focus, to develop programs and implement technologies that meet the needs of their customers and address the challenges presented by climate change,” the report, “Moving Public Power Forward,” notes.
The paper builds upon a 2018 APPA report, “The Value of the Grid,” which explored emerging trends and technologies and the potential disruption of the traditional electric utility business model.
Specifically, the new report looks more closely at the role public power utilities have already played in leading this energy transition, and to outline pathways for continued change.
The report was prepared by Paul Zummo, Director of Policy Research and Analysis at APPA.
It begins by exploring the latest developments, including emerging trends in electric vehicle development and research into hydrogen, as well as further development in state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) programs.
In addition, the report provides a statistical overview of public power, including statistics on generation capacity of power purchase agreements, reliability metrics, and rates data.
It also discusses public power and clean energy and provides examples of the many ways public power utilities are incorporating clean energy into their portfolios.
The report also discusses electrification and smart cities and provides examples of public power programs meant to incent electrification.
In addition, it includes a section that focuses on rates and business models, including case studies of public power experiences with new rate designs, such as time-of-use rates. There is also a discussion of partnerships and collaboration that help public power utilities manage this transition to the future grid.
The case studies presented in the paper “merely scratch the surface of what public power utilities are doing to guide their customers into the future,” the report notes.
Public power utilities are working to create more sustainable power systems by integrating more clean energy into their portfolios, encouraging adoption of electrified end-uses, and adapting their financial and business models to accommodate these changes. “And true to the public power model, they are keeping their customers at the forefront when making these changes,” the paper said.
“These utilities are not doing it by themselves,” the report points out. “One common theme in nearly all the case studies provided here is collaboration. Public power utilities are collaborating with third party vendors, joint action agencies, and each other to study, develop, and bring online new technologies and programs.”
The regulatory regime under which public power utilities operate — governed by local boards and/or city councils rather than under the jurisdiction of state commissions — allows these utilities to make changes more quickly and more suitable for the needs and desires of their customers.
“Strikingly, these utilities are often making changes without being forced to do so by state mandates. Their customers – who, in effect, are their owners — are asking for these changes, and public power utilities are responding,” the report said.
“Public power utilities will travel different paths. Some may choose to outsource some key functions, while others will more actively engage in operation and control, including of DERs. Some may choose to serve as energy advisors to their customers, aiding them in their selection of resources appropriate to their needs. Whatever they choose, they will continue to demonstrate their value to the local community,” the paper said.
The report is available to download by clicking here.
DEED Scholars Contribute to Public Power’s Knowledge Base
October 5, 2021
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
October 5, 2021
Three engineering students have filed reports detailing the results of scholarships they were awarded through the American Public Power Association’s Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) program.
From Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan, these impressive women are a sampling of those being exposed to careers in public power and provided mentoring opportunities as a result of their DEED scholarships.
The reports expand the knowledge base available to public power utilities on subjects that range from the analysis of photovoltaic (PV) solar installation output models and modeling public power electricity rates to analyzing upcoming capacity markets and understanding public perceptions on solar water heaters.
Giuliana Seretti/Fort Collins Utilities
The DEED program funded a research project by Giuliana Seretti, an electrical engineering student at Colorado State University. Her research sponsor was John Phelan, energy services manager at Fort Collins Utilities.
Seretti’s research project, PV Solar Modeling and Analysis, compared the accuracy of three PV solar output models – the Sector model, a linear regression model, and a new machine learning model – by comparing them with PVSTEM model, developed by researchers at Colorado State University (CSU).
The results of the research were intended for utilities “to predict the amount of solar power that could be produced in the future (days to weeks). This helps with successfully managing the distributed energy resources. It also gives utilities a better understanding of when each model is best applicable,” said Seretti.
“The PVSTEM model was used as a baseline because testing had shown its results to be very close to actual measured solar production,” Seretti said in her paper.
The PVSTEM model was developed using weather data from CSU’s main campus, as well as specific orientation and configuration information about each individual solar array.
Seretti’s research showed that the Sector model has the closest accuracy to the PVSTEM model. In addition, it has a fast run time and can handle large datasets.
The PVSTEM model takes about 11 minutes to run 1,787 PV solar systems. The sector model takes about 2.8 seconds to run the same number of systems. The error accuracy of the Sector model compared with PVSTEM is around 1.3 percent.
Seretti found that the regression model’s accuracy compared with PVSTEM is about 4.95 percent because it is less accurate in the summer and winter because there is no temperature or wind speed adjustment. However, the regression model has a high accuracy in the fall and spring. The linear regression model can also handle any amount of data points without increasing the run time, the paper showed.
It takes about two-and-a-half minutes to train the machine learning model, and the model has a strong correlation between actual solar production and predicted production, Seretti’s research found.
In conclusion, there was not a best model, Seretti found. Each model had its own strengths and weaknesses, each also had specific applicability and were better suited for different situations.
With these various tools, energy utilities will be able to manage Distribution Energy Resources (DER) on a real time basis as well as modeling historical generation patterns,” Seretti said.
Seretti said, “The results of her research will help utilities select a model that best suits their needs. If utilities want to predict and plan for future solar production, the best model would be the machine learning, as it takes in multiple parameters in a data set and predicts the solar output.”
The PVSTEM model had the highest accuracy compared to the actual solar production, making it a good base for comparing the other models, according to the research paper. However, when given a large set of systems, the PVSTEM model had a significantly longer run time than the other models.
The Sector model can handle large data sets and produce the total solar production with a short run time, making it useful when more solar systems are installed and need to be added to overall solar production calculations in real time, the paper found.
The regression model shows the different relationships between each of the parameters used for calculating solar production, making it useful for showing the relationships between each of the parameters, according to Seretti.
Hanna Gehrke/ Michigan Public Power Agency
Hanna Gehrke, a mechanical engineering student at Michigan State University, won a DEED scholarship to be the energy market operations intern at the Michigan Public Power Agency (MPPA) under the sponsorship of MPPA’s Brent Taylor and the supervision of Taylor and Keith Parrott.
Under the internship, Gehrke had four main tasks: data verification, creation of reports within the agency’s business intelligence software, analyzing and illustrating energy rate differences between MPPA member rates and the rates of investor-owned utility Consumers Energy, and sorting and filtering data from the generation interconnection queue for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Michigan.
Among the benefits of working on several, well developed tasks were the ability “to learn and experiment with many different topics within the power industry,” Gehrke said in a report on the DEED scholarship.
Gehrke said working on established projects afforded her more opportunities to learn from colleagues and see how the utility’s processes were developed and gave her a clear foundation on which to build. “Sometimes having a good foundation to base knowledge off can be more beneficial than having to learn as you go,” Gehrke said.
On the data verification project, Gehrke checked if data from Open Access Technology International (OATI) was flowing into Microsoft SQL, a program for holding and managing data. She found discrepancies in some of the data fields and was able to search for the sources of the errors, enabling a supervisor to correct the errors.
In another project, Gehrke created 17 reports and standardized the format of most reports, shortening the time that viewers need to understand the material and enabling a non-subject matter expert to use the information to suit their needs.
In the third project, Gehrke used MPPA’s business model risk assessment software to create a model that allows MPPA member utilities to see Consumers Energy’s predicted rates and compare them with what they are currently paying for the different rate classes.
Feeding historical data into the model, Gehrke was able to project rate comparisons and display them in a “speedometer” graphic that gives MPPA member utilities “a visual representation of how much each rate class was saving in comparison to Consumers.”
“When members see they are getting lower rates than Consumers Energy, they will continue to secure power through MPPA,” Gehrke said via email. “This allows MPPA to grow and maintain relationships with its members.”
For her final project, Gehrke sorted and filtered data from Michigan and MISO’s generation interconnection queue and, using that data, determined how many projects were completed and how many were withdrawn from the queue per year.
The ability to see the success rate of projects can help a utility better forecast future capacity prices. “If it is forecasted that not enough generation will come online, then MPPA will be able to investigate purchasing more capacity or building it rather than buying from the market for elevated prices,” Gehrke said.
Other companies could also take inspiration from the analysis of the MISO generation interconnection queue, Gehrke said. “Having a rough estimate of expected new generation, the utility will be able to make better informed resource planning decisions,” she said.
Naushita Sharma/Salt River Project
Naushita Sharma was awarded a DEED student research grant in 2018 when she was a graduate research assistant at the School of Sustainable Engineering & the Built Environment at Arizona State University. Her report was recently published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 320, 20 October 2021. She is now working as a water and wastewater engineer at Jacobs Engineering Group. Sharma’s mentor and sponsor was Jerald “Chico” Hunter, manager of environmental policy and innovation at Salt River Project.
Sharma’s research focused on customer acceptance and installation of solar water heaters (SWH) and the need for public education.
While solar water heaters are a mature technology with high household adoption rates in countries such as China, Turkey and Israel, their deployment in the United States is limited, representing only 2 percent of global SWH installations, Sharma noted.
Nonetheless, the energy used to heat water represents a substantial portion of U.S. energy use by the residential sector. The paper, Public perceptions towards adoption of residential Solar Water Heaters in USA: A case study of Phoenicians in Arizona, noted that residential energy use accounts for about 22 percent of all the energy consumed in the U.S. with space and water heating accounting for 60 percent of that total. In all, residential water heating systems (WHS) account for roughly 19 percent of total residential energy consumption, and many of those systems are fueled by natural gas.
The goal of Sharma’s paper was to understand public perceptions towards solar water heaters in Phoenix, Ariz. Her analysis was based on a consumer survey of 315 households that explored the relation of demographics, group influence, and competing technologies on the public awareness and acceptance of solar water heaters.
The study found that 57 percent of respondents were willing to use solar water heaters while about 20 percent were hesitant or unwilling to use them. The remainder were unsure about their choices. Many of the respondents, 76 percent, favored the need for information on cost and energy requirements and about 61 percent wanted more information on how solar water heaters fared against conventional water heating technologies.
“The main conclusions of the paper were policy related,” Sharma said. Public perceptions on solar water heaters are favorable in Phoenix, particularly among households with higher income and education levels, according to the report. But it is also evident that penetration of rooftop PV assisted electricity generation has exceeded niche thermal solar water heaters.
In addition, Arizona has significant solar potential, but constant use of solar water heaters requires the right amount of solar irradiation and at a particular angle, which might not be accessible to all the households in Phoenix, thereby limiting their popularity, according to the report.
Therefore, Sharma recommended that Arizona and the rest of the U.S. should expand residential and utility-scale solar PV installations to decarbonize the residential sector and place less dependence on solar thermal technologies such as solar water heaters. She emphasized a wider approach that maximizes the use of PV solar technologies and incentives. “Solar water heating is only one application, while rooftop solar can be used for electricity, water or space heating,” Sharma said.
For additional information about DEED, click here.