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Trump promised a markets boom. 100 Days in, stocks have only seen damage; Advocates warn proposed cuts to Medi-Cal will cripple school budgets; Campaign shares playbook for organizing Black communities in NC; OR hits recycling milestone: 10 million gallons of paint.

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A judge blocks use of a wartime law for deportations, ICE is criticized for deporting U.S. citizen children, Arkansas faces a federal lawsuit over ballot initiative restrictions, schools nationwide prepare for possible Medicaid cuts, and President Trump's approval rating is down at the 100-day mark.

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Migration to rural America increased for the fourth year, technological gaps handicap rural hospitals and erode patient care, and doctors are needed to keep the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians healthy and align with spiritual principles.

Solar Advocates in KY Want Net Metering Expanded

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Thursday, June 2, 2016   

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Getting the solar bandwagon moving in Kentucky has been a challenge and its advocates hope a study from out West helps their efforts.

A new report in Nevada finds utility customers there are already reaping up to $14 million a year from rooftop solar, whether they have panels or not.

The research was done by the Natural Resources Defense Council and energy provider Solar City after Nevada's Public Utilities Commission decided to end net metering, a billing method that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid.

Andy McDonald, a solar advocate in Kentucky, says the study is one more in a long series of studies showing net value. Kentucky caps net metering at 30 kilowatts.

"It really is a legitimate barrier to the growth of solar in the state,” McDonald states. “It's a huge market, it's a huge resource that's available throughout the state that we're not accessing because of this limit."

Utilities argue it could be a cost to them when people generating their own solar power use the utility grid. But solar advocates say expanding net metering to one megawatt would create economic benefits.

McDonald, who does solar consulting and design, says systems smaller than 30 kilowatts are on the residential or very small commercial scale.

"There are enormous opportunities in larger commercial customers as well as many government and institutional customers to net meter hundreds of kilowatts," he points out.

According to Noah Long, director of the Western Energy Project for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the new cost-benefit analysis of solar in Nevada looked at a variety of impacts.

"The $7 million number really just includes electricity system benefits like reduced energy purchases from large power plants, reduced need for transmission and distribution system upgrades and investments, things like that," he explains.

Long says the other $7 million in benefits would come from reduced pollution, which affects health costs, and from lower environmental costs associated with using fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.





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