Last week, Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe presented at Solar Power International, an industry trade show and conference that attracted 20,000 attendees. Peskoe’s talk outlined legal objections to state clean energy programs, explained why legal challenges have failed to overturn any state renewable energy programs, and summarized the fractured jurisdictional landscape that governs distributed energy resources (DERs).
For the solar industry, state clean energy programs and state regulation of DERs have been key deployment drivers. Peskoe concluded that despite several recent lawsuits states have broad authority to incentivize or mandate clean energy procurements, and encouraged the industry to focus on untangling the legal knots that prevent the creation of coherent DER markets.