Martin DeBono, president of GAF Energy, writes about distributed generation for a Renewable Energy World op-ed.
Utility providers are incentivized to propose large infrastructure projects because their profits are determined by a percentage of a project’s total cost. However, we pay for those costs, and increasingly, we pay for the risk. There’s a smarter way, and it’s becoming more urgent that we pursue it: A distributed grid that combines solar and energy storage. We can’t afford to put all our eggs precariously in a worn-out basket, especially if California is to hit its electric vehicle target by 2035, not to mention forestall greater wildfire risk.
Continuing the federal solar investment tax credit (ITC) beyond 2022, as well as pushing for free-market innovations like building-integrated solar cells, are critical measures to spur us onward in creating a more resilient grid; one that ensures the efficiencies and positive transformation driven by distributed generation paired with energy storage.