SOLAR PANNELS • These solor panels on the roof of the Scott McKay home in South Nephi will be able to route energy back into the Nephi City utility grid under Nephi City Net Metering system now in place.
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-New Correspondent
All the steps are now in place for anyone wanting to take advantage of the Net Metering system in Nephi.
The customer interested in generating some of their electricity by using Net metering is an electricity policy for consumers who own small renewable energy facilities.
"We have concentrated on those who were on the electric system and who were interested in using solar power to generate some of their electricity," said Randy McKnight, city administrator.
Step by step, he said, the city has put into place all of the needed framework to allow customers to generate part of their own electricity and receive credit for that ability on their electric bills.
"Net," when referring to the policy for electricity is used in the sense of meaning "what remains after deductions."
The city council has approved an application format, set the standards for the system and its potential users and has a license agreement for those who apply.
"About one month ago," said McKnight, "the planning commission recommended the adoption of an ordinance governing the installation and operation of a small-scale alternative energy systems."
Under net metering, a system owner receives retail credit for the electricity they generate.
"Our electricity meters accurately record in both directions," said McKnight.
That will allow a meter to read the power produced by the home and fed into the system as well as providing a method of effectively banking excess electricity production for future credit.
Net Metering is generally a consumer-based renewable energy incentive.
"You directed Denton Hatch (city council attorney), to prepare an ordinance which will go into the land use code zoning section," McKnight said.
It will be supplemental to the land use code currently in use in the city.
"The title, 'Small-scale Alternative Energy Systems,' might suggest that it is broader than it really is," he said.
There are people who have, currently, or at one time had, a solar collector on their roofs, said Kent Park, council member. He asked what the difference was with those systems and with the ones now being allowed as generators.
"Most of those were allowed in the past to heat water," said McKnight.
The new ordinance covers all types of solar collectors.
"If the home is sold, would the new property owner need to relicense in order to operate the generator?" asked Don Ball, resident.
The license would stay with the property and would go to the new owner, said McKnight.
One item that would be required for all those proposing to generate part of their electricity via solar power, would be a site plan. That would indicate what the proposed solar generation facility would be like, its dimensions and where it was proposed to be placed on the property.
Certain requirements are outlined in the agreements that will be required prior to obtaining a permission to build an alternative generation facility, he said.
One of the concerns in a residential area would be the height of the solar collector and its placement.
"The surrounding homes will need to be considered," said McKnight.
If the solar panels, for example, keep the next door property in shade all of the time, or ruin an adjoining homeowner's view, it will not be a good site and will not be approved until an alternate solution is found for siting.
"Two of the issues addressed," said McKnight, "are what will happen if the solar collector is not maintained properly and how the system can be removed if it is not functioning."
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 pushed utilities to adopt net metering as a policy but enforcement and program design has fallen mostly to individual states.
Even though people interchange the words "solar power" and "solar energy," they are not the same thing. Solar energy is the catch-all term that describes all the uses of solar rays.
Solar power is the specific action of solar rays being captured and converted into electricity.
The federal government hoped that their plan of allowing consumers to generate their own electricity through grid-connected renewable facilities could give the grid a new degree of stability via "distributed generation."
Net metering allows consumers to participate in greening the grid, helping states achieve their renewable portfolio standards and freeing the utilities to invest more in transmission and distribution.
Based on the proposed language by the planning commission, Attorney Hatch prepared the ordinance which the city council then adopted.
"Somebody can now come in and apply for a license to allow net metering," said Mark Jones, mayor.
