2014 ANNUAL REPORT

When you think of the energy challenges facing the world, what gives you hope? For me, it’s this . . .

In 2014, a third of the new power generation built in the US was solar.

The solar-cheaper-than-coal club has a lot of new members. Georgia, Minnesota, Idaho, Utah, Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California are all building massive amounts of solar at prices cheaper than dirty fossil.

There’s a rooftop revolution underway in New York. We put 5 years into a campaign, and it paid off with a commitment to ten times more solar in the state and a process to reform the electricity landscape with customer-driven renewables at the center. And we’re not stopping there. The state’s now making moves to give renters and millions of other New Yorkers the opportunity to participate in and benefit from the solar economy.

In 2014, nearly $1 billion flowed into PACE financing programs that are helping families and businesses make clean energy upgrades and save on their bills. That’s billion with a ‘b.’ And 2015 is looking even better. This also after years of hard work — passing enabling legislation in states around the country, writing best-practice policy guides, battling with the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Some utilities and the Edison Electric Institute took their best shot at squashing rooftop solar by rolling back net metering and changing rates to make solar a bad deal for customers. But those big-money attacks fell flat against the massive outcry from the people like you who support solar. Discriminatory solar fees were defeated in Idaho, Louisiana and Utah. Vermont, New York and Massachusetts all raised their net metering caps to allow more solar participation. And South Carolina just joined the 43 other states that offer residents the ability to get fair credit for rooftop solar through net metering. This is the existential battleground for the future of energy in this country, and so far solar is winning.

Bottom line, it’s not just promise that gives us hope — it’s progress. It’s real steel in the ground, silicon on the roof, and sunshine powering our lives.

How does progress happen?

Solar falls free from the sky, but policy doesn’t. Vote Solar now has 16 staff around the country, dedicated and working day (and too many nights) to bring solar into the mainstream. In 2014 we led solar campaigns in 21 states, sweated interventions in 31 regulatory dockets, worked on 10 legislative campaigns, and fought discriminatory solar fees in 11 rate cases and utility proceedings. Members like you delivered 108,677 messages to policymakers in support of pro-solar policies. 2,575 homeowners participated in our GroupEnergy bulk solar programs, which made it easier and 20% cheaper for communities to go solar. We hired new staff in four states: California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Florida. We biked 300 miles from NY to DC to raise money for our work, and threw two Equinox parties that put smiles on the faces of 1,100 revelers.

Vote Solar was founded on a simple strategy: we build scale by making solar cheaper and more accessible. And it’s working. We thank the many donors, partners and supporters who are helping us succeed.

Sincerely,

Adam Browning Co-founder and Executive Director

LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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WHO WE ARE Vote Solar is a non-profit grassroots organization working to foster economic opportunity, promote energy independence and fight climate change by making solar a mainstream energy resource across the United States.

WHY WE DO IT Whether it’s the challenges of global climate change, energy security or economic development - reliable, homegrown solar energy is ready to be a big solution. Solar is our fastest growing electricity source, but it still accounts for a mere 1% of our nation’s overall energy portfolio. The problem is not technology; the solar we have today works great and is cost-competitive. The real problem is policies and regulations that create unnecessary costs and confusion for families, towns, schools, businesses and many others looking to go solar. We work to overcome those hurdles for both distributed and large-scale solar power.

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HOW WE WORK We work with policymakers:

Solar policy is complex and changing all the time. We help regulators and legislators understand their policy options, quantify the costs and benefits, draft legislation, and implement the programs that are going to most effectively support a solar market that benefits individuals, businesses, and communities alike.

We work with other advocates:

We make the most of our own limited resources and those of our skilled advocacy peers by collaborating wherever possible. Whether it’s sharing our deep policy design expertise or highlighting the best practices of others, we provide the tools, guidance and support needed to help others make a difference in their own communities and nationwide.

We work with people:

We are a grassroots organization with approximately 60,000 members in all 50 states. We help our members stay informed about the latest in solar policy through emails, blog posts, social media, webinars and strategic press outreach. We mobilize our supporters and give them easy tools to make their voices heard.

We commit for the long-term:

Each solar law and program successfully enacted requires sustained attention to make sure it is implemented correctly, operating effectively, protected from opposing interests, and amended when necessary. We build long-term partnerships and maintain watchdog vigilance to ensure positive progress is made.

KEY ISSUES Net Energy Metering and Electricity Rate Design: Net metering ensures that solar customers receive fair credit on their utility bills for the valuable excess clean power they occasionally deliver to the grid. This crediting arrangement combined with the way that utility rates are structured is what makes the switch from utility-generated fossil grid power to homegrown solar power an economic possibility for many Americans. Utilities are increasingly using rate cases and other regulatory proceedings to reduce net metering credit, impose new discriminatory fees, and otherwise make solar a poor investment for their customers, all in the interest of protecting their bottom-line.

Renewable Procurement and Market-building Incentives: Strong and healthy solar markets are those that provide a diverse range of opportunities to both residential customers and utility-scale developers. Rules that require utilities to increase the amount of renewable energy on the grid coupled with procurement programs that facilitate market development can be strong tools for achieving scale in new and established markets alike. Well-designed incentive programs can also jump-start a healthy retail market, enabling homes, schools and businesses to go solar, and prompting the local industry to grow toward an incentive-free marketplace.

Financing Solutions: Innovative financing options, including third-party financing, leasing, and PACE, have been a primary driver of consumer solar adoption in many states. Vote Solar works to ensure customers have access to the full suite of solar energy financing options that help reduce upfront costs and make solar more accessible.

Soft Costs: The costs of solar hardware, such as the solar panels themselves, have plummeted in the past half-decade. But non-hardware “soft costs” have not fallen apace, which makes this an area that’s ripe for continued solar cost reduction. Our GroupEnergy program aims to tackle customer acquisition soft costs by helping consumers pool their purchasing power. We also work to streamline permitting practices to reduce soft costs and red tape at the local level.

Grid Integration: In places with the high solar penetration, grid operators are sounding the alarm on the challenges of integrating increasing amounts of this variable energy resource. Our challenge is to re-design regulatory regimes to effectively manage distributed and variable generation while minimizing costs and maximizing environmental benefits.

Shared Solar: Many consumers – notably renters and those with shaded roofs - face technical barriers to going solar through the traditional panels-on-your-roof approach. We work to advance innovative Shared Renewables programs that help connect these consumers with savings from an offsite solar energy system located somewhere else in their community.

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CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS: Defending Rooftop Solar Rights

For the first time in a century, there’s real business model innovation happening in the electricity sector. For generations we have depended on a centralized, often monopoly-based utility model, but now affordable solar and other clean technologies are putting consumers in control like never before. This is exciting, game-changing stuff! But rather than seizing opportunity and finding ways to work with their customers to meet solar demand, most utilities are digging in their heels against change – turning to regulation and law to try to stem the tide. Net metering and rate design are the battlegrounds of this fight between traditional utilities and a cleaner, more participatory approach to energy - and Vote Solar is committed to engaging at the front lines. In 2014 we worked to coordinate activities and share resources with partners nationally to effectively combat the utility onslaught. Our team also engaged directly in a number of key state fights, leading public campaigns or providing the technical expertise needed to win.

Despite the number and scale of these utility attacks, states generally upheld and in some cases strengthened the pillars of consumer clean energy investment over the past year. This success was confirmed in Freeing the Grid 2014, a report card to all 50 states on net metering and interconnection procedures that we produced in partnership with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). While this fight is far from over, it’s heartening to see regulators nationwide – in red states and blue – stand strong for the energy choice and the solar progress that an overwhelming majority of Americans want.

With more solar installed than any other state, California is at the forefront of our rooftop revolution. In 2014 regulators began a multi-year process of  

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implementing AB 327, a utility and rate reform law that will determine the long-term future of net metering in the state. As a first step, the Public Utilities Commission set out to decide how long existing solar customers can expect to have access to net metering as its known today. Considering that these homes, schools and businesses made significant multi-decade investments in solar expecting the state would not change the rules on them mid-stream, Vote Solar argued that it’s only fair that their net metering benefits should remain in place for just as long. With utilities pushing for as little as 6 years, we intervened in the regulatory process and rallied grassroots power to deliver over 53,000 signatures in support of long-term net metering certainty. Ultimately, the CPUC decided to uphold net metering for existing customers for 20 years from the year they go solar - a win for solar certainty! Along with the Commission, we then turned our attention to what comes next after the current net metering program ends. We continue to make the case for a program that enables California energy customers to generate their own power for their own use and that fairly compensates them for any valuable solar energy they deliver to the grid for others to use.

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Colorado’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, took aim at net metering as part of its Renewable Energy Standard Compliance Plan docket. Thanks to the tremendous outpouring of public solar support that Vote Solar helped organize, in early 2014 the Public Utility Commission agreed to put Xcel’s attacks on hold and conduct a new, separate process to take a good look at this critically important solar program. We turned our attention to ensuring that the new PUC process is fair, open and transparent. We participated in these ongoing PUC-led workshops, providing technical input and ensuring that pro-solar voices as diverse as the local solar industry, environmental groups, the faith community and the NAACP were represented. The fight for Colorado’s energy future is not over yet, but we are proud of the success that Vote Solar and our partners have achieved to date.    

With the Commonwealth quickly approaching its net metering cap, we helped encourage Massachusetts policymakers to raise the cap and keep solar working for the state. State lawmakers decided to provide short term-relief – raising the caps from 3 to 5 percent for local governments and from 3 to 4 percent for commercial installations – and establish a stakeholder process for charting long-term program design. In an effort to make this process inclusive and effective, Vote Solar and our key partners formed the “Mass Solar Coalition.” The group will work with the state’s new Net Metering and Solar Task Force to make recommendations for the future of net metering and solar policy in Massachusetts.

Amid numerous unfounded claims about the costs of net metering, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada found that rooftop solar makes  sense – and cents – in the sun-drenched state. The PUCN commissioned a study that found

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that net metered systems installed through 2016 will deliver $36 million in net benefits to ratepayers. We worked to educate stakeholders, policymakers and the public on the cost-saving benefits of net metering. We garnered more than 4,300 signatures and turned out dozens of Nevadans to rally for the program and its many benefits. With the state now approaching its current cap, this campaign provided important groundwork for future net metering progress.

It might come as a surprise to some, but Utah has one of the strongest net metering programs in the country. However, the state’s major utility, Rocky Mountain Power, aimed to make solar a bad deal for its customers with a discriminatory new solar fee. Vote Solar provided expert testimony against this fee proposal in the RMP rate case. Our technical input complimented the strong local grassroots and press efforts to oppose the unfounded “solar tax.” In a resounding win for solar self-determination, the Commission rejected RMP’s solar fee.

State leadership has made building a more resilient, more distributed clean energy system a clear priority for New York. In order to meet the Empire State’s impressive solar goals, state regulators raised the net metering cap from 3 percent to 6 percent. Vote Solar supported this doubling of net metering access through a joint petition we submitted to the Commission earlier in 2014. Bravo to the Empire State!

Expanding Solar Access to Renters and Others

At Vote Solar we believe that the strongest solar market is one that allows diverse participation. For this reason, we are particularly exited about opportunities to help entirely new categories of consumers – renters, low-income families and others plug into the sun with innovative shared renewables programs.

In 2014, we made strong progress toward establishing shared renewables programs in both New York and Connecticut. We provided policymaker guidance on strong design for this relatively new concept. And in order to build the support needed to pass these programs, we coupled that policymaker education with grassroots and press activities. We put a particular focus on engaging the stakeholders – including low-income and community groups – for whom the traditional panels-on-your roof solar model just doesn’t work.

Vote Solar, along with our hardworking and diverse coalition, drummed up nearly 10,000 signatures in support of the new programs and also garnered some impressive media coverage, including the New York

Times. Key influencers, including actor and activist Mark Ruffalo, helped amplify our campaign and further shine light on the states’ shared renewables opportunity. We’re looking forward to building on this momentum to see these programs across the finish line in the coming year.

In California, we worked diligently at the CPUC to implement SB 43, which authorizes what could be the nation’s largest shared renewables program (up to 600 MW by 2019). While the program holds tremendous promise for connecting more Californians with clean energy, success is dependent on good design. Vote Solar worked to guide strong implementation with a particular focus on ensuring that customer participants receive adequate credit on their utility bills and a fair amount of choice over the renewable energy projects in which they can participate. The CPUC is expected to decide on this landmark shared solar program in 2015.

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Smart Policy for Strong Solar Markets

The state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service (APS) filed a proposal at the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) to eliminate the requirement to diversify their energy supply with small-scale solar projects, which would have cut the utility’s overall renewables requirement and leave Arizona with one of the weakest clean energy goals in the West. We encouraged Vote Solar members to take action online and attend the ACC meeting, where Commissioners unanimously rejected APS’s proposal to eliminate the carve-out. This was an important win in a state that has a massive solar resource to harness for job creation, grid reliability and water conservation.

Vote Solar intervened in Colorado to defeat a flawed Solar*Connect community solar proposal from Xcel Energy. On the surface, the basic concept - to provide a subscription-based program to retail customers that had limited or no access to rooftop solar or community solar gardens - was a progressive idea. In reality, however, Xcel’s design meant that customers would pay an unnecessary premium, rather receiving a bill reduction, for their clean power. And adding insult to consumer protection injury, it would have also allowed Xcel to change subscription costs at any time for new customers. Plus the utility sought to retain any profits from the program for its shareholders. When asked if Xcel would consider allowing other, non-regulated businesses to make similar offerings, it declined. The Commission ultimately rejected the Solar*Connect plan as being anti-competitive and falling short on delivering ratepayer value. We hope to see more – better – utility proposals for supporting balanced and vibrant solar markets and that Commission provide thoughtful  

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guidance to encourage those ideas and ideals.

With strong support from Governor Cuomo, New York state regulators approved long-term extension of the NY-Sun Initiative this year. This historic clean energy commitment will result in TEN TIMES more affordable solar up and down the state. The expected 3,000 megawatts of new solar capacity by 2023 will be enough to power nearly 500,000 New York homes and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2.3 million tons annually. This bold commitment is the result of more than five years of blood, sweat and tears from our team, our members, and our strong coalition of environmental, consumer and business groups. Together we sent tens of thousands of emails urging policymakers to establish a big, bold solar program for New York. We’ve

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channeled New York’s support for solar through Solar Job Days from Buffalo to Long Island, a Times Square photo contest, and one meme-worthy ‘solar spill’ billboard.

The plan’s long-term horizon provides invaluable policy certainty so that industry and consumers can invest with confidence in the state’s solar market over the coming years. By keeping energy dollars invested in New York communities, we calculate that the program will spur $8.3 billion dollars in local economic activity and support 10,000 local solar jobs. And its smart design puts the local industry on a growth path to provide New Yorkers with affordable, competitive solar free of direct state incentives. In other words, New York is busy reminding us that the sun does rise in the east!

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Rethinking the Grid

In order to take full advantage of the distinct benefits of solar and other clean technologies, we need to rethink the way our current grid is planned and operated.  

The California PUC made it significantly easier for energy customers to pair a solar system with an energy storage device. Following a period of consumer uncertainty, the Commission decided to allow solar customers with energy storage to continue to qualify for the standard net metering program, and to exempt these customers from burdensome interconnection fees, standby charges and metering requirements. Responding to recommendations from Vote Solar and other parties, the Commission also required utilities to refund customers who were inappropriately charged these fees over the past year. Clearing the way for energy storage will help consumers bottle sunshine for times when we need that electricity most.

Nevada’s biggest utility, NV Energy, formally filed to join the California Independent System Operator’s Energy Imbalance Market (EIM). Vote Solar has long advocated for this regional approach to electricity markets, which helps break down the currently balkanized system and allows utilities to instead share generation resources. NV Energy’s participation in the EIM mark forward progress for allow utilities across the region to avoid building expensive, redundant infrastructure and significantly lower the cost of keeping the lights on with significant new levels of solar and wind.

Building on the clean energy momentum of programs like NY-Sun and the Green Bank, New York regulators upped the ante by kicking off a major proceeding called “Reforming the Energy Vision” (REV). The REV aims to fundamentally rethink how electric utilities do

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business. The main thrust is to move towards an energy landscape that is increasingly decentralized with consumers playing a more active role in climate-friendly energy decisions. Vote Solar is participating in these REV proceedings to help New York build a new system that unleashes the full potential of an inclusive, participatory solar marketplace.    

Helping Communities Go Solar Together

In 2014, Vote Solar’s GroupEnergy programs helped more than 2500 homeowners sign contracts for nearly a megawatt of residential solar – all at prices 15-20% below average market installation costs. All of these new solar customers are real-world proof of solar progress in their communities.

We were excited to help solar shine brighter in the Windy City with. Alongside a host of partners including the City of Chicago, the Environmental Law and Policy Center and World Wildlife Fund, Vote Solar launched Solar Chicago with the goal of jumpstarting demand and identifying barriers in this nascent solar market. By pooling the buying power of Chicagoland homeowners, we were able to help deliver pricing

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that was below that of mature solar markets (like California), amazing! With over 2,000 participants in a three month period, Solar Chicago resulted in over 650 kilowatts of new residential contracts, which is DOUBLE what was previously installed community-wide. The program also helped reveal a number of steps the city and state can take to make it easier and more cost-effective for consumers to go solar in the future. Vote Solar prepared a report for the City with recommendations for making those improvements.

We also launched a second round of San Francisco’s successful SunShares program to help some of the City’s largest workforces come together to go solar and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now that’s what we call an employee benefit. The impressive roster of 2014 participating employer organizations include the City and County of San Francisco, Arup, Genentech, Salesforce, the San Francisco Unified School District, the University of California at San Francisco, United Airlines and Virgin America.

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Good Times for the Solar Cause

Vote Solar is known for working hard, and playing hard, and our annual Equinox and new Equinox East celebrations really raised the roof for solar in 2014. We hosted 900 solar lovers at the Old Mint in San Francisco, and 200 revelers at the DUMBO Loft in Brooklyn. At the events, we honored Solar Champions California Governor Brown, New York Energy Czar Richard Kauffman, California PUC Commissioner Mark Ferron, and Vermont utility Green Mountain Power’s CEO Mary Powell. And our favorite big green superhero, Mark Ruffalo, even joined in the fun in Brooklyn!

In September, our Climate Ride team pedaled 300 miles from New York City to Washington, D.C. to raise support and awareness for Vote Solar and other climate causes – and we had a ton of fun in the process. Pedal power and solar power: a perfect combination!

New Organization, Same Great Work

We have come a long way since 2002, when Vote Solar was founded after a successful San Francisco ballot initiative to put solar on more city rooftops. We are still as focused as ever on turning grassroots support into smart policies that build

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solar scale. However, thanks to massive reductions in solar costs and successful market growth, the nature and scope of our work is quite different. Today we have fifteen staff located in six states serving markets from coast to coast - and we aim to grow from there. And we are excited to say that 2014 brought some significant organizational changes to help us meet those goals.

Since our founding, Vote Solar had operated as a fiscally-sponsored project of the Tides Center. In 2014 we successfully spun-off to form our own stand-alone 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Our new standalone status will help us continue to grow and achieve Vote Solar’s mission. We are exceedingly grateful for the support of the Tides Center over those many years and look forward to a new era of Vote Solar.

After more than a decade with our much-loved Golden Gate Bridge logo, we also unveiled a new look for Vote Solar in 2014. Our trusty Golden Gate logo signified a bridge to a sunnier energy future with a strong nod to our San Francisco roots, but it was high time for a new logo that better reflects our

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expanded scope of work and organizational vision.

We are honored and excited to be serving more of this incredibly diverse country of ours. The states we work in today run the gamut both in term of their policies and their politics. For us the single important unifying characteristic is that people overwhelmingly want more solar powering their homes, businesses and communities. Our goal is to continue to give solar supporters nationwide a voice in energy policy decision-making. Our new logo represents those figurative votes for solar.

 

LEAN AND GREEN Vote Solar has 15 staff in six states across the country working to build a clean energy economy, and we couldn’t do it without the support of our donors. As a small-but-mighty organization, we our proud of the significant impact we are able to make with those generous donations.

 

DONATE Your contribution will directly support our continued efforts. We'll put it to use where it's most urgently needed in the fight for solar progress.

Donate online at: https://secure.votesolar.org/page/

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Or if you prefer to send a check, you can mail to:

Vote Solar, 360 22nd Street, Suite 730, Oakland, CA 94612

Vote Solar is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and all contributions are tax-deductible. Vote Solar's tax identification number is 46-4396728.