Energy Update

The much anticipated net metering in Lithuania has hit a major snag from the very start – the introduced network operator service fee of 0.031 euros ($0.035) per 1 kWh is too high and can snuff out any solar gleam.

In what is being lauded as a “fair outcome” for consumers, utilities and the solar industry alike, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) last week voted that no changes will be made to the state’s net metering policy, which currently reimburses solar customers at the retail rate of 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour.

Electricity consumption in the global information and communications technology (ICT) industry is growing rapidly. Analyzing reported data on electricity sources and consumption from 113 ICT companies in the U.S., National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers found those companies used more than 59 million MWh of electrical energy in 2014 – 1.5 percent of that consumed in the entire nation.

--Clyde Russell is a Reuters columnist.