To greatly increase hosting capacity for distributed solar and storage, Sunrun executive Steven Rymsha calls for faster adoption of smart inverters using default settings, along with related consumer protections, and ultimately a plug-and-play experience for customers buying rooftop solar.

Maine has hired a consulting firm to evaluate whether forming a distribution system operator could speed deployment of distributed energy resources and support other state goals. Consultants are reviewing how the approach is used in five other countries.

A guide to utility resource plans aims to help state regulators and others engage effectively with utilities in reviewing the plans, which have often been challenged for limiting solar and storage in projections of new generating capacity needed.

A leader of a union whose members work in construction and maintenance said the union supported a moratorium on tariffs on certain imported solar panels, as domestic panel output increases, to preserve opportunities in solar construction and installation.

Potential sites for solar in Puerto Rico include reservoirs, brownfields, closed landfills, fossil generating plants after closure, and transmission rights of way, determined analysis by the National Renewable Energy Lab.

Allowing flexible interconnection for large solar projects can reduce costs and speed deployment, benefiting developers, ratepayers and utility staff, said a presenter at a North Carolina conference of utility regulators.

Pennsylvania and Minnesota have joined six other states in requiring smart inverters for distributed solar and storage. Certain utilities in 13 states and Puerto Rico also require smart inverters, while six states are considering the requirement. Smart inverters enable more solar on distribution circuits.

Although promptly deploying grid-enhancing technologies and advanced conductors could speed interconnection in the short term, a new federal transmission rule will improve interconnection only once new transmission is built, said panelists on a webinar.

As the White House encourages utilities to use advanced conductors to help interconnect new renewable generation, the federally-owned utility Bonneville Power is moving slowly to use the high-capacity conductors, analysts said.

A solar trade group wants the White House to appoint new pro-solar members to the federal oversight board that has challenged Puerto Rico’s net metering law, while the former president of the Puerto Rico Senate advises considering amending the law.