DISTRIBUTED GENERATION NOTICE OF INQUIRY TALKING POINTS—Env. Law & Policy Center
Iowa Utilities Board Notice of Inquiry
The Iowa Utilities Board has opened a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) docket on distributed generation. An
NOI is an informal proceeding designed to collect information and educate participants on an issue and could lead to various subsequent actions, such as changes in rules, proposed legislation, and utility rate cases. The Board has identified the broad issue of distributed generation (DG), such as distributed solar, wind, combined heat and power, and has asked for broad participation from any individuals or groups with an interest in DG. Participating in this docket can help Iowa move forward on DG, such as keeping our mix of current policies, identifying new policies to support DG, and exploring further important technical or regulatory issues regarding DG.
You can submit comments for Docket No. NOI-2014-0001 to the Iowa Utilities Board through the electronic filing system at https://efs.iowa.gov
by February 25, 2014. There will be additional opportunities to participate after February 25 th , but submitting comments by that date is important to both focus this proceeding and to participate in future months.
The following talking points are intended to provide a range of issues and information. Please use what is appropriate for your specific situation.
The Benefits of Iowa’s Wind Energy Leadership
 Iowa is a wind industry leader with over 5,000 MW of wind energy capacity built
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Iowa’s economy and environment have received tremendous benefits from that leadership position on wind energy.
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Iowa’s leadership on wind power development has meant billions of dollars of economic investment on wind projects. o Wind projects provide an economic benefit throughout the economy from lease payments to farmers to site turbines on their land to manufacturing jobs for blades and other turbine components to operations and maintenance jobs to keep wind farms running
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Iowa’s leadership on wind energy development did not happen by accident o Wind energy has received strong bipartisan support and advocacy including one of the first Renewable Portfolio Standards in the country that has long been surpassed and federal leadership for the Production Tax Credit (PTC) to help make projects and investment viable
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What would our state and economy look like today without that leadership and without our wind energy
The Potential for Distributed Solar and Wind in Iowa
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Iowa has one of the best wind resources in the country. Today, we are only harnessing about 1% of the potential wind resource in Iowa. Distributed wind has tremendous growth potential
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Iowa ranks 16 th among U.S. states in the potential for solar energy production. This puts
Iowa ahead of states such as Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina and South Carolina.
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Iowa has the potential to build enough solar PV to meet annual electric needs by more than 150 times over.

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION NOTICE OF INQUIRY TALKING POINTS—Env. Law & Policy Center
Benefits of Distributed Solar and Wind Generation
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Private dollars investing in energy generation – that generation helps meet our energy demand and offsets an investment the rest of us would have to make in new generation
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Reductions in peak demand – solar is a particularly effective resource during peak periods and will help reduce the need for some of the dirtiest, most expensive energy we use and provide relief when the electric grid is stressed.
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Reductions in line losses that make our energy system more efficient – when distributed renewable systems put energy back on the grid that energy is frequently used nearby/across the street saving energy losses on the distribution lines and making our energy production more efficient
 Diversification of utility generation resources – diversification helps with reliability and serves as a hedge against potential future increases in the cost of natural gas or pricing of carbon; solar and wind are complementary energy resources.
 Environmental benefits – renewable generation is clean energy that keeps our air and water clean and reduces carbon emissions
 Economic benefits – renewable energy creates local jobs for installers, distributers and suppliers o For example, adding 300 MW of solar PV in Iowa over a five year period would create an annual average of 2,500 jobs a year with a peak of 5,000 jobs in the year with the most activity
 Distributed generation can reduce the dollars spent importing fossil fuels. o When Iowa gets energy from out of state coal from the Powder River Basin or natural gas from Pennsylvania, we’re shipping our energy dollars out of state.
Iowa Policymakers Will Play an Important Role in Ensuring Iowa Does Not Miss Out on the
Benefits of Distributed Solar and Wind Generation
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Distributed renewable energy has grown in states that have policies that make distributed renewable energy accessible and that provide reasonable incentives to drive private investment
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There are Iowa consumers and businesses looking to invest in distributed renewable energy if the opportunity is right
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Iowa has been stuck in neutral while our neighbors in Minnesota and Illinois have taken leaps and bounds forward generating economic investment, local jobs and clean energy
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Iowa should take steps to support distributed renewable generation including: o Make policy decisions based on actual data and not utility assertions/fears o Pass a strong “solar standard” with a DG carve out to catalyze the market o Preserve, expand and standardize the existing net metering policy to include all utilities, including consumer-owned utilities o Update interconnection standards to reflect the latest best practices and standardize interconnection rules to include consumer-owned utilities o Support third-party ownership models for distributed generation
 Iowa has enjoyed tremendous benefits from leading the development of wind energy.
Don’t let Iowa miss out on the distributed energy boom.