Good morning, My name is Erik Forys, a father and homeowner in Clarke County VA. Thank you Chairman Askew and members of the committee for allowing me the time to speak in favor of HB779, and thank you to Delegate Oates and her staff for taking the time to read through my suggestion in August of last year to create a new class of small portable solar generation devices with a max power output of no more than 1200 watts, inspired by Utah's HB340. This bill will allow homeowners and renters to offset a portion of their electricity bill with a small, portable solar array mounted to a balcony and plugged into a standard wall outlet. Since overhead is much lower, the usual solar payback period of more than 10 years is easily halved and opens up a new category of solar devices in the 3-figure range instead of the 5-figure range. This bill cuts through red tape and increases access to affordable energy. I would also like to use my time to suggest a small amendment involving the the device definitions. The bill defines a plug-in solar photovoltaic device as having 'a maximum power output of no more than 1200 watts that is not designed to be interconnected with the electric grid. HB779 already includes provisions for anti-islanding protection, so this additional language involving non-grid-interconnection is unnecessary. If zero-export or non-export requirements are mandated into law, the payback period would be much longer since the cost of the system would be twice the cost of a system without non-export hardware.

Podemos ablar de los abusos de renta

Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative and Rappahannock Electric Cooperative would like to express our support to the patron, Delegate Oates, for her inclusion of language, in HB 779, requiring notification of the electric utility prior to installation of a small portable solar generation device. These devices are capable of backfeeding electric current into the grid, despite the presence of measures installed in the devices, placing electric lineworkers in danger. Any amount of electricity which backfeeds into the grid may be transformed into distribution level voltage and presents a potentially fatal risk to lineworkers unaware of the presence of such a device. Consumers notifying the utility of the presence of these small portable solar generation devices allows the utility to take the necessary safety precautions when working in proximity to locations with these devices and implement safeguards while performing maintenance or restoration work. Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative and Rappahannock Electric Cooperative appreciate Delegate Oates's recognition of this serious safety issue for utility lineworkers and we support inclusion of utility notification in HB 779.