January 2018 
Rather than wait for an emergency to learn the basics of solar technologies, thousands of firefighters are taking advantage of online and live training to prepare them to respond to a fire on a solar-equipped structure (full story below).
By Larry Sherwood, IREC President/CEO
Minnesota, Illinois, Utah and Maryland make IREC’s 2017 Clean Energy States Honor Roll, for energy policy success stories on interconnection, net metering, energy storage and a jobs initiative for a clean energy workforce.
With 1.6 million solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the U.S. as of the end of 2017, and a growth rate that puts us on track for 1 million new installations annually by 2025, it becomes more likely every day that a first responder might pull up to fight a kitchen fire and find the building is powered by the sun. A new short video gives a high-level overview of the available training opportunities, with four tips to help firefighters when encountering a solar-equipped structure. More
On January 10, IREC hosted a free webinar on our newest resource  Optimizing the Grid: A Regulator's Guide to Hosting Capacity Analyses for Distributed Energy Resources . Report authors Sky Stanfield, Stephanie Safdi and Sara Baldwin Auck shared insights on the findings and recommendations in the guide, how they're helping states learn the what, why and how about hosting capacity analysis, along with lessons learned from other states. Access the archived version of the webinar here . 
Top 10+ Resources from IREC in 2017
It was a stellar year for resources produced by IREC's regulatory and workforce experts. Take a look - to learn and share with colleagues and decision makers in your state and community: 8 independent,  thought-leading publications  on regulatory decision making to make distributed energy resources possible for more Americans; 1  national scorecard for shared renewables  website (see how your state and others measure up); 1  shared renewables state policy catalog  with details of state shared renewables statutes and program rules; 500,000 more informed  firefighters, code officials and building inspection professionals with  online and live solar training  specifically designed for them. See where training is happening across the U.S.
Thanks to the Future Energy Jobs Act, Illinois expects to see an explosion of community solar projects within the next year. A new website (www.solarinthecommunity.com) will help make the community solar market more transparent and accessible to all parties. A webinar on January 25, 2018 10am CDT will feature this tool to match community solar projects, subscribers and hosts throughout Illinois. The webinar is a project of Solar Market Pathways, a US Department of Energy SunShot Intiative to spur solar energy deployment across the country. Register .
Look for IREC at These Upcoming Events
GEARED (Grid Engineering for Accelerated Renewable Energy Deployment) students will display their research in a poster exhibit, booth 1665, at the 2-day conference of utillty professionals. Stop by to meet them and see their extraordinary work.

IREC is participating in several NARUC educational forums targeting utility regulators, sharing our latest report, Optimizing the Grid: A Regulator’s Guide to Hosting Capacity Analyses for Distributed Energy Resources .

At TechAdvantage, GEARED students will engage with rural electric utility cooperative professionals at the industry's annual conference.
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IREC in the News
Bringing it All Together: the Importance of Dispute Resolution in the Interconnection Process | IREC's interconnection series (#9) 1/15/18 | GreenTech Media
Featured Blog: 2017 Clean Energy States Honor Roll  | Renewable Energy World 1/10/18
A New Frontier: The Interconnection of Energy Storage | IREC’s interconnection series (#8) 1/5/18 | GreenTech Media
Want to Prevent Interconnection Gridlock? Make a Plan | IREC's interconnection series (#7) 12/29/17 | GreenTech Media
Lessons from First Mover States in Distributed Energy Integration | GreenTech Media Featured blog (subscription only) 12/26/17
Tools to Build the Modern Grid | AltEnergy News 12/18/17

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Congratulations to Sky Stanfield , one of IREC's distinguished regulatory attorneys, for becoming partner at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP. Besides being a brilliant legal mind, she's also an ace surfer.
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About IREC
IREC is an independent national not-for- profit organization that envisions a world powered by clean sustainable energy, where society's interests are valued and protected. IREC galvanizes nationwide adoption of sustainable and efficient energy through fact-based policy leadership, quality workforce development and consumer empowerment. Our work over the past 35 years has propelled the incredible clean energy growth trends we are seeing today - building a strong foundation of clean energy state and national best practices and quality workforce training standards and programs. www.irecusa.org

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