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Chimera Difficulty Score
a synthesis of Flesch-Kincaid, Coleman-Liau, SMOG, and Dale-Chall readability metrics
Jeff Cramer is president and CEO of the Coalition for Community Solar Access. Earlier this month, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel Energy's Capacity*Connect program, authorizing the utility to own and deploy up to 200 MW of distributed battery storage across its distribution system. Our organization, the Coalition for Community Solar Access, alongside the Solar Energy Indust...
The strongest version of this narrative is that utility-controlled programs like Capacity*Connect, while a step toward recognizing distributed energy's value, risk entrenching monopoly inefficiencies at a time when competitive markets have already proven their ability to scale innovation. The CCSA rightly highlights the urgency of grid modernization, but the critique also reveals a deeper tension: regulated utilities, incentivized by cost-plus structures, naturally gravitate toward ownership mod...