Below are resources to help you understand the interconnection policy landscape and how it may impact your project development. The continued growth of the distributed solar market has prompted electric utilities, regulators, and others to consider improvements to the interconnection processes. This drives up costs and causes delays, which can be significant barriers to project development. Below are resources to help you understand how state SREC markets work, which states have SREC markets, and how SRECs may impact your project development.

CCAs empower communities to make decisions about their energy mix, enabling them to prioritize renewable sources like solar and wind power. Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is an innovative policy that allows local governments to procure electricity on behalf of their residents and businesses, often with a focus on renewable energy sources. However, challenges remain in integrating high levels of intermittent renewable energy into the grid and ensuring equitable access to clean energy benefits. The wind industry has experienced boom-and-bust cycles tied to the expiration and renewal of the PTC, creating a less stable market environment. However, the PTC has also faced challenges, particularly in terms of its intermittent nature and the uncertainty surrounding its extensions.

That’s about double the entire 1,279 GW of electric generation capacity currently installed https://www.mindsetterz.com/the-essential-guide-to-choosing-the-right-fire-alarm-test-and-inspection-software-for-your-business/ nationwide—just waiting in line, mired in energy purgatory without permission to launch projects. Despite the fact that the cost of generating electricity from renewables is now lower than fossil fuel generation, renewable energy developers face widespread challenges (Christophers 2024). State and federal governments have the power to shift incentive structures to overcome these bottlenecks and accelerate the renewable energy transition. Bringing renewable energy supply on fast enough to not only keep pace with increasing demand but also replace the toxic legacies of existing fossil fuel generation—at a cost consumers can afford—is imperative. This boom in electricity demand is prompting a knee-jerk reaction from the utility industry to retain existing gas-fired power plants or to build new ones, further locking in fossil fuel power generation. I wrote about this project in 2024, which would be the largest in Ohio and provoked heated opposition from local governments and residents.

Educating and Engaging Consumers

Clean energy standards and renewable portfolio standards set a target for a specific amount of clean or renewable electricity the state must generate by a certain year, often with incremental targets over time. RPS and CES policies usually include a set of incremental milestones that increase the level of renewable or https://sportsbookpayperhead.com/2021/03/27/tips-for-managing-bookie-business-finances/ clean energy supplied to in-state consumers each year. Because solar adopters tend to be wealthier, this system effectively forces low- and moderate-income households to subsidize the grid use of their wealthier neighbors.

• The first state to enact a feed-in tariff was California, whose Assembly Bill 1969 established a FIT law in 2006 for public water and wastewater utilities that produced up to 1.5 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity.
• The website is intended to illustrate the current status of policies for each state, as well as key resources and model states for each policy.
• Cities and counties often are required by state law to buy electricity from a regulated investor-owned utility (IOU) and lack the ability to choose their electricity supplier or generation source.
• Since regulatory changes in the mid-1980s, several hundred independent, local electricity companies have now merged down into today’s roughly 40 utility conglomerates—most of which are multistate, multinational holding corporations (Hempling 2018).

Participation in market-level decisions and stakeholder processes has traditionally been dominated by utilities and generators, but that is starting to change. Members of the coalition meet with legislators, provide testimony at state legislative sessions, write op-eds, and coordinate strategy for local governments. Forming a coalition with other local governments can help amplify a city’s message to its state legislators.

• SolSmart is a part of a portfolio of projects within SETO working to lower the “soft costs” of going solar, which are the non-hardware costs that drive up the expense of installations.
• PUCs allow stakeholders to voice their needs as electricity customers, which can be a good opportunity for local governments to advocate for more renewables.
• Regardless of the approach, collaborative efforts are key to overcoming these challenges and enabling more effective participation.
• Having looked at the actual legislative text, I realized there’s a bunch of other stuff going on in these legislative vehicles, and I wanted to understand who’s influencing that and for what purpose.
• However, the path to a clean energy future is not without challenges, as the nation grapples with aging infrastructure, regional disparities, and evolving market dynamics.

“When we defer essential grid upgrades while simultaneously incentivizing rooftop exports, we create an operational strain that inevitably shows up as higher costs on everyone’s utility bills.” Currently, this definition only affects the Renewable Fuel Standard, but it has set an unfortunate precedent that has impacted the discussion surrounding a federal renewable electricity standard, renewable energy tax credits, and a number of other state and federal laws affecting biomass energy. The first state to enact a feed-in tariff was California, whose Assembly Bill 1969 established a FIT law in 2006 for public water and wastewater utilities that produced up to 1.5 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity. Below are resources to help you understand market frameworks and how they may impact your project development.

Wind Energy

As Figure 1 illustrates, the bottleneck remains in the actual build-out of those new zero-carbon resources like solar, wind, and battery storage. On-bill financing and repayment is a way for utilities to help customers invest in renewable energy projects. As an example, Massachusetts recently offered the Mass Solar Loan program, which made low-interest loans available for solar installations and provided additional loan support for lower-income borrowers. Some states, often through their clean energy funds, offer low-interest loans or loan guarantees to support improvements in energy infrastructure, including distributed solar projects. These funds can directly pay for renewable energy projects, support rebate programs for renewable energy systems, or provide loan support mechanisms.

U.S. State Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets

A policy explainer that provides an overview of renewable portfolio standards, how they operate, and key design recommendations to drive renewable energy development. This information opacity makes an already complex process even more difficult to understand, creating a chilling effect on renewable development. Without a swift increase of clean energy supply to meet the current upsurge in demand, electricity costs on consumers and on businesses will only increase.

Policy Explainer: Creating Demand for Clean Energy with Renewable Portfolio Standards

From tax incentives and renewable portfolio standards to net metering and green power programs, the U.S. has implemented a multifaceted approach to encourage renewable energy growth. As cities and counties continue to develop their voices as large energy consumers, we should expect to see them get more involved in state regulatory proceedings and legislative hearings, innovative city-utility partnerships, and market decision-making processes. The Local Government Renewables Action Tracker is an important new resource cities and counties can use to see how other local governments are engaging with stakeholders and evaluate the options available for advancing their own clean energy projects and goals.