States Advancing Solar » Resource Center

An Analysis of the Effects of Residential Photovoltaic Energy Systems on Home Sales Prices in California

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:12:05 +0000

by Ben Hoen, Ryan Wiser, Peter Cappers, and Mark Thayer, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, LBNL

New research by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds strong evidence that homes with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sell for a premium over homes without solar systems.”We find compelling evidence that solar PV systems in California have boosted home sales prices,” says Ben Hoen, the lead researcher on the study and a Principal Research Associate at Berkeley Lab. This report was also funded with support from CESA. LBNL-4476E. April 2011.

Download the Full Report
File Format: PDF
File Source: LBNL

Download the Research Report Summary
File Format: PDF
File Source: LBNL

Solar PV & SHW Market & Legislative Outlook

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:10:47 +0000

January 26, 2011 Clean Energy States Alliance hosted its January CESA member-States Advancing Solar joint webinar to take a look at the market and legislative outlook for solar photovoltaic and solar hot water technologies in 2011.

Speakers:

Galen Barbose, LBNL
Scott Hennessey, Sr. Manager of Government Affairs, SEIA
Justin Baca, Sr. Research Analyst, SEIA

Event Materials:

The Solarize Guidebook: A Community Guide to Collective Purchasing of Residential PV Systems

admin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:09:20 +0000

Prepared for and published by NREL, US DOE/EERE. Authors: Linda Irvine, Alex Sawyer and Jennifer Grove, Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (Northwest SEED). February 2011.

This guidebook is intended as a road map for project planners and solar advocates who want to convert “interest” into “action,” to break through market barriers and permanently transform the market for residential solar installations in their communities. It describes the key elements of the Solarize Portland campaigns in Portland, Oregon: a grassroots effort to help residents overcome the financial and logistical hurdles of installing solar power. Over two years and multiple campaigns, residents of Portland installed over 600 solar electric photovoltaic (PV) systems. Although the success seemed to come out of nowhere, it didn’t just happen overnight. It took a concerted effort by many partners —neighborhood

volunteers, a neighborhood coalition, Energy Trust of Oregon (Energy Trust), the City of Portland, Solar Oregon and solar contractors— to convert customer interest into action. The report offers several program refinements from projects beyond Portland. The guidebook provides lessons, considerations, and step-by-step plans for project organizers to replicate

the success of Solarize Portland.

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
File Source: NREL

A Guide to Community Solar: Utility, Private, and Non-profit Project Development

admin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:07:50 +0000

by US Department of Energy, EERE. Authors: Jason Coughlin, Jennifer Grove, Linda Irvine, Janet F. Jacobs, Sarah Johnson Phillips, Leslie Moynihan, and Joseph Wiedman. January2011.

This guide is designed as a resource for those who want to develop community solar projects, from community organizers or solar energy advocates to government officials or utility managers. By exploring the range of incentives and policies while providing examples of operational community solar projects, this guide will help communities to plan and implement successful local energy projects. In addition, by highlighting some of the policy best practices, this guide suggests changes in the regulatory landscape that could significantly boost community solar installations across the country.

This guide is designed as a resource for those who want to develop community solar projects, fromcommunity organizers or solar energy advocates to government officials or utility managers. By exploringthe range of incentives and policies while providing examples of operational community solar projects,this guide will help communities to plan and implement successful local energy projects. In addition, byhighlighting some of the policy best practices, this guide suggests changes in the regulatory landscapethat could significantly boost community solar installations across the country.

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
Source: Solar America Communities

Solar Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments – Second Edition

admin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:05:43 +0000

by U.S. Department of Energy, EERE. in partnership with Solar America Communities. January 2011.

This guide is a comprehensive resource that will help communities accelerate their adoption of solar energy technologies. Additionally, the guide is intended to help communities better understand the steps necessary to permit and license solar energy installations and how to streamline those processes, which can deliver significant savings in the total costs of installing solar systems.

Solar Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments also offers guidance for communities on how to develop a plan for expanding the use of solar energy and ways for local governments to tailor their approach to implementing solar projects based on their community and local circumstances.

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
Source: US DOE

Tracking the Sun III: The Installed Cost of Photovoltaics in the United States from 1998-2009

admin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 04:03:21 +0000

By Galen Barbose, Naïm Darghouth, and Ryan Wiser; LBNL.

This report provides a comprehensive summary of installed cost trends for grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States from 1998 through 2009, and provides preliminary cost trends for systems installed in 2010.

In addition to describing temporal trends, the report also describes trends in installed costs by system size; by component; between the United States, Germany, and Japan; among individual states; between customer-owned and third party-owned systems; and among customer types, applications, and technologies. The report also describes trends in financial incentive levels over time, by customer type and among states, and the associated impact of those trends on the net installed cost of PV for residential and commercial PV system owners after receipt of incentives.

The report, along with a PowerPoint briefing and associated data file, can be downloaded from: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/re-pubs.html

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
Source: LBNL

WI Focus on Energy Solar Hot Water Incentive Program

maria — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:38:34 +0000

State Solar Spotlight: August 2010

Focus on Energy: Solar Hot Water Incentive Program

Focus on Energy, Wisconsin’s energy efficiency and renewable energy program, offers one of the few solar hot water incentive programs in the U.S. targeted specifically at high-end commercial users. Incentives are available for high-volume hot water consumers such as hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and fire stations, and generally cover 20-25% of the installed cost of the system (30-35% for nonprofits) and are based on modeled savings.

Fort Atkinson High School Pool, Solar Hot Water System, 2009

Bonus incentives are available for projects that incorporate efficiency, and adders may also be available from local utilities. Due to the maturation of and increased interest in efficiency and solar technologies in Wisconsin, the incentive levels and procedures for project approval are subject to change in 2011.

The levels of incentives provided are one factor in stimulating commercial solar hot water installations in Wisconsin, but other, non-monetary program elements are just as important. These elements include:

Technology specificity: Focus on Energy has developed a program just for commercial solar hot water, meaning it is not in competition with other technologies that may meet different objectives (such as PV for electricity generation).
Non-competitive, ongoing: As long as funds remain in the program and all elibility criteria are met, commercial solar hot water projects are assured funding in a first-come, first-served manner on a rolling basis.
Simple paperwork: Focus on Energy provides a form with detailed instructions for the customer and his or her installer to fill out, requiring all the information that the program administrators will need to determine a project’s eligibility. The installer base has been well-trained to facilitate the submission of this paperwork for approval.
Broad applications allowed: Focus allows for systems in situations ranging from hot water to process heating to pools heating, meeting the needs of most potential high-use customers.
Assistance offered: Focus helps customers at both the front and the back ends of the process, from offering discounted site assessments, design review, a list of installation requirements, and a preapproved list of contractors to verifying systems post-completion and requiring monitoring systems on larger installations, so the program and the customer can track a system’s effectiveness.

The following chart illustrates the success of the program since its inception:

These incentives have served a wide variety of applications, including:

Dentists’ offices
Laundromats
Landscaping firms
Churches
Health care clinics
Hospitals
Hotels
Restaurants
Schools
Public pools
Apartments
Industrial applications

The photo of this Super 8 hotel in Monroe, WI was taken on a January 2009 morning with sub-zero temperatures. The six frosty collectors were installed as a pressurized system, so the fluid had not warmed enough to begin circulation. The controller on the 8-collector drainback system had started the pump to begin circulation for pool heating.

Special thanks to Kari Heinrich, Solar Hot Water Lead, Focus on Energy for her assistance in preparing this Solar Spotlight.

A PDF file of this program summary can be downloaded by Clicking Here.

State Clean Energy Fund Support for Renewable Energy Projects – Key Findings from the 2008 CESA National Database

maria — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:19:18 +0000

by Clean Energy States Alliance and Peregrine Energy Group. This new report from CESA demonstrates how state clean energy funds have emerged as a major driver of renewable energy projects across the U.S. Within the past decade, states from Connecticut to California have funded 52,000 projects using the full range of renewable energy technologies, including wind, solar, biomass, and hydropower. The 10-year voluntary investment by states of $1.9 billion has leveraged $10.1 billion in additional project investment and added 2.5 new, clean gigawatts to the grid. June 2010.

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
Source: Clean Energy States Alliance

State Clean Energy Program Guide: A Review of Emerging State Finance Tools to Advance Solar Generation

maria — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:47:10 +0000

by Charles Kubert and Mark Sinclair, Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA). March 2010.

This CESA report provides an overview and specific examples of three creative finance tools that any state can use to support PV in the context of an existing RPS: solar set-asides, feed-in tariffs, and reverse auction mechanisms. These tools are primarily targeted at commercial- and utility-scale projects, and use of any of them can reduce the need for states to provide direct rebates and incentives to PV projects. These tools, if smartly designed, can allow states to build sustainable solar markets with programs that are economically efficient, reward PV system performance, allow for program continuity, advance market transformation and avoid rebate dependency.

The authors contend that providing special treatment to PV projects in the context of an RPS is important if states are to build and maintain public support for their RPS programs, particularly in cases where solar is the most widely accessible in-state renewable energy resource.

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
Source: Clean Energy States Alliance

New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP) Guidebook – 3rd Edition

maria — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:28 +0000

The California Energy Commission has released publication #CEC-300-2010-001-CMF. This guidebook, adopted by the Energy Commission at its Business Meeting on January 27, 2010, describes the requirements to receive incentives for constructing energy efficient, solar homes under the NSHP.

The New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP) is part of a comprehensive statewide solar program known as the California Solar Initiative (CSI).The NSHP implements the Energy Commission’s portion of the CSI and provides financial incentives to encourage the installation of eligible, solar energy systems on new residential construction. The Energy Commission will work with builders and developers to incorporate high levels of energy efficiency and high-performing solar systems to help create a self-sustaining solar market.

The NSHP seeks to achieve 400 megawatts of installed solar electric capacity in California by the end of 2016.

Download the Report (link)
File Type: PDF
Source: California Energy Commission