Evaluating Community Solar as a Measure to Promote Equitable Clean Energy Access

Rooftop and community solar are alternative product classes for residential solar in the United States. Community solar, where multiple households buy solar from shared systems, could make solar more accessible by reducing initial costs and removing adoption barriers for renters and multifamily building occupants. Here we test whether community solar has expanded solar access in the United States. On the basis of a sample of 11 states, the authors find that community solar adopters are about 6.1 times more likely to live in multifamily buildings than rooftop solar adopters, 4.4 times more likely to rent and earn 23% less annual …

What Do National Hydrogen Strategies Tell Us About Potential Future Trade?

As of April 2024, 58 national hydrogen strategies and roadmaps have been published, while many other countries have mentioned targets. A few strategies (Germany, France, Japan) have already been updated. Most strategies position their country in terms of future trade, including whether the nation is seeking importer or exporter status, the trade medium (whether the product imported or exported will be in the form of hydrogen or a hydrogen derivative), and the value, ranking, or economic benefits the nations expect to achieve. This piece is a comparative analysis of the strategies published, focused on these trade-related aspects. It utilizes CGEP’s …

Collaborating with Utilities to Meet Underserved Community Needs

Communities of color and low-income populations dedicate a disproportionate amount of their income to pay for energy. They also experience more frequent and prolonged service disruptions, impacting community health and safety.

When designed correctly, commercial solar + storage installations have the potential to ameliorate these issues. However, utility programs created to support such installations are frequently underutilized because communities often lack the time and resources needed to access them. Further, historically, few utilities have had the motivation and incentives or experience to account for this barrier.

RMI provided process support to Solar Energy Innovation Network teams, and described their experiences …

DOE Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains: Inaugural Annual Report 2023

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) is focused on building the strong, secure supply chain foundation our nation’s energy system needs. In 2023, MESC launched an extraordinary range of investments in American energy manufacturing, positioning the nation to lead in this essential sector.
MESC identifies critical dependencies in energy supply chains and targets manufacturing capacity and workforce training investments to build a more robust energy system. MESC operates at the frontline of clean energy capital deployment, de-risking private sector investment and attracting capital to under-invested or unrepresented domestic supply chain segments. In fact, …

U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report

Oceantic Network releases its U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report in April, July, and October. Each report builds off our U.S. Offshore Wind Annual Market Report and provides key analysis of both federal and state government activities impacting the U.S. offshore wind industry. The quarterly reports ensure companies are informed on offshore wind industry developments affecting their business.

Notable milestones for the first three months of 2024 include Ørsted and Eversource’s completion of South Fork Wind project in March. Next up is Vineyard Wind, to be completed later this year, which also began delivering power to the grid. Meanwhile, two …

Copper Mining and Vehicle Electrification

Electric vehicles (EVs) require substantially more copper and other metals than conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. For example, manufacture of an ICE automobile requires 24 kg copper whereas manufacture of an EV requires 60 kg. Many have expressed concern that the lack of critical mineral resources may not allow full electrification of the global vehicle transportation fleet, and the vehicle electrification resource demand is just a small part of that needed for the transition. By displaying both demand and mine production in full historical context we show that copper resources are available, but 100% manufacture of EVs by 2035 …

Getting to Gigatonne: Scaling the Carbon Removal Industry

Getting to gigatonne scale carbon removal will be one of the greatest grand challenges humanity has ever faced, and we are just getting started. This report is an analysis of the Top 100 Teams in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal, using real data from their Feb 2024 submissions to the Finals of the competition. This data is a helpful benchmark for the industry, as it represents a diverse cohort of “novel” CDR solutions from 25 countries across many pathways. These Teams are all currently removing CO2 or working to do so for the first time this year, a significant milestone for …

Case Study: Detroit’s A.B. Ford Resilience Hub

A new community center in Detroit doubles as a solar-powered resilience hub, thanks to a
partnership between the City and two nonprofits. Read this case study to learn more!…

Community Power Map

Communities can do a lot to advance energy democracy, but some tools must be granted by state policy. State legislators create the rules for building local power — supporting locally owned distributed generation, empowering communities to pursue their own goals, and planning for an equitable transition to clean energy. States can also fight corporate control and hold utilities accountable, protecting ratepayers from inflated costs and other abuses of monopoly power.…

Fueling a Low-Carbon Biofuel Future in Minnesota

The United States is the top biofuel producer in the world, with the Midwest generating hundreds of millions of barrels of ethanol and tens of millions of barrels of biodiesel annually. As a top-five producer of ethanol and biodiesel in the United States, policymakers, fuel producers, farmers, and communities in the state will be influential in the country’s ability to both lower agricultural emissions and deliver low-carbon energy for liquid fuel-reliant transportation modes. Federal funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act offers new opportunities for Minnesota to support its own Sustainable Aviation Fuel Credit and the …