The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
Resource Library
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New homes provide a ready option for states hoping to reduce energy use, as evidenced by the steady increase in energy efficiency requirements in new home building codes. A less common approach is to specifically encourage or require new homes to produce their own carbon-free energy, through the installation of a solar energy system. Adopting these practices nationwide might significantly reduce new home energy use, but the drivers of the new solar home market have not been well studied. Partly filling this gap, this report looks at historical deployment trends of solar on over 500,000 new homes built through 2020 …
View Full ResourceStudies show that a diverse portfolio of zero-carbon resources will be needed to decarbonize the U.S. electricity sector, and that high-capacity-factor resources like geothermal will become particularly important in later stages of decarbonization as the capacity contribution of variable, weather-dependent resources like wind and solar declines with increasing market penetration. Yet while wind, solar, and—more recently—storage have all seen significant U.S. deployment in recent years, deployment of new geothermal plants has barely budged over the same period. We explain this disparity in historical deployment by analyzing empirical price data from power purchase agreements (PPAs) and wholesale energy and capacity markets, …
View Full ResourceSolar energy is rapidly developing as one of the most common forms of renewable energy production. They produce clean, locally generated energy — a must-have in a time of ambitious sustainability goals. But not all solar installations are alike. While they capture the benefit of lower emissions and reduce the cost of electricity consumed, many do not realize the full investment value because of disruption costs that stem from utility grid dependence.
Our white paper will provide you with valuable insights and practical advice on how to optimize your solar installation to achieve maximum value. Learn about the limitations of …
View Full ResourceThe purpose of this report is to provide state lawmakers and regulators, electric utilities, the solar industry, and other stakeholders with timely, accurate, and unbiased updates on state actions to study, adopt, implement, amend, or discontinue policies associated with distributed solar photovoltaics (PV). This report catalogues proposed and enacted legislative, regulatory policy, and rate design changes affecting the value proposition of distributed solar PV during the most recent quarter, with an emphasis on the residential sector. The 50 States of Solar series provides regular quarterly updates of solar policy developments, keeping stakeholders informed and up to date. …
View Full ResourceCommunity solar is emerging as a popular way to deliver a range of economic and social benefits that go beyond clean energy. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has set a goal for America to deploy enough community solar projects to power the equivalent of five million households by 2025 and create $1 billion in energy bill savings. To reach the goal, DOE has created the Community Power Accelerator, as part of the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP). The Accelerator is an online ecosystem bringing together developers, lenders, foundations, community organizations, and other stakeholders to support the deployment of mission-aligned …
View Full ResourceThis Insights Briefing focuses on one of the most pressing execution challenges to the rapid scale-up of clean electrification – slow planning, permitting, and land acquisition. While this set of challenges affects multiple clean energy technologies, the focus in this report will be on utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) (e.g., ~1 MW or above in size) and onshore and offshore wind, as the critical “backbone” zero-carbon generation technologies. After providing context on renewables deployment trends and current challenges, this Insights Briefing will develop an in-depth assessment of major planning and permitting barriers across project stages. It will then provide an overview …
View Full ResourceAs of May 2022, 22 states and Washington, D.C., had enacted enabling legislation for community solar. As with other rapidly growing renewable energy programs, some state-level policies have placed limits on the total capacity of community solar that can be installed—also known as program caps. Program caps limit the amount of community solar capacity that can be installed in a particular utility service territory or throughout the state.
As of May 2022, at least 19 states and Washington, D.C., included caps on their community solar programs. Most of these program caps are capacity-based, meaning that they limit the program size …
View Full ResourceIn this report, Reuters Events analyses how the Inflation Reduction Act will impact the entire US onshore wind and solar value chain, particularly focusing on project development, asset management, and domestic manufacturing.
With the IRA set to dominate conversations at Utility Scale Solar & Wind North America 2023 in Dallas in June, this paper looks at the impact this landmark legislation is having on utility-scale projects in the United States.…
View Full ResourceThis report explores how state energy agencies (SEAs) are currently working with community-based organizations (CBOs) on equitable solar policy, and the barriers to successfully implement these policies. The report is based on a survey of SEAs conducted by CESA in conjunction with Energy Trust of Oregon and Kim Wolske of the University of Chicago.
“Increasing access to solar in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities is a priority for many state energy agencies,” notes CESA Project Director and report author Abbe Ramanan. “However, capacity constraints for both state agencies and local groups within LMI communities can limit the efficacy of LMI …
View Full ResourceU.S. businesses and top global brands are making historic investments in solar energy. As of June 2022, Meta leads the nation with the most solar capacity installed, followed closely by Amazon, Apple, Walmart and Microsoft. Nearly 19 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity has been installed with commercial and corporate off-takers, more than half of which has come online since 2020.
SEIA’s ninth Solar Means Business Report tracks solar and energy storage adoption by businesses across the U.S., ranging from some of the country’s largest and most recognizable brands to the small businesses that make up our communities. In addition to …
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