Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) Markets: Status and Trends.
This paper examines experience in solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) markets in the United States. It describes how SREC markets function--key policy design provisions, eligible technologies, state and regional eligibility rules, solar alternative compliance payments, measurement and verification methods, long-term contracting provisions, and rate caps. It also examines the trends of SREC markets--trading volumes, sourcing trends, trends in the size of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems driven by these markets, and trends in price and compliance.
Renewable Energy Finance Tracking Initiative (REFTI) Solar Trend Analysis.
This report is a summary of the finance trends for small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects (PV <1 MW), large-scale PV projects (PV greater than or equal to 1 MW), and concentrated solar power projects as reported in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Renewable Energy Finance Tracking Initiative (REFTI). The report presents REFTI data during the five quarterly periods from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the first half of 2011.
Market Barriers to Solar in Michigan.
The solar industry in the United States is at a turning point; the cost of PV hardware has declined substantially in recent years, placing new attention on reducing the balance of system (BOS) costs of solar that now contribute to a growing percentage of installation expenses. How states address these costs through the creation of a favorable policy and regulatory environment is proving to be a critical determinant of a thriving statewide solar market. This report addresses the permitting and tax issues that may stimulate the solar market growth in Michigan.
Strategic Sequencing for State Distributed PV Policies: A Quantitative Analysis of Policy Impacts and Interactions.
State and local policymakers show increasing interest in spurring the development of customer-sited distributed generation (DG), in particular solar photovoltaic (PV) markets. Prompted by that interest, this analysis examines the use of state policy as a tool to support the development of a robust private investment market. This analysis builds on previous studies that focus on government subsidies to reduce installation costs of individual projects and provides an evaluation of the impacts of policies on stimulating private market development.
Understanding Variability and Uncertainty of Photovoltaics for Integration with the Electric Power System
Data and analysis are needed to understand the variability of photovoltaic (PV) plants to avoid unnecessary barriers to the interconnection of PV. Several data sets show clouds can cause rapid changes in solar insolation. Smoothing of rapid ramps, however, occurs within PV plants. The degree of smoothing depends on plant size. Smoothing occurs on even longer time-scales between separate plants.
Financing Non-Residential Photovoltaic Projects: Options and Implications
Installations of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States have increased dramatically in recent years, growing from less than 20 MW in 2000 to nearly 500 MW at the end of 2007, a compound average annual growth rate of 59%. Of particular note is the increasing contribution of “non-residential” grid-connected PV systems – defined here as those systems installed on the customer (rather than utility) side of the meter at commercial, institutional, non-profit, or governmental properties – to the overall growth trend.
Supporting Solar Power in Renewables Portfolio Standards: Experience from the United States
Among the available options for encouraging the increased deployment of renewable electricity, renewables portfolio standards (RPS) have become increasingly popular. The RPS is a relatively new policy mechanism, however, and experience with its use is only beginning to emerge. One key concern that has been voiced is whether RPS policies will offer adequate support to a wide range of renewable energy technologies and applications or whether, alternatively, RPS programs will favor a small number of the currently least-cost forms of renewable energy.
Implications of Wide-Area Geographic Diversity for Short- Term Variability of Solar Power
Worldwide interest in the deployment of photovoltaic generation (PV) is rapidly increasing. Operating experience with large PV plants, however, demonstrates that large, rapid changes in the output of PV plants are possible. Early studies of PV grid impacts suggested that short-term variability could be a potential limiting factor in deploying PV. Many of these early studies, however, lacked high-quality data from multiple sites to assess the costs and impacts of increasing PV penetration.
An Analysis of the Effects of Residential Photovoltaic Energy Systems on Home Sales Prices in California (2012)
Relatively little research exists estimating the marginal impacts of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems on home sale prices. Using a large dataset of California homes that sold from 2000 through mid-2009, we find strong evidence, despite a variety of robustness checks, that existing homes with PV systems sold for a premium over comparable homes without PV systems, implying a near full return on investment. Premiums for new homes are found to be considerably lower than those for existing homes, implying, potentially, a tradeoff between price and sales velocity.
Why Are Residential PV Prices in Germany So Much Lower Than in the United States? A Scoping Analysis
This report looks at the reasons for cheaper PV systems in Germany comparing to the ones in the US.