The Effect of State Policy Suites on the Development of Solar Markets
Analysts at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have used statistical analyses and detailed case studies to better understand why solar market policies in certain states are more successful. Their findings indicate that while no standard formula for solar implementation exists, a combination of foundational policies and localized strategies can increase solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in any state.
National Solar Jobs Census
The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census 2014 is the fifth annual update of current employment, trends, and projected growth in the U.S. solar industry.
New Study Touts Solar as ‘Investment Opportunity'
WASHINGTON, DC - A new study released today by the NC Clean Energy Technology Center finds that investing in a 5 kilowatt solar system can be a better deal than investing in a stock market index fund in 46 of America’s 50 largest cities.
Selling Into the Sun: Price Premium Analysis of a Multi-State Dataset of Solar Homes
Capturing the value that solar photovoltaic (PV) systems may add to home sales transactions is increasingly important. This study enhances the PV-home-valuation literature by more than doubling the number of PV home sales analyzed (22,822 homes in total, 3,951 of which are PV) and examining transactions in eight states that span the years 2002–2013.
Going Solar in America
As solar prices continue their historic decline, many Americans may remain unaware of the true financial value of solar today. According to this report from the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center, 21 million single-family homeowners in the US live in a city where solar costs less than their current utility rates when paired with low-cost financing options. There's a clear information gap that this report seeks close.
Environmental and Economic Benefits of Building Solar in California
In this report, the authors examine California's leadership in US expansion of renewable energy electricity generation by discussing first the boom in utility-scale solar farms in California and the subsequent employment effects of having built 4,250 MW of utility-scale solar powered electricity generating facilities in California over the last five years.
Deconstructing Solar Photovoltaic Pricing: The Role of Market Structure, Technology and Policy
In the report, a team of researchers from Yale University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Texas-Austin, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory empirically examined heterogeneity in PV prices in the United States.
United States Installs 1,354 MW of Solar in Q3 2014
Continuing its strong growth, the United States installed 1,354 megawatts (MW)[i] of solar photovoltaics (PV) in Q3 2014, up 41 percent over the same period last year. The numbers come from the latest edition of GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association's (SEIA) U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, released today. According to the report, Q3 was the nation's second largest quarter ever for PV installations and brings the country's cumulative solar PV capacity to 16.1 gigawatts (GW), with another 1.4 GW of concentrating solar power (CSP) capacity.
Bridges to New Solar Business Models: Opportunities to Increase and Capture the Value of Distributed Solar Photovoltaics
In this report, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative, investigates opportunities to optimize and demonstrate DPV’s value as it is integrated into the grid to utilities, customers, and solar companies alike.
Effective Information Channels for Reducing Costs of Environmentally-Friendly Technologies: Evidence from Residential PV Markets
To identify opportunities to decrease costs associated with residential PV adoption, in this letter we use multivariate regression models to analyze a unique, household-level dataset of PV adopters in Texas (USA) to systematically quantify the effect of different information channels on aspiring PV adopters’ decision-making.