Resource Library
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Affordable and Accessible Solar for All: Barriers, Solutions, and On-Site Adoption Potential
“We begin this Solar Future Studies report with a review of the market and regulatory barriers to low-income solar access and affordability, and we summarize current solutions to those challenges (Section 2). In Section 3, we model future low-income on-site solar adoption, using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) dGen model. We expand existing dGen capabilities by creating new agent types by income class, building type (single-family and multifamily), and tenure (renter and owner). […]”
Categories: Technical Report -
Solar Photovoltaic Financing: Residential Sector Deployment
Financing the cost of a residential photovoltaic (PV) system remains a challenge despite the various financial incentives available to homeowners at both the state and federal level. Traditionally, homeowners installing residential PV systems have used home equity loans, mortgage loans, or cash in combination with federal, state, and utility incentives to finance the total cost of the system, all of which are briefly described. More recently however, a number of new financial models have been developed to lower the financial burden associated with the installation of a residential PV system:
Categories: Technical Report -
Emerging Opportunities and Challenges in Financing Solar
This report discusses the necessary transition to these new sources and what solar finance might look like over the long term as the market matures toward a steady-state environment. Section 2 briefly describes federal, state, and local incentives currently supporting solar deployment, as some of these incentives can have a significant impact on solar project financing. Section 3 summarizes historical financing methods, including their challenges and shortcomings. Section 4 summarizes recent innovative solutions to the challenges described in Section 3. Section 5 discusses where solar finance may be headed over the long term and what this could mean for achieving widespread adoption of solar energy. We offer conclusions in Section 6.
Categories: Report -
Renewable Energy Development in Indian Country: A Handbook for Tribes
“[…] this Handbook is intended to provide tribal leaders, tribal economic and energy enterprises and those supporting them with:
- a general overview of the renewable energy project development process;
- […] how to structure a renewable energy project transaction to protect tribal interests […];
- a general overview of key energy development agreements, including power sale agreements, transmission and interconnection agreements, and land leases; and
- […] ways tribes can finance renewable energy projects”
Categories: Guidebook