Community-Based Renewable
Energy Solutions
Dr. Sharon Klein, Assistant Professor
Stephanie Coffey, M.A. Student
School of Economics
University of Maine
USAEE Conference
Pittsburgh, PA
October 26, 2015
1
How do we get people to
change?
2
How do we get people to
change?
Information Deficit Model
3
How do we get people to
change?
Rational Choice Theory
4
How do we get people to
change?
Theories of Planned Behavior, Altruism, Empathy, Prosocial Behavior
5
How do we get people to
change?
“Bounded Rationality”, Appraisal & Prospect Theories
6
How do we get people to
change?
Behavioral Economics, Game Theory, Neuroscience, Anthropology, Sociology, Diffusion
of Innovation Theory, Social Practice Theory, Strategic and Social Niche Management
Theory
7
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/oct/29/community-energy
8
What is Community Energy?
• Initiated by a group of people:
• Common local geography (town level or smaller)
• Common set of interests
• Shared benefits and costs
• Distributed renewable energy
• Energy efficiency
• Conservation
Canadian Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2010
U.S. Department of Energy, 2011
Walker & Devine-Wright, 2008
9
UK Community Energy Database
To be expanded internationally
10
U.S. Community Energy
Database
11
U.S. Community Energy
Database
• Transition US
• EPA Climate Showcase Communities
• EnergySage
• Vermont Energy and Climate Network
• Community Energy Inc
• The Solar Gardens Institute
• Solarfoundation.org (list of 3,751 K-12 schools with solar panels)
• State agencies
• Newspaper articles
• Web search
12
U.S. Community Energy
Database
• Project Name
• Contact info (name, address, phone, email, website)
• Energy type (renewable, efficiency, conservation)
• Renewable energy capacity & production
• Completion stage (planning, under construction, complete/in operation)
• Number of members
• Source of funding
• Amount/type of incentives
• Project host
• Financial Model
13
Project Host
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Corporation
Farm
Individual residence(s)
Limited liability company
Municipal-county
Municipal-town
Religious organization
School (K-12)
Tribal
University/College
Utility – traditional
Utility – cooperative
Utility – municipal
Undefined
14
Financial Models
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Buying Group (installation)
Buying Group (Electricity)
Green Planned Housing Development
Intentional Sustainable Communities
One-time funds (tax revenues, donations, grants)
Third Party Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)
Leases
Shared Ownership
Undefined
15
DATABASE RESULTS:
What types of CRE?
Total Number of CRE Projects by Energy Source
6000
5000
5006
4000
3000
2000
1000
498
0
Solar PV
Wind
70
39
Solar
Thermal
Biomass
16
10
5
Geothermal Micro Hydro
Community Solar Resources
• Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA)
• Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
• Community Power Network (CPN)
• Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
• 2 Theses on Solarize: C. McIlvinnie, Ryan Cook
• Solar Foundation
• DOE Sunshot Initiative
17
DATABASE RESULTS:
Community Solar Projects
Development Stage
Complete
In Process
Unable to verify
Planning
Number of Projects
4,818
75
56
30
18
Top 10 States by Number of Community
Solar Projects
California
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Illinois
Arizona
New York
Wisconsin
Florida
Utah
Connecticut
0
200
400
600
19
800
1000
1200
Top 10 States by Number of Community
Solar Projects per million people
Vermont
Massachusetts
Utah
Nevada
Washington…
Maine
New Jersey
Connecticut
Arizona
Wisconsin
0
50
100
20
150
200
Top 10 States by Community Solar
Capacity (MW)
California
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Arizona
Maryland
Ohio
>1.1 GW TOTAL
Colorado
32% of US Residential
& Commercial PV
Capacity
New York
Illinois
Nevada
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
21
200,000
Number of Projects NS:
CT (50)
VT (38)
MA (35)
CA (34)
OR (29)
NY (25)
MN (24)
VA (20)
NJ (17)
ME (16)
*398 projects in US
250,000
300,000
350,000
Top 10 States by Community Solar
Capacity (kW) per 100,000 people
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Arizona
Vermont
California
Hawaii
Maine
Colorado
Maryland
New Mexico
0
500
1,000
1,500
22
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
Types of Community Solar
Type
K-12 School
Number of
Projects
Capacity (kW)
% of Projects
% of Capacity
3,842
508,455
75%
44%
University/colle
ge
280
198,704
5%
17%
Buying Groups
266
29,804
5%
3%
Municipal
247
269,779
5%
24%
Non-profit
209
25,450
4%
2%
Solar farm
144
89,302
3%
8%
Other
86
22,387
2%
2%
Farm
23
3,040
0%
0%
5,097
1,146,922
TOTAL
23
1. “Shared” Solar:
Solar Farms/Gardens
Multiple people or businesses own or purchase electricity
from a single solar photovoltaic array
Expands the solar market to individuals who want to
invest in solar but are unable/unwilling to install solar
panels at their home or place of business
This 150 kW community solar garden in
Brattleboro VT provides energy to six local
residences and three businesses.
Source: http://soverensolar.com/
Shared Solar requires Group Net Metering
Source: http://www.ncsl.org/
Shared solar has been growing quickly
41 projects
172 MW
Feldman et al., 2015, Shared Solar: Current Landscape, Market Potential, and the Impact of
Federal Securities Regulation
26
Top 10 States by Number of Solar Farms/Gardens
Colorado
Vermont
Minnesota
Massachusetts
Maine
Washington
Arizona
North Carolina
Iowa
California
0
10
20
30
40
50
Top 10 States by Solar Farms/Garden Capacity (kW)
Arizona
Colorado
California
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Missouri
Vermont
Minnesota
Kansas
Maine
0
5,000
10,000
15,00027
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
Shared solar projected to keep
growing up to 50% of PV
~49% of households
currently can’t do
rooftop PV
Feldman et al., 2015, Shared Solar: Current Landscape, Market Potential, and the Impact of
Federal Securities Regulation
28
2. Buying Groups
• Installation Purchase Groups:
• Limited time
• Approved installer(s)
• Tiered pricing structure
• Greater discount per number of participants
• 2 main types:
• Solarize
• Solar Cooperatives
• Electricity Purchase Groups:
• Green Pricing Programs
• Community Choice Aggregation
Top 10 States by Number of Buying Groups
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Vermont
Oregon
Virginia
New York
Washington
Washington DC
California
Maryland
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Top 10 States by Buying Group Capacity (kW)
Massachusetts
New York
Washington
Oregon
North Carolina
Connecticut
Maryland
Colorado
California
New Hampshire
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
30
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
3. Municipal Solar
Renewable energy installations on municipal buildings/property
other than schools such as town halls, community centers or
libraries.
Solar arrays at capped
landfills and brownfields
like this one at the
Easthampton Landfill in
MA are increasingly
common.
Source:
http://borregosolar.com/
Top 10 States by Number of Municipal Solar Projects
Massachusetts
Oregon
Washington
Utah
California
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Maine
Tennessee
Ohio
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Top 10 States by Municipal Solar Capacity (kW)
Massachusetts
New Jersey
California
Maryland
Maine
New Mexico
Nevada
Oregon
Colorado
0
20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000 160,000
32
4. Solar Schools (K-12)
Top 10 States by Number of K-12 Solar Schools
California
New Jersey
Illinois
Arizona
Massachusetts
New York
Florida
Wisconsin
Nevada
Utah
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Top 10 States by K-12 Solar School Capacity (kW)
California
New Jersey
Arizona
Massachusetts
Illinois
New York
Nevada
Wisconsin
Connecticut
Florida
0
50,000
100,000
34
150,000
200,000
250,000
Religious Institutions/ Other
Non-Profits
Often financed as Third Party PPAs as non-profit organizations
are tax exempt and cannot take advantage of government
incentives.
And 8.4 kW solar
array at Unitarian
Universalist Church
West in Brookfield,
WI
Source:
http://www.uucw.org/
Top 10 States by Number of Non-Profit Solar Projects
Massachusetts
Utah
Wisconsin
California
Washington
Oregon
Maine
Washington DC
Wyoming
Minnesota
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Top 10 States by Non-Profit Solar Capacity (kW)
Massachusetts
California
Ohio
Maryland
Colorado
Utah
Washington DC
Oregon
Wisconsin
Vermont
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
368,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
Number of Projects by
Financial Model
Financial
Model
Municipal NonK-12 Buying Solar
Profit Schools Group Farms
One-time funds
105
129
1,538
Third Party PPA
105
45
596
267
?
36
Shared
Ownership
Unknown
2
107
36
35
37
1,708
0
0
Special Funding Mechanisms
• Bonneville Environmental Foundation Solar4Schools
• 34 Schools
• 31 Municipal
• 15 Non-profit
• Blue Sky Fund
• 52 Non-Profit
• 24 Municipal
• Crowdfunding – 10 Non-profit
• ARRA -7 Municipal
• 4 Community Choice Aggregation
38
Rough Estimate of
Community Solar Economics
• Assumptions:
• Reported installed capacity from US CS Database
• Average state-based capacity factor from Lopez et al., 2012
(NREL GIS Technical Potential report)
• Average state-based 2014 Total Electric Industry- Average
Retail Price (cents/kWh) from EIA
(http://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/)
• $2.50 - $4.00 per Watt installed cost (U.S.Solar Market
Insight Report 2015, GTM & SEIA)
• 5% Discount Rate
• 25 yr Lifetime
39
Rough Estimate of
Community Solar Economics
• Total Installed Costs: $2.9 - $4.6 Billion
• Total Annual Energy Savings: $333 Million
• Simple Payback Period: 7-28 yrs
• Total Net Present Value: $0.1-$1.8 Billion
40
41
Ongoing Work/ Next Steps
42
U.S. Community Energy Database
(a work in progress)
To be integrated internationally
43
Pilot Survey (MA, ME, VT )
• Individual vs Group
• Attitudes
• Motivations
• Decision-making strategies
• Technology
• Financing
• Project organization
• Advantages & Disadvantages
• Barriers & Opportunities
44
Community Solar Policy is
constantly changing
https://www.solarelectricpower.org/media/214973/Community-Solar-Report-Executive-Summary-ver3.pdf
45
Acknowledgements
This work is/was supported by:
• USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture,
Hatch project 0230040
• University of Maine Mitchell Center for
Sustainability Solutions
• University of Maine School of Economics
46
Questions?
Sharon.klein@maine.edu