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Energy Trust of Oregon’s Inclusive Innovation Project: Leveraging Community Expertise to Develop Equitable Solar Programs
Energy Trust of Oregon has a long history of clean energy innovation; it was involved in expanding the first Solarize program in the country in 2009. More recently, Energy Trust’s Inclusive Innovation Project sought to adapt innovative business development models to create effective solar programs that reach under-resourced customers throughout Oregon. Over the past four…
Read more...The Mass Solar Loan Program: Bringing Solar Ownership to Low-Income Homeowners
The Mass Solar Loan Program, launched by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) in 2015, combines strategic incentives and partnerships with local banks and credit unions to increase access to solar PV financing, while creating a robust solar lending market. Most recently, its incentives have focused exclusively…
Read more...Massachusetts and Vermont crack the code on distributed energy storage
In 2019, Massachusetts commenced a nation-leading experiment by, for the first time, incorporating behind-the-meter energy storage into the Commonwealth’s three-year energy efficiency plan, through the ConnectedSolutions program, as a peak demand reducing measure. The state argued that this represented a new type of efficiency. Batteries do not generally reduce net consumption of electricity – the…
Read more...ConnectedSolutions First Results: Massachusetts’ groundbreaking efficiency program for customer batteries receives its first report card
Last year, with technical support from Clean Energy Group (CEG), Massachusetts became the first state to officially incorporate behind-the-meter battery storage into its energy efficiency plan, and utilities began enrolling customers across the state in a groundbreaking pay-for-performance program. Now, preliminary results from this program, called ConnectedSolutions, have been published in a report from Navigant…
Read more...DC Court Upholds Major FERC Storage Order, Should Lead to Massive New Battery Markets Across Country
This morning, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld a major federal rule (FERC Order 841) that should lead to significantly expanded battery storage use in wholesale markets across America. In a hotly contested case, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit unanimously ruled that FERC has the authority to require states…
Read more...CESA Honors Six Clean Energy Programs with the 2020 State Leadership in Clean Energy Awards
The Clean Energy States Alliance announced the recipients of the 2020 State Leadership in Clean Energy Awards at its annual membership meeting, held online in early June. Since 2009, the biennial Leadership Awards have recognized outstanding state programs and projects that have accelerated the adoption of clean energy technologies. The six winners were chosen by…
Read more...The New England Battery Revolution: In a Public Health Crisis, State Efficiency Programs Are Making Resilient Power Affordable for All
In this time of the coronavirus, losing electricity has more far reaching consequences than ever before. To those at home with children, a power outage could mean no distance learning; to those with home-based medical equipment, it could mean illness or worse; to those now working remotely, it could mean inability to run a business,…
Read more...CESA Launches 100% Clean Energy Collaborative
The Clean Energy States Alliance has launched the 100% Clean Energy Collaborative, a new initiative to provide critical information sharing and knowledge transfer among states that have established 100% clean energy goals for their electricity sectors. The rapid adoption of aggressive clean energy targets by states has been one of the most important energy and climate change policy developments of the past few years; 14 states plus the District of Columbia have now set such goals. The new Collaborative will create a forum for those states to cooperate on program development in order to speed progress towards achieving the states’ ambitious targets.
Read more...A Small-Scale Solar Project with a Big Impact in LaGrange, Georgia
The LaGrange Housing Authority in LaGrange, Georgia has found novel ways to advance renewable initiatives in a state that does not offer the kinds of support, programs, or incentives for renewable energy offered in many other places.
Read more...Becoming More Aggressive: States Implement Ambitious Goals and Standards
Clean energy, economic development, and climate mitigation goals and targets can be important drivers of social change and market transformation. For state policymakers, having clear metrics can be a good way to know if they are making as much progress as expected. For decades, there have been various state goals related to clean energy, but many new and ambitious ones have been announced in recent years, often with considerable fanfare.
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