Publicly Supported Solar Loan Programs: A Guide for States and Municipalities

Travis Lowder, NREL, for the Clean Energy States Alliance

States and municipalities can play an important role in spurring local lending for residential rooftop PV installations.

With this guidebook, CESA aims to help inform state and municipal officials about best practices and the various approaches to opening up the lending marketplace for residential solar. The guide describes general factors state and municipal governments should consider when assessing whether to launch a public solar loan program, explains various loan program design elements, and offers several case studies.

This guidebook was written by Travis Lowder of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for CESA’s Sustainable Solar Education Project.

This report and webinar were produced through CESA’s Sustainable Solar Education Project, which provides information and educational resources to help states and municipalities ensure that distributed solar electricity remains consumer friendly and benefits low- and moderate-income households. This project is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative’s Solar Training and Education for Professionals program.

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