Resource Library

This resource addresses community solar program issues such as system size, interconnection, eligibility for participation, allocation of the benefits flowing from participation, net metering of system production, and other essential features of a community renewables program. This document is intended to provide stakeholders with program rules they can tailor to the individual circumstances and policy preferences of their state without having to reinvent the wheel at each turn.

Utility solar business models, given their often unique and innovative approaches, require cross-functional coordination within the utility for both their design and operation. Community Solar programs are one type of business model that exemplify this innovation and that also have significant interest in the utility industry. This report available to SEPA members considers the point of view of the community solar design person or team within a utility and qualitatively explores the inter-departmental strategic needs that should be addressed as a community solar program is developed.

The Community Solar Tool is a web-based decision support tool to help community groups, businesses, nonprofits, government and utilities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and elsewhere select the best business model and design for constructing and operating a community solar system. It features an interactive project calculator that displays estimates of the financial, legal and administrative costs of starting a community solar project in response to your input on a future project, as well as essential forms and template documents. Currently, the Community Solar Tool is only populated with Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana data, and where applicable, national data.

Although building community wind project has become easier over time as landowners have benefited from the experiences of the community wind pioneers, understanding and accessing financing opportunities remains perhaps the most important requirement for a successful project. This handbook provides information on ownership structures, roles of financial intermediaries, and sources of federal and state financial support.

WINDExchange provides wind maps and validation to help homeowners, communities, states and regions consider and plan for wind energy deployment. Businesses, farms, and homeowners can utilize 30-meter height residential-scale wind resource maps to identify wind sites that may be appropriate for small-scale wind projects. Counties, towns, utilities, and schools can utilize 50-meter height, high-resolution community-scale wind resource maps to locate and quantify the wind resource, identifying potentially windy sites to determine the site's economic and technical viability.

SANDAG has designed a comprehensive Commuter Benefit Program Starter Kit to assist San Diego-area employers in developing and implementing a commuter policy and benefit program. The kit contains a simple, three-step process to help a company identify their needs, design a custom program, and roll it out to the company’s employees. It contains sample policies, forms, tax information, commuter program descriptions, and examples from other companies and agencies. It also includes advice on how to market a new commuter program to your employees, as well as tip sheets to pass on to your employees about carpooling, vanpooling, using public transit, and biking or walking to work.

To support the varying needs and goals of communities across the country, the National Complete Streets Coalition published a comprehensive workbook for communities to follow when writing their own policies for a safe, comfortable, multi-use and integrated transportation network. For use by city and county agencies, the guide is based in national existing policy and best practices and encourages a thoughtful, inclusive process for developing locally appropriate policy language.

This comprehensive model ordinance for distributed wind covers both distributed wind turbines up to and including 100 kW, suitable for home, farm, and small commercial applications, and those above 100 kW suitable for farm, commercial, institutional and industrial applications. It details permitted use requirements, including siting and design requirements, turbine standards, and permit fees.

The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) solar website provides comprehensive information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote solar energy. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program, DSIRE Solar provides solar-specific policy information to consumers, policy makers, businesses, utilities, researchers and other stakeholders. Visit the source link below to access the database website.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is a dispatchable, renewable energy option that uses mirrors to focus and concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, from which a heat transfer fluid carries the intense thermal energy to a power block to generate electricity. CSP systems can store solar energy to be used when the sun is not shining. It will help meet the nation’s goal of making solar energy fully cost-competitive with other energy sources by the end of the decade. Worldwide, CSP activity is rapidly scaling, with approximately 10 gigawatts (GW) in various stages of operation or development. In the United States alone, nearly 2 GW of CSP are in operation.

The Urban Wind section of the SF Environment website features an FAQ focused on purchasing, siting, and installing small wind turbines. This FAQ format can be adopted by other jurisdictions and customized with specific requirements for siting and installing wind systems.

This introductory guide to ground source and geothermal heat pump systems from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory discusses the benefits of the technology and information about various installation options.

This brochure introduces consumers to solar heating technologies, and guides them through how the technology works, its benefits, tips to select contractors, incentives schemes and other practical information on how to purchase a solar heating system, its requirements and maintenance obligations, as well as the estimated payback times.

In collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Energy and The Energy Network, Matadors Community Credit Union offers eligible homeowners low-interest rate financing on residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) projects. More information about qualifying HVAC upgrades, special financing terms, and a list of participating contractors can be found on the program's website.

This case study focuses on lighting and building envelope retrofits of the Thomas O. Price Service Center Building One, an one-story office building that houses 80 full-time employees in various City of Tucson administrative roles. It details initial upfront costs, payback period, as well as energy savings for each retrofit project. After the installation of a cool roof in 2001, there was a nearly 50% reduction in cooling energy usage. This result is even more impressive when taking into consideration that Building One had been retrofitted with modern energy efficient lighting, mechanical systems and building controls prior to the roof retrofit.

This chapter of a larger report on urban heat island reduction strategies provides detailed information that mitigation program organizers can use to understand, plan, and implement cool roofing projects and programs. It discusses cool roof properties and how they help to mitigate urban heat, specific benefits and costs of cool roofing, installation and maintenance of cool roofs, as well as tools and resources to further explore this technology.

This how-to guide from the NYC °CoolRoofs initiative details the steps that building owners can take to apply cool roof coatings to their roofs, which reflect heat and make buildings more comfortable, protect roofs against thermal expansion, and increase the efficiency of roof-mounted air conditioning equipment.

Pacific Gas & Electric's website features information about cooling centers, a place where individuals can go to cool off during extreme heat events, as well as a cooling center locator. The centers are often located in local government-run senior centers or neighborhood parks and recreation sites and are open to all. To find a designated cooling center, individuals can use the locator or call PG&E's toll free cooling centers locator line 1-877-474-3266. Local governments should publicize their own list of designated cooling centers via the municipal website, social media, and other outreach channels.

This paper summarizes existing research on the relationship between energy efficiency and demand response. Using information gathered through interviews with program administrators, customers, and service providers, this paper discusses the coordination of energy efficiency and demand response programs, with a particular focus on current practices and opportunities. It also discusses barriers to coordinating these two types of programs. Intended audiences include policy-makers, program administrator staff, regulatory staff, service provider organizations, and stakeholders who provide input on the design and implementation of energy efficiency and demand response programs and tariffs.

EPRI's innovative Energy Storage Valuation Tool quantifies the value of grid energy storage opportunities, using simulation software to enable preliminary economic analysis prior to more resource-intensive analytical efforts. This report describes applications of the methodology and tool to analyze a range of energy storage cases, including different uses, technologies, locations, and future electricity market scenarios. The analyses were performed to inform stakeholders of the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) regulatory proceeding investigating the cost-effectiveness of energy storage in approximately 30 different cases.

The California PUC clarified the definition of 'aggregate customer peak demand' that is used to calculate the 5% capacity limit for net energy metering. The sum of each customers peak demand (non-coincident) was agreed as the proper calculation. The linked file below is an excerpt from the decision, with the summary and key arguments from each side highlighted. The full decision can be found via the attribution below.

This CPUC decision expands eligibility for net energy metering from solar and wind only to all renewable generating technologies. The linked file is an excerpt from the memorandum containing the CPUC's analysis and position, with summary and some other key points highlighted in yellow.

Building permits are not required for rooftop solar installations meeting the three listed criteria (distributed weight under 5psf, point load under 40lbs, and height not more than 18" above roof).

Building permits are not required for rooftop solar installations meeting the five listed criteria on p.2 of the attached document.

The City of Portland provides a case study for accepting solar permit applications online. The program, available to approved contractors, has defined criteria for what types of projects are eligible to submit online. A series of yes/no questions determine whether the installation qualifies as prescriptive, meaning the structural calculations are not required. This criteria could be adopted by other jurisdictions looking to have an expedited path for certain projects.