A new report released today, “Powering America’s Communities,” provides a comprehensive guide to state-level policies needed to unleash distributed clean energy technology in the United States. The report was produced as part of the New Energy Leaders Project of Americans for Energy Leadership.
“Powering America’s Communities” finds that distributed generation (DG) clean energy offers a unique set of benefits to electricity consumers, clean energy generators, and communities overall. It provides a framework that can cost effectively spur the demand needed to push DG clean energy further down the cost curve, based in part on the best practices of numerous states. This framework is designed to overcome the four key barriers to widespread deployment of DG clean energy:
- Insufficient demand for DG clean energy
- Lack of proper incentives to stimulate investment in DG technologies
- Exclusion of key rate payer groups from effectively using DG clean energy sources
- Gaps in financing options for households and businesses looking to install DG systems
“Powering America’s Communities” not only showcases the best practices of state energy policy, but also introduce new ideas to promote DG clean energy without burdening ratepayers or taxpayers. Four central policy topics were explored that, if implemented, can put a state on the path toward greater clean energy adoption, local economic development, and greater energy security.
