Renewable Energy Policy Pathways Report
The Renewable Energy Policy Pathways Report is an analysis of policies intended to evaluate and identify potential pathways to increase access and decrease costs of renewable energy procurement across the U.S.
Introduction
Commercial & Industrial (C&I) customers collectively use over half of the electricity generated in the U.S. Businesses of all sectors and sizes are increasingly setting ambitious corporate goals to use clean or renewable energy to power their operations and facilities, including roughly half of the Fortune 500.
C&I customers are driving significant amounts of clean energy. In 2018, corporate buyers accounted for over one-fifth of the renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) in the U.S. and have collectively contracted nearly 47 gigawatts of clean energy over the last decade.
However, different policy and market structures constrain options available to C&I customers to buy the clean energy they want across markets in the US. Energy customers of many types – from businesses to cities, to higher-ed – are increasing their commitments to clean energy, and at times are making decisions about expanding or siting facilities based on access to clean energy. This study is intended to help identify the most promising pathways to expand access to clean energy across market types.
THE FINDINGS: Policy Pathway Recommendations
The report analyzes three viable pathways for increasing renewable energy procurement, and concludes the following:
- Allowing C&I customers the option to choose their suppliers provides opportunities to expand access to renewables – potentially up to 100% of C&I needs. This option can lower the cost of renewable energy procurement by up to 11% compared to if customers do not have supply options.
- Utilities’ renewable energy subscription programs in states where C&I customers do not have supply choice can provide attractive near-term opportunities to improve access to renewables. This is particularly the case when utilities replace their retiring fossil generation with renewable energy for C&I.
- Moderate RPS expansions have the potential to green the grid for all customers, but do not directly provide procurement options for C&I customers to go beyond state established renewable energy targets.
Methodology
The Renewable Energy Policy Pathways identified eight sample states to represent a diverse set of market, regulatory, and regional features to model the potential pathways, and modeled near- and long-term market and policy strategies key impact metrics: Percent of C&I customer demand with access to 100 percent renewable energy supply, potential amount of renewable energy capacity and potential procurement costs for each pathway.
Renewable Energy Policy Pathways Report
The Renewable Energy Policy Pathways Report is an analysis of policies intended to evaluate and identify potential pathways to increase access and decrease costs of renewable energy procurement across the U.S.