Paul Danielsen
- Extensive business development experience in both utility-scale and distributed solar.
- Responsible for over 40 MW of solar development in the U.S.
- All 7 Best Practices
- Pre-Meeting Discovery Process
- One-on-One Call with Expert
- Meeting Summary Report
- Post-Meeting Engagement
Determining Feasibility Requirements for Solar/PV Project Development
Defined Terms
- CREB (clean energy renewable bond)
- A new way state and local governments encourage renewable energy development. Public power systems and municipal utilities have never been eligible for the PTC because it was designed to benefit large investor-owned utilities, but CREBs are tax credit bonds with an interest-free finance rate that are only available to them. The entire interest on the bond is paid by the U.S. Treasury in the form of a tax credit.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - Distributed generation
Distributed generation (DG) refers to power generation at the point of consumption. Generating power on-site, rather than centrally, eliminates the cost, complexity, interdependencies, and inefficiencies associated with transmission and distribution.
Source: http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/distributed-generation/
- IOU (investor-owned utility)
A utility owned by private investors, as opposed to one owned by a public trust or agency; a commercial, for-profit utility as opposed to a co-op or municipal utility. IOU is rarely used in the energy industry to refer to a promissory note, and utility by itself typically refers to a public utility.
While IOUs comprise only a small minority of the total number of utility companies in the U.S., they serve more than two-thirds of the U.S. population. IOUs are usually subject to different regulations than publicly-owned utilities and co-ops, and they pay taxes as corporate citizens.
Source: http://www.energyvortex.com/energydictionary/investor_owned_utility_%28iou%29__private_utility__private_power_company.html- ITC (investment tax credit)
- The federal ITC is a way to support the deployment of solar energy in the United States, similar to how the mortgage interest tax deduction helps to incentivize people to buy homes. The ITC is a 30 percent tax credit for solar systems on residential or commercial properties. Property-owners can apply this credit to their tax bill in the following spring. Most individuals do not have a large enough tax liability to take advantage of this incentive, which is why mostly private companies and high net-worth individuals typically utilize the ITC.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - MOU (municipally-owned utility)
- A municipally or city-owned utility is a non-profit electricity provider that is owned and operated by the municipality it serves.
Source: http://www.directenergy.com/faqs/texas/deregulation-101/what-is-municipality-city-owned-utilty - NEG & NEM (net energy generation & net energy metering)
- With home solar, you can end up generating more or less electricity than you use. NEG is the total electricity your panels produce minus the electricity you use from the grid. NEM allows a customer-generator to receive a financial credit for power generated by their onsite system and fed back to the utility. The credit is used to offset the customer’s electricity bill. NEM is beneficial for those who want to stay connected to the grid but also benefit from generating their own renewable energy.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - PACE (property-assessed clean energy)
- A program that some cities offer that basically is a way to finance solar systems or energy efficiency retrofits, in which the city offers you a loan, and you pay it back through your property tax bills over 15 to 20 years with interest. The first PACE program was implemented in Berkeley, CA, and has since spread to other cities.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - PBI (performance-based incentive)
- A payment or rebate based on the solar system’s actual performance over a period of time. The payment is made in cents per kWh.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - PPA (power purchase agreement)
A financial arrangement in which a third-party developer owns, operates, and maintains the photovoltaic (PV) system on your roof (or another site), and you purchase the system’s electricity for a predetermined period. With PPAs, you avoid the high upfront costs of installing solar and pay a monthly rate that is at a discount to the utility’s rate. This arrangement is similar to a solar lease, but instead of paying for the actual solar panels, you pay for the system’s electricity.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun.
- PTC (production tax credit)
- The federal PTC is a per-kilowatt-hour tax credit for generating electricity throughout a certain period of the solar system’s operation. If you want to go solar, you can choose between applying for either an ITC or a PTC.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - RPS (renewable portfolio standard)
- An RPS provides states with a way to increase the generation of renewable energy using a market-based approach. It requires utilities and energy providers to supply a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources. Right now, states with RPS requirements require between 4 and 33 percent of electricity to be generated by a specified date. Utilities that have to comply with RPS requirements can provide an alternative payment called an alternative compliance payment (ACP) to meet their state’s goals.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - SBC (societal benefits charge)
- Utilities can include funding for programs in their rates that provide benefits to society, such as low-income, energy efficiency, and renewable energy programs.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - Solar PV
- A photovoltaic system, also solar PV power system, or PV system, is a power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to change the electric current from DC to AC, as well as mounting, cabling and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. (Source: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_system)
- SREC (solar renewable energy certificate)
- An SREC is the property right to the environmental benefits associated with generating solar electricity. Homeowners who generate solar electricity are credited with one SREC for every MWh of electricity they produce. Utilities that have to fulfill an RPS requirement can purchase these SRECs on the open market, but only some states allow the trading of SRECs.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - UFI (upfront incentive)
- Another incentive for going solar, this payment is an upfront lump-sum payment based on expected performance of the solar system.
Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),Sunrun. - Utility cooperatives
- Utilities operating as nonprofit businesses established, owned and operated by the customers who use the services they provide.