Community Solar: How to Make it Shine
Johnson, Bruce.
2019
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The major focus of this thesis was to identify and analyze
different state level policies that have a major influence on the implementation
of Community Solar (CS). CS is classified as both a distributed-generation and
renewable energy source. It is rapidly growing, while expanding the ability for a
variety of different consumers and firms to participate in the solar energy
economy. Through ... read morea literature review, this thesis began by identifying a wide
range of policies that can enable and influence CS implementation, ranging from
nearly essential factors like having energy credit valuation systems, to providing
tax benefits. Through this research, I developed a state level policy scoring
system, taking into account 17 different policy related factors. This scoring
system was applied to California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New
York, the five states that currently have the most installed CS. This was done by
developing an inventory of what policies each state has, and assigning a policy
score based on their policies. Next, the total CS implementation for each of these
states was inventoried, and was also normalized to take into account total state
solar potential and population. Based on these scores and implementation, two
linear regression models were run showing a positive relationship between having a
high policy score and having high levels of CS implementation. Additionally, a
correlation matrix was run to identify which individual policy factors have a more
direct significant effect on implementation. Limited by the small sample size,
little statistical significance was found in the correlation matrix. However,
there was a significant positive relationship between tax related factors,
including income tax deduction and grants and rebates, and implementation. This
thesis serves as a strong baseline and roadmap for CS policy analysis, and should
be replicated and expanded upon in the future as CS implementation continues to
increase and more data becomes available.
Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2019.
Submitted to the Dept. of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning.
Advisors: Justin Hollander, and Ann Rappaport.
Keywords: Urban planning, and Environmental studies.read less - ID:
- fb494n614
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