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Monday, Oct 06, 2014

Rethinking Standby & Fixed Cost Charges: Regulatory and Rate Design Pathways to Deeper Solar PV Cost Reductions

Utilities have taken on the practice of applying standby and fixed cost charges specific to solar PV for customers choosing to go solar as a means to recover costs resulting from net energy metering (NEM). These charges are not the most efficient or best means for utilities to recover costs and this report finds that an integrated approach that includes the items below will allow for both effective utility cost recovery and minimal impact on the U.S. PV market. 

Tuesday, Sep 30, 2014

SEIA Applauds Initiative to Expand Solar on NYC Schools

WASHINGTON, DC - Calling it an “important step forward,” the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is applauding a new initiative announced by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to install more than 6,000 kilowatts (kW) of solar power on public schools across the city.

Monday, Sep 22, 2014

How Much Do Local Regulations Matter? Exploring the Impact of Permitting and Local Regulatory Processes on PV Prices in the United States

While PV modules and other hardware costs have dropped significantly over recent years, non-hardware soft costs have also fallen, but not nearly as sharply. This research report, authored by experts from Yale University, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin and the US Department of Energy, focuses on the impacts of city-level permitting and other regulatory processes on residential PV prices in the US. Key Findings:

Monday, Sep 22, 2014

Tracking the Sun VII

Lawrence Berkley National Lab's "Tracking the Sun" is an annual report that tracks and analyzes installed prices of solar PV. The report analyzes more than 300,000 individual residential, commercial and utility scale PV systems in 33 states. Key findings include:

Monday, Sep 22, 2014

Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis - v.8.0

Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis has been published since 2008. With their latest edition, Lazard shows that Wind and Solar PV continue to become cost-competitive.

Tuesday, Sep 16, 2014

Brighter Future: A Study on Solar in U.S. Schools Report

SEIA and its research partner, the Solar Foundation, have built the most comprehensive database known of K-12 schools with solar installations. With data on thousands of schools, the research team has used this database to learn about the characteristics of these systems and trends in this market segment over time.

Monday, Sep 15, 2014

Green Multifamily and Single Family Homes: Growth in a Recovering Market

Smart Market Report - Green Multifamily and Single Family Homes.pdfMcGraw Hill Construction builds on their previous study with this new report which finds that green building is taking an ever increasing share of construction within the new construction of single and multi-family homes as well as remodeling projects. Here are some key takeaways:

Thursday, Aug 28, 2014

Solar Market Insight Report 2014 Q2

U.S. Solar Market Insight™ is a collaboration between the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA®) and GTM Research that brings high-quality, solar-specific analysis and forecasts to industry professionals in the form of quarterly and annual reports. Released September 4, 2014.

Monday, Aug 25, 2014

Strategies for Mitigating the Reduction in Economic Value of Variable Generation with Increasing Penetration Levels

Looking at 4 variable generation technologies (wind, single-axis tracking PV, CSP with no storage, & CSP with thermal energy storage), the authors look at the benefits of mitigation measures. In particular, the authors are looking at specific mitigation measures to first find those measures that provide an increase to the value of variable generation technologies and then seeks to determine whether such mitigation measures are themselves economically attractive. Some of the conclusions the authors come to: 

Monday, Jul 28, 2014

IREC's US Solar Market Trends Report 2014

IREC's annual US Solar Market Trends Report 2014 gathers and analyzes publicly available data for US solar installations by technology, state and market sector. 

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