Driven by system reliability goals and the need to integrate significantly increased renewable power generation, long-range, bulk-power transmission planning processes in the United States are undergoing major changes. At the same time, energy efficiency is an increasing share of the electricity...

Residential photovoltaic (PV) systems were twice as expensive in the United States as in Germany (median of $5.29/W vs. $2.59/W) in 2012. This price discrepancy stems primarily from differences in non-hardware or “soft” costs between the two countries, which can only in part be explained by...

Deployment of customer-sited photovoltaics (PV) in the United States has expanded rapidly in recent years, driven by falling PV system prices, the advent of customer financing options, and various forms of policy support at the federal, state, and local levels. With the success of these efforts,...

We review long-term electric utility plans representing ~90% of generation within the Western U.S. and Canadian provinces. We address what utility planners assume about future growth of electricity demand and supply; what types of risk they consider in their long-term resource planning; and the...

Residential photovoltaic (PV) systems in the US are often compensated at the customer's underlying retail electricity rate through net metering. Given the uncertainty in future retail rates and the inherent links between rates and the customer–economics of behind-the-meter PV, there is growing...

This article examines the impact of retail electricity rate design on the economic value of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems, focusing on commercial customers in California. Using 15-min interval building load and PV production data from a sample of 24 actual commercial PV installations,...

Concerns about global climate change have substantially increased the likelihood that future policy will seek to minimize carbon dioxide emissions. As such, even today, electric utilities are making resource planning and investment decisions that consider the possible implications of these...

Net metering has become a widespread mechanism in the U.S. for supporting customer adoption of distributed photovoltaics (PV), but has faced challenges as PV installations grow to a larger share of generation in a number of states. This paper examines the value of the bill savings that customers...

Renewables portfolio standards (RPS) have become an increasingly popular option for encouraging the deployment of renewable electricity. It is a relatively new policy mechanism, however, and experience with its use is only beginning to emerge. One key concern is whether RPS policies offer...