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U.S. Department of Energy
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Solar Photovoltaic Financing: Deployment on Public Property by State and Local Governments

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/928900· OSTI ID:928900

State and local governments have grown increasingly aware of the economic, environmental, and societal benefits of taking a lead role in U.S. implementation of renewable energy, particularly distributed photovoltaic (PV) installations. Recently, solar energy's cost premium has declined as a result of technology improvements and an increase in the cost of traditional energy generation. At the same time, a nationwide public policy focus on carbon-free, renewable energy has created a wide range of financial incentives to lower the costs of deploying PV even further. These changes have led to exponential increases in the availability of capital for solar projects, and tremendous creativity in the development of third-party ownership structures. As significant users of electricity, state and local governments can be an excellent example for solar PV system deployment on a national scale. Many public entities are not only considering deployment on public building rooftops, but also large-scale applications on available public lands. The changing marketplace requires that state and local governments be financially sophisticated to capture as much of the economic potential of a PV system as possible. This report examines ways that state and local governments can optimize the financial structure of deploying solar PV for public uses.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO.
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-99GO10337
OSTI ID:
928900
Report Number(s):
NREL/TP-670-43115
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English