Developing an Evaluation Approach for Wisconsin's Public Benefits Renewable Energy Program

摘要

Sixteen states have established 20 funds to support "clean" generation sources, including renewables and sometimes other options such as fuel cells or microturbines. These programs were expected at one time to collect $3.6 billion between 1998 and 2012. Because they differ widely in approach, funding, technologies covered, and the balance they set between resource acquisition and long-term market transformation, they constitute the most active current effort to experiment with new ways to develop energy technology markets. Wisconsin's Focus on Energy effort includes a Renewable Energy Program that targets customer-sited renewable energy uses. Our experience in developing an evaluation approach for the Wisconsin program suggests that professional evaluators have much to contribute to the development of state renewable energy programs, in particular by supporting program administrators in designing program logic with the same rigor now achieved by many mature energy efficiency programs. To do so, however, evaluators may need to "re-learn" how to convey their complex conceptual vocabulary to a community unfamiliar with it. They may also find that some evaluation tools (e.g., benefit-cost analysis) need to be readjusted to provide insight into renewable energy markets, and that full market transformation is a less plausible goal (or, at least, a far-off one) for many renewable energy technologies. However, as state budget deficits loom, rigorous evaluation could provide a valuable tool for policy makers seeking to trim program budgets with minimal harm to the public good.