Case Studies on the Effectiveness of State Financial Incentives for Renewable Energy

摘要

The North Carolina Solar Center at NC State University, in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, examined 10 state financial-incentive programs in six states using a case-study approach in order to clarify the key factorsboth internal and external to the programthat influence their effectiveness at stimulating deployment of renewable energy technologies. While existing information resources such as the National Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE, www.dsireusa.org) have documented what incentive programs are available, the effectiveness of such programs is not well understood. Understanding the impact of current financial incentives on the deployment of renewables and the factors that influence their effectiveness is critical to a variety of stakeholders, particularly in states considering new incentives or interested in improving or discarding existing ones. The types of incentives examined were those with the potential to increase the current smallscale renewables market significantly either through a reduction in the market price of the technologytax credits and buy-downsor by lowering the high initial capital outlay through low-interest loans. The scope of the study was limited to programs that support small-scale renewable energy technologies intended for on-site use in residential or small commercial applications. Given this scope, solar and small wind were the primary technologies supported by the incentives examined in this study.