Clean Energy Finance Forum

This September 2 feature, from a nonfinancial source, sweeps over the capital investment corporations are committing to sites in the United States' Southeast.

On March 22, our partners presented the story of a trash collection site now generating solar energy in Urbana, Illinois.

Seven states – Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont – have enacted legislation to promote pollinator-friendly solar development. A new white paper by the Clean Energy States Alliance provides an overview of these state efforts and offers suggestions for what other states can do to promote solar while also creating or preserving healthy habitats for pollinators.

In January 2019, the District of Columbia passed the most ambitious clean energy legislation in the nation. However, local climate activists say the hard work is just beginning — they want to know who will lead the DC

A finance authority that uses innovative financing tecniques to help achieve clean energy and efficiency policy objectives by crowding in private investment. Although there is diversity in the scope and structure of green banks, they are often capitalized by public funds and have a regional jurisdiction. Source: Green Bank Network

and whether the law will benefit the least-privileged residents of the District.

Illinois utility will test the viability of a transactive energy marketplace, where rooftop solar, electric vehicles and home batteries could become real-time market players.

More than a dozen states are adopting “community solar” programs that are bringing solar power and lower energy bills to low-income households from New York to California.

A proposal making its way through the Iowa legislature would impose new monthly fees on homes and businesses that own solar power systems, adding years to the payoff period before customers' utility-bill savings would cover the cost of adding solar.

The Green New Deal that some Democrats are now championing is unlike anything this country has ever done before. But scientists have been studying policies like these for decades. And their research can tell us a bit about what might happen if we pass this sweeping new vision for climate action and economic equality.

Though still an industrial metropolis, Chicago is actively becoming a clean energy innovation hub for microgrids, electric cars and next generation battery research. But the startup momentum in the energy sector isn’t matched with enough venture capital enthusiasm.

This report reviews existing and emerging low- and moderate-income (LMI) community solar programs, discusses key questions related to program design, outlines how states can leverage incentives and finance structures to lower the cost of LMI community solar, and examines marketing and outreach considerations.