State Energy Strategies Project

With funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), CESA worked with five states – Connecticut, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, and Rhode Island – and the District of Columbia develop and implement low- and moderate-income (LMI) solar strategies.

The agencies CESA partnered with on the State Energy Strategies Project are:

Each state worked with key stakeholders to identify approaches that are most promising, based on the state’s particular demographics, the maturity of the solar market, and other factors. These approaches were then developed into LMI solar strategies for each state that were implemented over the course of the project.

Throughout the project, the participating states shared their program successes and challenges with the other participating states through monthly conference calls. States also shared their lessons learned in webinars, case studies, and reports developed and disseminated with the help of CESA. You can find all the products produced under this grant on the Lessons Learned webpage. In addition to creating and disseminating knowledge products based on the states’ LMI solar activities, CESA produced several resources for other solar stakeholders looking to expand their LMI activities, including Community Outreach and Solar Equity: A Guide for States on Collaborating with Community-Based Organizations and the Directory of State Low- to Moderate-Income Clean Energy Programs.

The State Energy Strategies project was supported with funding from DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office and ran through the end of 2020. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory provided research support for the project.

Rhode Island's Community Solar Marketplace Website, an initiative of CESA's SES project. Photo Credit: Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources.

Rhode Island's Community Solar Marketplace Website, an initiative of CESA's SES project. Photo Credit: Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources.

PV on Pole in New Mexico, an initiative of CESA's SES project. Photo Credit: New Mexico Energy Conservation and Management Division.

PV on Pole in New Mexico, an initiative of CESA's SES project. Photo Credit: New Mexico Energy Conservation and Management Division.