CESA Program Areas

CESA’s Projects fall within several Program Areas that all serve to advance clean energy market transformation.

Some Projects can broach several programmatic areas, as you will see below in a compilation of CESA’s Programs and related Projects, which are listed alphabetically by Program name. Projects within the 10 Program Areas are hyperlinked to the Project’s webpage on CESA’s website.

Building Decarbonization Clean Energy Finance Consumer Protection Energy Storage Information Sharing and Networking Integrating Renewable Energy into the Grid Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) Solar Offshore Wind State Clean Energy Goals and Standards

Building Decarbonization

Heating and cooling buildings accounts for nearly one-third of a building’s overall energy use.

Displacing fossil-fuel heating and electric resistance heating is an essential element of states’ long-term clean energy and climate goals. Transitioning the building sector to cleaner thermal energy solutions is a key way to decrease climate impacts and improve air quality. CESA is supporting its members to advance programs and strategies that remove barriers to building decarbonization and speed-up the market penetration of clean heating and cooling (CH&C) technologies. These technologies include advanced pellet biomass boilers, solar thermal, and high-efficiency electrification technologies such as air source and ground source heat pumps. CESA has two projects under this program area:

Building Decarbonization and Clean Heating/Cooling (CH/C) - CESA is working with several states to develop and promote new programs and strategies that transition homes and business toward clean heating and cooling technologies.
Cost & Carbon Savings Calculator for Clean Heating/Cooling - CESA is working with several Northeast states and utilities on the development of a regional cost and carbon savings calculator tool for homeowners. The tool is currently under development and is expected for release in the summer of 2020.

Clean Energy Finance

Much of CESA’s work addresses the need for states to develop and implement creative strategies to make it easier to make investments in clean energy project development.

Clean energy finance strategies are a frequent topic for CESA members at the annual National Membership Meetings. Among current projects, the following have an especially strong finance component.

Scaling Up Solar for Under-Resourced Communities – This project seeks to identify and replicate promising financing strategies aimed at three subsets of the LMI solar market: single-family homes, manufactured homes, and multifamily affordable housing.
Clean Energy Finance (leveraged project) – CESA’s sister organization, Clean Energy Group (CEG), supports the deployment of resilient solar+storage as it works with foundations to develop new financing approaches and funding resources to accelerate project pipelines and attract private-sector investments for solar+storage systems in under-served communities.

Consumer Protection

States can play an important role in ensuring that the clean energy marketplace remains consumer friendly.

CESA has produced a variety of materials on consumer protection for distributed clean energy resources. Some materials CESA has released on this topic can be used by states to educate their residents about solar energy or other clean energy technologies:

In 2017, CESA released three short videos for solar consumers—Rooftop Solar Financing 101, Choosing a Solar Installer, and Will Solar Panels Save You Money?. The videos were produced by the George Washington University Solar Institute. They available for states and other market participants to share on their websites.
CESA published A Homeowner’s Guide to Solar Financing: Leases, Loans and PPAs, which aims to help homeowners navigate the complex landscape of residential solar financing. The guide is available in both English and Spanish. States are welcome to share the guide on their websites. CESA has also worked with officials in Massachusetts, New Mexico, and New York to publish state-specific versions of the guide.

Other consumer protection resources CESA has produced provide guidance to state officials, including:

Energy Storage

Energy storage is a game changer for the energy sector.

Energy storage is a game changer for the energy sector. It can enable higher penetrations of renewables, provide critical infrastructure resiliency, contribute to grid modernization and microgrids, reduce the need for fossil-fueled peaker power plants, increase grid efficiency and provide financial benefits through demand charge management and peak shaving. CESA has over a decade of experience in energy storage policy and technology, as well as direct experience supporting energy storage projects across the country. Our current efforts support deployment of large-scale energy storage, small-scale distributed battery storage paired with solar PV, and the development of relevant state policies, programs, and regulations.

Energy Storage Technology Advancement Partnership (ESTAP) – ESTAP’s objective is to accelerate the pace of deployment of energy storage technologies in the United States through the creation of technical assistance and co-funding partnerships between states and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Energy Storage Policy for States – CESA's state energy storage policy project supports a number of efforts aimed at helping states to develop and adapt policy in support of energy storage deployment and market development.

CESA also collaborates with Clean Energy Group on the Resilient Power Project. Solar combined with energy storage is a key component of this work, which focuses on small, behind-the-meter, islandable systems in under-resourced communities. The Resilient Power Project website has links to the project’s numerous reports and webinars, as well as resources such as a project map, featured installations, and a resilient power toolkit.

Information Sharing and Networking

CESA’s members represent some of the most innovative and influential public funders of clean energy initiatives from around the country.

CESA supports this network of states by providing opportunities and implementing communication strategies to promote shared learning and adoption of best practices. Information exchange is one of the key services that CESA provides to its members and to clean energy stakeholders, and we accomplish this through the following activities:

CESA Webinars – CESA hosts frequent webinars on wide ranging clean energy topics. All webinars are free, and most are open to the general public. Upcoming and archived webinars are posted on the CESA website’s Webinars page and are archived on relevant CESA’s Project pages as well.
CESA Newsletters and the CESA Brief – CESA produces seven e-newsletters; one that is exclusive to CESA members and the rest that offered to the general public. Newsletter topics are of interest to state policy makers, including solar+storage news, resilient power, low- and moderate-income solar, 100% clean energy goals, offshore wind, and The CESA Brief, which highlights CESA organizational news and news about our members. You can sign up for CESA’s newsletters here.
CESA National Membership Meetings – CESA hosts an annual meeting for our members, and a different member state co-hosts the meeting each year. These meetings are an opportunity for members to network, to hear from clean energy experts from across the country, and to increase their knowledge about clean energy topics. Meeting materials are archived on the CESA website’s Members-Only pages.
State Leadership in Clean Energy (SLICE) Awards – CESA hosts these biennial awards to highlight the successful and innovative work of our members. In addition to the awards, the winning programs are highlighted in a case studies report and are featured in an accompanying webinar series.
Clean Energy Champions reports – CESA’s 2015 “Clean Energy Champions” report and follow-on “Returning Champions” report, released in 2019, highlight the essential role that states are playing to develop and implement effective policies and programs. The reports describe the range of strategies and initiatives that states are using to grow clean energy markets, and they provide readers with a concise overview of clean energy trends at the state level.
The CESA website – CESA’s website is a comprehensive source of information on CESA’s projects and resources, including reports, case studies, webinars, and blogs. The website provides information about CESA’s members, its Board of Directors, and CESA staff.
Social Media – CESA is active on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Connect with us!

Integrating Renewable Energy into the Grid

Renewable energy resources are playing an increasingly important role in electricity systems across the United States.

When these resources are deployed optimally, they can offer benefits to the customer, to the grid, and to utility ratepayers. Optimized renewable energy development can reduce grid congestion, help defer or avoid grid infrastructure upgrades, and offer public safety and other social and environmental benefits. By planning and encouraging the optimized deployment and integration of renewable energy resources into the grid, states can help protect their communities and ratepayers and can help ensure the reliability and resilience of the electricity system.

Locational Value of Distributed Energy Resources (completed project) – Under this project, CESA worked with five states—Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin—and the District of Columbia to advance state decision-making for identifying high-value locations for the for the development of distributed energy resources, such as solar, solar-plus-storage, and demand response.
Energy Storage Peaker Replacement Project (leveraged project) – Clean Energy Group’s Energy Storage Peaker Replacement project is a collaborative effort in partnership with local community and environmental justice groups to fight and win peaker plant replacement battles. The initiative is developing the analytical basis and strategies to support policy and local advocacy efforts to replace fossil-fuel peaker power plants with battery storage and other clean energy technologies nationwide.

Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) Solar

As the cost of solar has come down over the years, many barriers to the equitable deployment of solar power remain.

Making solar accessible to all Americans, regardless of income, is a priority for CESA and has been a core area of our work with state energy agencies and green banks across the country for many years. Consult the project pages below for additional information.

Scaling Up Solar for Under-Resourced Communities. CESA works with states to develop policies and programs that accelerate the deployment of solar projects benefitting LMI households and communities, including Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Solar for All programs.
Solar with Justice: Connecting States and Communities Project. CESA assists state energy agencies and community-based organizations in engaging productively and forge partnerships to promote LMI solar.
Additionally, CESA produces several newsletters on solar topics, including the “Solar Equity Digest” and “Solar+Storage News.”

Offshore Wind

Offshore wind is one of the country’s most significant renewable energy resources with the potential to transform the nation’s energy portfolio, create tens of thousands of jobs, meet renewable energy policy and carbon emission reduction goals, and foster an inclusive and equitable energy transition.

CESA’s Offshore Wind Accelerator comprises three projects. Consult the Offshore Wind Accelerator project page for additional information.

Offshore Wind and Equity. CESA works with states and community-based organizations to promote an equitable approach to offshore wind development.
Offshore Wind Learning Exchange. CESA fosters learning, communication, and collaboration between US states and European nations.
Maryland Works for Wind. CESA is working with the Maryland Department of Labor to create an inclusive offshore wind workforce.

Retired projects include:

Multi-state Offshore Wind Initiative. CESA worked with state energy agencies across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and California to investigate innovative policies to scale offshore wind power.

State Clean Energy Goals and Standards

Clean energy and climate mitigation goals and targets are important drivers of social change and market transformation.

For state policymakers, having clear metrics can be a good way to track programmatic progress. For decades, there have been various state goals related to clean energy, but recently there have been many new and ambitious targets announced by states. CESA is working with its members and other states to help share information and experiences related to program implementation and best practices. Through communications facilitation, knowledge sharing, networking, producing reports on lessons learned, and offering technical assistance with program design and implementation, CESA’s projects in this area aim to assist all states with clean energy goals and targets:

100% Clean Energy Collaborative – Launched in 2020, this initiative helps those states that have embraced 100% clean energy goals to share experiences and work cooperatively as they plan to achieve those goals.
Renewable Portfolio Standards – From 2008 through early-2020, CESA managed the RPS Collaborative, a forum for the exchange of experiences and lessons learned regarding the implementation of state RPSs. CESA continues to produce reports and webinars on topics related to RPSs and to maintain a well-used compilation of the most recent state RPS annual reports and compliance reports.