State Support for Clean Energy Deployment: Lessons Learned for Potential Future Policy

Proposed federal clean energy initiatives and climate legislation have suggested significant increases in federal funding for clean energy deployment and investment. To date, much experience and many lessons learned have resulted from state and utility experience supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy (EE/RE) programs. Many states and utilities have over a decade of experience and spend billions of public dollars every year to support EE/RE deployment through programs that reduce the cost of technologies, provide financing for EE/RE projects, offer technical assistance, and educate market participants. Meanwhile, constraints on public expenditures at all levels of government continue to call upon such programs to demonstrate their value.

This report reviews the results of these programs and the specific financial incentives and financing tools used to encourage clean energy investment. Lessons from such programs could be used to inform the future application of EE/RE incentives and financing tools. These lessons learned apply to use of distributed resources and the historical focus of these EE/RE programs.