Currently, utilities and co-ops are ramping up renewables. America now generates more kilowatt-hours of renewable energy than any other country in the world. Creating jobs and bettering the environment, zero-fuel cost renewable generation provides a critical hedge against future increases in fossil-fuel prices.

While federal incentives have bolstered supply of renewable energy, support for renewable energy demand has come chiefly from states. It’s in the form of renewable portfolio standard (RPS) mandates utilities to procure minimum amounts of electricity from renewable resources. Currently, in place in 29 states (and Washington DC), RPS mandates have driven the creation of ⅓ of current US non-hydro renewable electricity. Federal incentives now leave RPS mandates as the chief-medium-term driver of new investment in renewable energy for utilities and co-ops.

Increasing cost-competitiveness with conventional generating capacity and remaining incentives should enable continued deployment of renewables in line with “RPS demand pull.” To diversify America’s energy mix and hedge against uncertainty in the price of fossil fuels (in particular natural gas) state policymakers can increase long-term support for renewable energy demand.

Measures such as strengthening existing RPS targets, procuring more renewable electricity from large-scale projects through reverse auctions. And also, introducing additional incentives such as CLEAN programs, and performance-based rebates can increase such support for renewable energy. Incentives are forward-looking and responsive not just to utilities and co-ops, but to individual community members interested in renewable options.

ClearWorld supports communities looking to adopt a renewable energy system. As experts in the field of solar LED lighting solutions, ClearWorld is excited to work with those who want to learn more about renewable energy. We encourage anyone interested in making the switch to contact us and learn more about the variety of options available.