RESOURCE LIBRARY
APPRISE Projects
Renewable Energy Programs
Ameren Missouri has a Neighborhood Solar Program that installs solar at community-oriented sites such as schools, nonprofits, and municipalities. This program includes a workforce development component where Ameren Missouri works with site partners and vendors to provide job training and opportunities to individuals in the local community, with a focus on economically disadvantaged clients or students starting in the solar industry. APPRISE conducted a study to help Ameren Missouri understand how other programs have developed and implemented these workforce development initiatives and how Ameren can optimize their program design.
Ameren Missouri introduced a Community Solar Program for Ameren Missouri electric customers. The program allows participants to subscribe to blocks of power up to one half of their average monthly usage. Customers who subscribe to Community Solar pay a higher price and an additional fee to cover the project’s construction cost. Ameren is interested in creating a new community solar program for low-income households. APPRISE conducted research for Ameren to understand low-income customer interest and demand for a low-income Community Solar program as well as Community Solar participant acceptance of an additional cost to support the program.
APPRISE conducted research for Ameren Missouri to help them understand the advantages and disadvantages of low-income solar design options including strategies for equitable offerings, ownership models, funding sources, bill payment, program coordination, marketing and education, and project location. The research included review of low- and moderate-income (LMI) solar programs around the country, a detailed review of utility-run LMI community solar programs, and interviews with managers of five utility-run LMI community solar programs. The final report provided recommendations for Ameren to consider in designing an LMI community solar program.
APPRISE conducted an evaluation of California’s Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes and Multi-Family Affordable Solar Homes programs. The programs provide solar incentives to customers of three investor-owned utilities in California. The programs aim to stimulate the adoption of solar power in affordable housing, improve the quality of affordable housing, increase energy affordability for low-income households, and increase awareness and knowledge of the benefits of solar power among affordable housing occupants and developers. As a subcontractor in this research, APPRISE conducted interviews with the program administrators and conducted surveys with participating homeowners, participating building managers, and nonparticipating building managers.
APPRISE conducted a comprehensive review of the District of Columbia’s LIHEAP benefit determination procedures and researched strategies for integrating solar benefits with its LIHEAP program. The study included assessing energy burden among LIHEAP recipients using energy bill data collected for the LIHEAP Performance Measures, conducting pilot research on energy burden for LIHEAP recipients with heating costs included in their rent, and developing an alternative benefit structure that accounts for energy burden while optimizing outcomes across low-income programs offered in the District of Columbia.
In 2016, the Renewable Portfolio Standard Expansion Act established the District of Columbia’s Solar for All Program to provide the benefits of solar electricity to 100,000 low-income households, and to reduce their electric bills by 50 percent. The program has funded grantees with the goal of testing strategies to expand solar energy, providing benefits to low-income residents, developing solutions to program challenges, and identifying strategies for long-term program development. These projects take a variety of approaches to generating solar and for providing benefits to low-income households.
- Community Solar Subscriptions: Grantees receive funding to install solar systems on a plot of land. Low-income households subscribe at no cost to receive a share of the electricity generated through virtual net metering credits.
- Direct Solar Installations: Grantees install solar panels on rooftops of low-income households. Panels are sized to produce 50 percent of the household’s electricity at no cost to them. Low-income households receive direct net metering credits to reduce their electric bill.
- Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC): Grantees can sell SRECs on the open market for every megawatt-hour of electricity generated from solar energy and use those revenues to pay benefits to low-income households.
- Combined Benefits: Through DOEE’s Solar for All Innovation and Expansion Grants, some grantees use more than one method to issue benefits to low-income participants.
APPRISE analyzed the LIHEAP and Solar for All programs to assess opportunities and challenges for coordinating LIHEAP and Solar for All benefits to maximize client outcomes and optimize efficiency in the delivery of services. Based on the findings from that analysis, APPRISE developed a number of options for consideration.
APPRISE conducted an evaluation of the Illinois Solar for All Program which brings photovoltaic power to low-income and environmental justice communities throughout Illinois and creates a long-term, low-income solar marketplace.
The ILSFA Program has four key components.
- Low-Income Distributed Generation: Single- and multi-family residential properties occupied by low-income households can receive incentives for new solar generation systems.
- Low-Income Community Solar: Low-income owners and renters can buy or lease a share of the solar system and receive credits on their utility bills for the energy produced by their share of the system.
- Incentives for Non-Profits and Public Facilities: Non-profit organizations and public entities within environmental justice communities or low-income communities can receive incentives for new solar generation systems.
- Low-Income Community Solar Pilot Projects: Projects with community partnerships and ownership will be awarded based on a competitive procurement approach.
The evaluation included analysis of community outreach, system cost and production, environmental and economic benefits, impacts on participants’ energy costs and burden, job training, and system reliability.
NYSERDA’s NY-Sun Solar Program provides incentives and funding to support solar photovoltaic projects throughout New York State, and strives to include low- and moderate-income (LMI) households in the benefits of solar. NYSERDA contracted with APPRISE to analyze public data, program participant data, and survey data; characterize the NY-Sun solar adopter population; and identify future LMI targeting opportunities. First, APPRISE analyzed the characteristics of NY State households by region, including the percent that are LMI. Second, APPRISE compiled information from multiple NY-Sun programs and used public data to project the income levels for program participants based on their location. Next, APPRISE conducted an online survey with more than 900 solar participants to collect income and demographic data. APPRISE compared the projected income distributions to the survey-based estimates and developed a methodology and tools to identify LMI households and regions to be used in NYSERDA’s program outreach and eligibility verification.
NYSERDA operates multiple programs to support adoption of solar PV and energy storage in New York State. NYSERDA is conducting a study to examine market adoption, balance of system and soft costs, system performance, and equity in the distribution of solar and storage benefits. APPRISE is supporting the development of research questions for the study’s equity framework, implementing customer surveys to collect income and other data, and conducting analysis of program and other data to assess the distribution of solar benefits to disadvantaged communities.
NYSERDA conducted a study to develop estimates of project costs associated with installing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in New York State. The purpose of the survey was to obtain reliable estimates of solar balance-of-system (BOS) costs, which include all project costs associated with solar project development and system installation excluding the costs for solar equipment and hardware. APPRISE was responsible for survey research to obtain detailed and reliable cost information from solar installation companies that operated and installed residential and roof-mounted commercial solar PV systems in New York State. The survey included questions on average project costs by geographic area, including average permitting fees, labor costs, inspection costs, and customer acquisition costs. APPRISE developed the web-based survey instrument, tested the survey instrument and user interface, conducted the survey, and reviewed and processed the survey data for analysis. The survey results provided NYSERDA with important information to assess the impact of specific solar project cost components and to serve as a baseline for future measurements of solar project costs.
APPRISE designed and implemented a survey to assist a utility considering implementation of a solar financing program and potential on-bill financing methods. A random sample of general residential customers and a random sample of customers who had previously expressed interest in solar photovoltaic panels were included. The survey assessed customers’ interest in installing solar panels and their preference among various financing options. While about half of the general sample and over 90 percent of the solar interest sample had considered installing solar, they were most likely to report that they had not moved forward because of the cost. A majority of the general sample and more than three quarters of the solar interest sample said that they would consider on-bill financing for a system if it was offered by the utility.