Browsing by Subject "Renewable"
Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Open Access Domestic Content Requirements and India’s Solar Mission(2013-04-26) Fickling, MeeraDomestic content requirements are widely-used policies that require a specified proportion of a good to be produced within a certain jurisdiction. Applied to solar cells and modules procured through India's national solar power program, this policy is part of India's strategy to build a domestic manufacturing base for solar components and attain energy independence. However, a loophole in the requirement appears to have undermined its effectiveness. This paper uses a conceptual model and a set of probit and logit regressions to determine the effect of India's domestic content requirement for solar cells and modules on domestic manufacturing and technology choice. It finds that the requirement has done much less to spur domestic manufacturing than the Indian government envisioned.Item Open Access Driving Renewable Energy Growth Through Effective Public Policy: A Financial and Policy Analysis of Cash Grants, Tax Credits and Pass-Through Tax Structures (MLPs and YieldCos)(2014-12-30) Buxbaum, RyanEnergy and environmental concerns have motivated policymakers to support renewable energy technology development through various tax policies. Currently, the majority of renewable energy projects in the U.S. benefit from tax credit incentives. The associated tax equity financing structure has received criticism for its inefficient use of taxpayer resources relative to other policies, including the Section 1603 Cash Grant. The cash grant provided renewable energy developers with the option to receive a cash injection in lieu of the prevailing tax credit during 2009 to 2011. Conversely, renewable energy developers have begun to form dividend-oriented investment vehicles that house renewable energy assets with long-term power purchase agreements in a manner that parallels the master limited partnership (MLP) for conventional oil and gas companies. The relatively recent structure, known as a YieldCo, has lowered financing costs while providing renewable developers with access to an alternate investor base with a more competitive source of capital. Through the contribution of a proprietary framework for evaluating the financial impact of various public policies, this thesis seeks to evaluate the relative cost effectiveness of cash grants, tax credits and pass- through tax structures (MLPs and YieldCos) in achieving government policy objectives. The financial model helps determine how efficient each policy is in furthering renewable energy development for each dollar in government tax expenditures. The analysis is supported by a sensitivity analysis of the parameters of the financial model. Although the financial model corroborated existing literature with regards to cash grants being approximately twice as efficient as tax credit incentives, the financial analysis ultimately found pass-through structures to be the most efficient policy solution for furthering renewable energy growth. The ancillary benefits of the pass-through structure, including enhanced liquidity and borrowing cost improvements, propel the business structure ahead of the other policy options in terms of their efficient use of taxpayer resources. Government policy should support pass-through structures, either by facilitating market environments that accommodate YieldCo growth or by legislating the widespread introduction of the MLP structure to the renewable energy industry.Item Open Access Emerging Solar Lending Opportunities for Community Development Financial Institutions(2015-04-24) Williams, JenniferFinancing and investment structures in solar development are maturing. Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and other mission-focused lenders have opportunities to fund solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with debt, but this lending can be challenging. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) review found renewable energy lending to be limited due complexity. Loans are typically large, with unusual collateral valuation requirements, negotiation of intercreditor agreements, and new standard-setting required for assessing default risk. Despite these obstacles, in 2013 and 2014, Self-Help Credit Union in Durham, North Carolina provided $76 million in debt financing for solar electricity development. These installations occurred as the solar industry soared; with growth over five years from 1.2 gigawatts (GW) to 18.3 GW of operational solar, the U.S. solar market value will exceed $15 billion in 2015. Continued annual growth averaging 7.5% through 2040 is projected, setting the technology on track to become a primary generation source with 48 GW of capacity. State and federal incentives shape both utility-scale solar growth and financing models, which often include developer project equity, tax equity, and debt. In North Carolina, a corporate state tax credit for renewable generation expires at the end of 2015. A decrease in the federal solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) from 30% to 10% also looms at the end of 2016. As the industry matures and subsidies decline, companies are exploring new financing solutions with different parallels to more familiar asset classes such as real estate, infrastructure, stocks, and esoteric asset-backed securities, prompting a wider range of investors to enter the field. Self-Help and other CDFIs are well-poised for impact due to familiarity with tax-credit incentivized deals with project-level finance; solar incentives are structurally similar to community development real estate transactions that utilize New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs). Nationally, banks, CDFIs, and other mission-focused lenders are now beginning to provide both construction and term debt to solar developers as part of a project finance model for utility-scale projects large enough to warrant the complexity of these transactions or portfolios of smaller installations. Participation is growing in both scale and scope. In 2014, 94 banks engaged in some type of energy project finance, a 20% increase from 2013. Half of contributing banks were small players similar to Self-Help, with overall levels of activity less than $200 million each. Some of the largest recent examples of project finance for solar development are Seminole Financial Services, Hannon Armstrong, National Cooperative Bank, and a variety of European and Japanese commercial banks. More providers are needed as the U.S. solar industry gears up to grow from 10 GW 2015 to more than 16 GW by 2017. Other community financial institutions and lenders may use Self-Help’s experience as a springboard for action and make real impact in the industry, as including debt in the financial structure for development can reduce levelized costs of solar electricity by 20% or more. In its first section, this report reviews CDFI missions and how partnership between these groups and the solar industry creates mutual benefit, including environmental health, economic growth, social good, CDFI returns, and sustainable investment influence. In its second section, the experience of both environmental justice and clean energy leadership in Warren County, North Carolina is noted as a case study of these current and potential impacts. In its third section, this report provides a solar finance primer for use by both community lenders and the solar industry, including project-level finance background, structures, sources, budget components, and projections. In its fourth section, the report describes the project-level risks a CDFI must mitigate in order to lend successfully. The accomplishments of Boston Community Capital, a Boston-based CDFI, are highlighted as a case study in the report’s fifth section. Next, the report describes collateral review for solar lending, including valuation, appraisals, intercreditor agreements, and other risk mitigation. In the seventh section, the report outlines the potential for solar development to benefit minority farm owners. Then, despite CDFI solar lending promise, barriers are reviewed in the report’s next section, including the current complexity of deal structure requiring industry-specific knowledge and human capital at CDFIs, collateral limitations, scale, and intercreditor agreements. The report concludes with information on the potential for future CDFI leadership with next steps including unconventional repayment terms, community solar models, loans with non-rated private off-takers, and other opportunities.Item Open Access Micro-Fabrication Methods and Experimentation of Liquid-Solid Triboelectric Nanogenerators(2017) Hermiller, Brent D.This study is an exploration of the liquid-solid electrication phenomena in tribo-
electric nanogenerator devices, its fabrication and assembly, as well as notable results
and analysis on all aspects of the nanogenerator device. Energy harvesting in water-
based environments is ideal because the harvester can be shown to generate sucient
energy provided it is scaled for the application. As a renewable energy source, it is
desirable to incorporate for remote ocean-based sensors that demand on-site energy.
These devices are currently technically dicult to produce and require specialized
clean room and chemical altering equipment. Due to the complex nature of the cur-
rent fabrication method, this work also explores an alternate method for fabrication of
the triboelectric layers for use in water-based environments. Polymer nanowire mod-
ications to increase the contact area with liquid are shown to moderately improve
the overall performance using specic chemical gases during the etching process. Cir-
cuitry for optimizing these devices in building up and storing energy to power several
LEDs has merit, but failed in testing after successive attempts. With continued re-
search and design improvement, triboelectric nanogenerator energy harvesters could
prove useful in a wide variety of sensor applications.
Item Open Access NYC CO-OP AND CONDOMINIUM GUIDE TO ENERGY EFFICIENCY UPGRADES(2012-04-27) Jia, Yuan; Opp, Thomas; Smedick, David; Smykal, Allison; Symonds, JasonThe purpose of this project is to help Better Buildings New York (BBNY), a non-profit organization focused on increasing energy efficiency and decreasing energy bills of NYC buildings, educate multifamily co-op and condo boards on energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits available for their buildings. The current market for these technologies and opportunities is vast, and at times, overwhelming. Various energy efficiency technologies exist with different costs, energy savings and impacts. Therefore, there was a need to create a medium for which these technologies and benefits could be communicated in a quick, non-technical, and easily understood manner. BBNY’s audience for this project is co-op and condo boards in multifamily apartment buildings. In these types of buildings, they are the decision-makers who are responsible for making renovation/retrofit choices. Therefore, this project focuses around the myriad of energy efficient technologies that are applicable to multifamily building environments, and how to convey this information to this type of audience. The research team used literature review, NYC building data sets, and Department of Energy modeling software (eQUEST) to vet a list of technologies BBNY was interested in presenting to board members. Each technology was researched to find information relating to five areas: capital costs, energy efficiency gains, payback periods, consistency of payback periods, and difficulty of installation. Once this information was collected, the team decided that there would be two main deliverables for the client. The first deliverable is a full academic report that delves into the intricate methodology and technical analysis used to evaluate each technology. This report serves as a reference for understanding the various types of technologies available for multifamily retrofits, and a breakdown of their functionality. However, due to the background of the intended audience, the team wanted to create a way for the technologies to be easily understood and compared to one another. Therefore, a second deliverable was developed with a ranking system to rate each of the technologies within the five previously defined areas. The ranking score used quantitative and qualitative information from the original research, and provided a way to compare the technologies against each other. The first part of the second deliverable is a condensed brochure that takes each technology and evaluates it on a single page, with a chart displaying the ranking score it received when compared to the whole list of technologies covered. The second part of the second deliverable is an MS Excel tool that offers a dynamic ranking system to provide a personalized list of technologies related to building attributes and user preference. From these two deliverables, BBNY has the means to provide co-op and condo boards with guidance on energy efficient, retrofit technologies. The decision-makers in thousands of multifamily buildings now have a starting point to learn what technologies may be appropriate for further investigation. It is through these types of grassroots, information campaigns that energy efficiency gains and carbon footprint reductions in multifamily buildings can become a reality in New York City.Item Open Access The Growth of Solar Concentrator Photovoltaic Markets in the Southwest US(2008-04-25T20:06:48Z) Connor, SeanWorldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) markets have grown at an average rate at 38% over the past ten years. While polysilicon flat panel PV modules have traditionally dominated the overall solar market, a range of different solar energy conversion technologies are starting to gain market share. One such class of solar technologies, concentrator photovoltaics (CPV), is in its commercial infancy but offers a module manufacturing paradigm to greatly lower the cost of solar electricity production. This paper examines the attributes of CPV and analyzes how it might compete within the overall solar market. The Southwest US is used as a case study to examine specific subsidies, regulations, and business models that will affect the success of CPV. In addition, a financial model was created to examine important factors influencing retail and wholesale PV and CPV project costs under various scenarios.Item Open Access What Would Expand Utility-Led Community Solar in the Southeastern US?(2021-05-28) Parsonnet, MyraCommunity solar (CS) expands access to the benefits of solar energy by overcoming many of the challenges associated with residential solar ownership. Installing rooftop solar is not an option for an estimated 77 percent of the U.S. population. The CS model allows individuals and businesses to own or subscribe to a portion of an off-site solar facility, thus avoiding large upfront costs and the hassle of home installation. Electric Membership Cooperatives (EMCs) and municipal utilities (munis) have a unique opportunity to advance CS development. Unlike investor-owned utilities (IOUs), EMCs and munis are democratic entities which are accountable to their constituents, not to shareholders. Thus, consumer demand should play a larger role in driving CS development at local utilities than at IOUs. Whether consumer demand does play a larger role, however, is a question that has been largely unexplored. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is interested in understanding the contributing factors behind CS development at EMCs and municipal utilities in the Southeast. The organization’s goal is to make solar accessible for all Southerners, and CS is one component of this mission. Through a mixed-method approach of interviews, surveys, and quantitative analysis, this report explores the drivers of CS development in the Southeastern U.S. and outlines recommendations on how SELC can help advance solar for all.