Applied Materials is one of the most important U.S. companies you’ve probably never heard of. It makes the machines that make the microchips that go inside your computer. The chip business, though, is volatile, so in 2004 Mike Splinter, Applied Materials’s C.E.O., decided to add a new business line to take advantage of the company’s nanotechnology capabilities — making the machines that make solar panels.

This report documents the safe operation of PV systems without a utility external disconnect switch in several large jurisdictions. It includes recommendations for regulators contemplating utility external disconnect switch requirements.

This program guide outlines the application and review procedures for obtaining the necessary permits to install a solar energy system on a new or existing commercial building.

This program guide outlines the application and review procedures for obtaining the necessary permit(s) to install a solar energy system for a new or existing residential building. The guide also describes what system siting or design elements may trigger the need for additional plan review.

The goal of this study is to evaluate the validity of the following statement: “the coincidence of high electric energy prices and peak solar electric photovoltaic (PV) output can improve the economics of PV installations, and can also facilitate the wider use of hourly pricing.” The study is focused on Con Edison electric service territory in New York City.

This report defines a FIT policy, explores U.S. FIT policy design, and highlights a few of the best practices in FIT policy design. It also explores how FITs can be used to target state policy goals and examines policy interactions with other renewable energy policies. An overview of FIT impacts (jobs and economic development) in Europe is included.

This tool kit provides an array of strategies and options that local governments can implement to help encourage solar developments in their region, including amending general plans, incentivizing energy efficiency measures and solar installations, and educating local home builders about existing solar incentives. It also includes model ordinances and resolutions to help local governments promote solar development.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is a nonprofit organization established in 1984 by a bipartisan, bicameral group of members of Congress. The institutes charter is to disseminate timely information and develop innovative policy solutions that set the United States on a cleaner and more secure and sustainable energy path. This fact sheet reports the major findings from job-creation studies in the renewable, fossil, and nuclear energy industries.

This paper summarizes five common regulatory challenges for third party PPA financing, when they occur, and how they have been addressed in five states. This paper also presents alternative to the third-party ownership PPA finance model, including solar leases, contractual intermediaries, standardized contract language, federal investment tax credits, clean renewable energy bonds, and waived monopoly powers.

This report relies on six in-depth interviews with loan program administrators to provide descriptions of existing programs. Findings from the interviews are combined with a review of relevant literature to elicit best practices and lessons learned from existing loan programs. Data collected from each of the loan programs profiled are used to quantify the impacts of these specific loan programs on the commonly cited, overarching state clean energy goals of energy security, economic development, and environmental protection.