Clean Energy Strategies
Learn about NREL's clean energy strategies relevant to state, local, and tribal governments. We provide background information, implementation considerations, and design best practices on a wide variety of strategies.
Accelerating Clean Energy
Through the Accelerating Clean Energy initiative, we work with communities and businesses to turn ambitious clean energy goals into results: affordable, resilient, equitable, and secure energy systems.
Clean Energy Policy Portfolio of Actions
To build a clean energy policy portfolio at the state and local level, NREL analysts suggest using a framework that considers barriers, policy types, and different mixes of technologies. See State and Local Clean Energy Policy Primer: Getting from Here to Clean Electricity with Policy.
Clean Energy Actions
At the state and local level, the following policy strategies will help meet specific clean energy goals.
Community Solar
Community solar, also known as shared solar or solar gardens, is a solar energy deployment model that allows customers to buy or lease part of an off-site shared solar photovoltaic (PV) system.
Green Banks
Green Banks are one mechanism used to deploy low-cost capital for solar energy projects by offering favorable rates and terms to both traditional and underserved markets.
Interconnection Standards
Interconnection standards dictate how renewable energy systems can be legally connected to the electricity grid.
Low- and Moderate-Income Solar Policy
States are leading the charge in identifying and piloting various approaches to bring the benefits of solar power to low- and moderate-income consumers.
Net Metering
Net metering is a metering and billing arrangement designed to compensate distributed energy generation system owners for any generation that is exported to the utility grid.
Renewable Portfolio Standards
Renewable portfolio standards require utilities to use renewable energy or renewable energy credits to account for a certain percentage of their retail electricity sales—or a certain amount of generating capacity—according to a specified schedule.
Solar Consumer Protection
Solar consumer protections broadly include laws, policies and programs aimed at protecting consumers entering the solar market against unsafe and unfair goods, services, and business practices.
Solar Requests for Proposals
State and local governments issue requests for proposals to select a solar developer who is qualified to design, procure, install, and/or commission a PV project.
Value-of-Solar Tariffs
A value-of-solar tariff is a rate design policy that gives customers with solar installations credit for the electricity generated by a PV system.