Browsing by Author "Morgan, Jordan"

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    Community Shared Solar in Minnesota: Learning from the First 300 Megawatts
    (2018-03) Chan, Gabriel; Grimley, Matthew; Arnold, Elizabeth; Evans, Isaac; Herbers, Jacob; Hoffman, Maureen; Ihde, Benjamin; Mazumder, Poulomi; Morgan, Jordan; Neuman, Nick; Streitz, Ryan
    Community shared solar is an emerging approach to deploying solar energy that promises to expand the market for solar by allowing a group of electricity customers without roof space or access to capital to own, finance, or lease a share of an offsite, centralized solar facility. Community solar programs are being developed across the country, and as of March, 2018, Minnesota had the country’s largest set of programs, with over 300 MW-AC installed. In this paper, we analyze the economic and political factors driving the emergence of Minnesota’s 33 community solar programs, and investigate the opportunities and barriers faced in developing community solar in different utility territories. We draw contrasts between Minnesota’s programs to illustrate the heterogeneity in approaches to designing community solar programs in terms of accessibility, affordability, subscriber acquisition, utility benefits, and subscriber agency. Our study takes a mixed methods approach: we conduct six in-depth case studies of Minnesota community solar programs, relying on a combination of informal interviews and primary source analysis; we conduct 12 semi-structured interviews with utility managers overseeing different community solar programs in the states; and we collect and analyze contracts of nearly 100 community solar subscription offers across the 31 utilities with a detailed cash flow analysis. We conclude with reflections on the Minnesota experience for reforming program and policy development in the state and lessons for the other 34 states developing community solar programs.
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    Solar for Humanity: Nonprofit Solar Partnerships with Habitat for Humanity
    (2019-02) Chan, Gabriel; Morgan, Jordan; Streitz, Ryan
    As solar energy has become increasingly affordable due to technological change and public policy, possibilities for individuals to benefit from participating in solar deployment are growing. Yet these opportunities are not equitably accessible to all. Low-income households in particular face barriers to participating in solar programs due to financing requirements arising from capital constraints and the high up-front costs of solar. These barriers are layered on top of an energy system that already places a disproportionate burden on low-income households. In this context, new initiatives have been developed to target solar deployment to low-income households to reduce energy expenditures and increase long-term wellbeing and resilience. In this report, we focus on one such possible initiative, the integration of solar deployment by a nonprofit solar organization (NPS) with affordable housing through Habitat for Humanity (HFH).
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    St Paul Climate Action and Resilience Plan: Building Equity Through Community Engagement
    (2019-05-13) McNiel, Daniel; Morgan, Jordan; Soczka, Chris; Walburg, Lauren
    Our team researched emerging practices in public engagement for the City of St. Paul Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP). We discovered that the city is excelling at applying many best practices for public engagement. There are opportunities, however, for St. Paul to implement an innovative engagement strategy. Our research of other Climate Action Plans found that Cleveland and Portland take an intentional approach to reaching out to vulnerable communities and considering equity issues in climate change policy. Based on this research, we recommend that the city strive to incorporate an engagement structure that includes a more iterative process of evaluation and work to frame their engagement around the 2025 review of the CARP. We created a toolkit that provides resources to support ongoing engagement as well as the long-term success of CARP initiatives. Finally, we provide several recommendations to assist the city in engaging vulnerable communities and supporting collective community action.