| dc.description.abstract | Today, more than ever the United States government is pushing legislation to relieve the pressure of high energy prices on the economy. Most notably, on February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), to stimulate the economy. The Recovery Act provided increased funding, tax incentives, and grants to encourage renewable energy projects, energy savings, and green jobs (Powell 2009). The Recovery Act also aided in the increased popularity of renewable energy among businesses and homeowners. As a result of the funding, states have been implementing and revising their renewable portfolio standards (RPS). RPS is a mandate requiring utility companies to produce a specified percentage of approved renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar photovoltaics, biomass, and geothermal. As of November 2010, twenty-nine states have mandated their own RPS standards. Of those states, approximately twelve have solar-specific requirements; each state differs in their standards. For instance, both Kansas and Missouri have enacted their own RPS policies. According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DESIRE), Missouri allows residential systems up to 25 kilowatts and Kansas allows 100 kilowatts to offset electricity consumption. Missouri recently included a provision mandating that at least two percent of this requirement come from solar energy. This provision is known as the “solar carve-out” program. Solar carve-out requires utility companies to buy a specific percentage of power in the form of solar energy. As stated before, each state determines its own RPS policies which are based on several factors, such as how much wind or sun exposure a state receives per day. According to the Photovoltaic Solar Resource map below, Missouri and Kansas receive on average a potential to reach 4-4.5 hours of solar rays per day; data and figures similar to the one below assist states in implementing standards. Thus, this information helps homeowners select the best renewable energy system based on the state they are located in. Figure 1 is the average solar radiation of the United States for photovoltaic resources. As discussed above, RPS exists for the 29 states shown in Figure 2 below. The figure includes deadlines, goals, extra credit for solar specific renewables, and a minimum target percentage that has been set by each state. For example, the map shows Missouri as having a target number of 15 percent and Kansas as 20 percent with a deadline of 2020-2021. Even though states are jump-starting the renewable energy market, there are still hurdles to overcome. The major hurdle is the lack of knowledge available to homeowners and businesses to be able to facilitate installing an alternative energy system. Obviously, the renewable energy market’s infrastructure has not been built to support the governmental push to get off-grid. | |
