Distributed Generation / Solar Carve-out

Policy description:

While renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) specify a percentage of utility sales or a specific megawatt hour (MWh) capacity to be provided by renewable energy resources by a specific date, sometimes these standards do not advance distributed or customer-sited renewable resources (e.g. distributed solar). As a result, many states promote distributed resources through ‘carve-outs’ and / or ‘multipliers’. Carve-outs require that a certain percentage of the generation used to meet the RPS come from distributed generation (DG). Multipliers promote investment in DG by increasing the resource’s value for meeting an RPS. For more information, see the full policy brief.

Download Full Policy Brief View Policy Component Questions

1. Does the state's portfolio standard include a carve-out?
2. Does the state's carve-out include interim targets?
3. Does the carve-out include multiple renewable energy resources?
4. Does policy apply to other types of utilities besides investor-owned utilities?
5. Does the state's carve-out apply to more than one customer class, or are there kW (system size) tiers?