by Brianna Crandall — November 27, 2015—The annual update of the American Council On Renewable Energy’s (ACORE) Renewable Energy in the 50 States: Western Region report was released last week at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum-West (REFF-West) in San Francisco. This report examines state energy policies and programs, investment, and market openness in the renewable energy sector in the 13 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
This year’s report includes an important introduction by international law firm Crowell & Moring LLP, and captures the continued importance of the region as a hotspot for renewable energy development. The summary discusses key drivers for renewable energy deployment, such as western power market expansion, EPA’s Clean Power Plan, and net energy metering rules, as areas of particular interest in 2015.
Crowell & Moring sees the report as “a useful tool to understand the dynamics of evolving renewable markets not just in the West, but in any state or region where what’s going on in the West might be emulated.”
Key findings
This year’s update to the Western Region Report notes that in 2014, the western renewable energy sector attracted nearly half of the country’s combined venture capital, private equity, and asset finance investment and produced roughly one third of the region’s total electricity generation — compared to about 13 percent nationally.
In fact, the report notes that half of the nation’s total renewable power capacity is located in these states, including 60 percent of all hydro, 70 percent of all solar, and 100 percent of all geothermal power.
Also among its key findings, the report highlights the broad scope of clean energy deployment state by state. California has strong policy support and diverse renewable resources, helping attract more investments than any other state with $5.2 billion invested in 2014.
Arizona has the second highest solar capacity in the region, behind only California. However, due to unfavorable policy changes, the Grand Canyon State installed only half the amount of capacity in 2014 than it installed in the year prior.
The report also highlights the recent expansions of Hawaii and California’s renewable portfolio standards, to 100% and 50% respectively, which are expected to drive significant gigawatts of new projects in the upcoming years.
Renewable Energy in the 50 States: Western Region report, downloadable from ACORE, summarizes the status of renewable energy implementation in the 13 western states.
Compiling financial, renewable energy resource potentials, and market and policy information in an easily accessed, online format, the report is a resource for all who are interested in the highlights of each renewable energy sector in the states. Investment information in this report was provided by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
