Financing Solar Electricity in the U.S.: An Introduction

This paper is the introduction to a paper being prepared under the co-sponsorship of the Utility Photovoltaic Group (UPVG) and the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP). The premise is that financing is the nexus of solar photovoltaic's (PV's) path to commercialization. Four things need to be done to bring the financial community into the solar electricity marketplace. First, financing criteria need to be factored more explicitly into the industry's marketing programs and the government's commercialization and incentive programs. Second, the underbrush of technical, regulatory and institutional issues needs to be cleared immediately for the marketplace to function. Third, there is a need to implement new financing programs for solar electricity. Finally, federal, state and local governments should be creating methods of monetizing the environmental benefits of PV, thereby bringing financial returns in line with societal goals and attracting financial resources to the PV marketplace.