Example CLEAN Programs

Gainesville, Florida   

When the City of Gainesville, Florida looked for a policy tool to unleash clean local energy, planners from the local utility found that CLEAN Programs provide the highest rate of renewable energy deployment at the least cost per kilowatt-hour generated (Download PDF of letter from Gainesville Administrator).  As a result of its CLEAN Program (locally known as a “Feed-In Tariff” Program), Gainesville has experienced more than 2,000% growth in its cumulative solar PV capacity and has added around 260 jobs in just two and a half years.  In this same period, the Gainesville CLEAN Program resulted in less than a 1% ratepayer impact.

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) granted all of its initial annual 4 megawatt (MW) allocation in the first week of the Program’s existence and, within five months, the program was fully subscribed for the next seven years.  GRU has filled all 32 MW of its CLEAN project allocations through 2016, and there is currently a multi-year waitlist for the Program.

Find out more by reading the Gainesville CLEAN Program Brief produced by the Clean Coalition (Download PDF).

Vermont 

In May 2009, the State of Vermont enacted the first statewide CLEAN Program in the United States.  The Program had an initial goal for the deployment of 50 MW of new renewable energy generation.  

The demand for CLEAN Contracts exceeded the supply.  More than 172 MW of projects were identified and submitted within the first 8 hours of the program being open for application, requiring project selection to occur through a lottery system.  The selected projects have the potential to increase solar PV capacity in Vermont by a factor of more than 6 in the next year.  The lottery winners and applicants included some of Vermont’s largest real estate developers and other businesses that were not previously active participants in the solar market.  

Vermont contract prices are based on the cost of generation, plus a reasonable profit for the energy producer.  Prices are differentiated by year and technology.  The prices for Vermont's Program escalate slightly per year, approximately .5% annually.  Only the price of solar remains fixed throughout the length of the contract.

Germany   

Despite being covered in clouds half of the time, Germany leads the world in solar PV electricity production thanks to its remarkably successful CLEAN Program.  The program was established in 2000 through Germany’s "Renewable Energy Law."  The initial goal of Germany’s program was to generate 12.5% of the nation’s electricity from renewable sources by 2010.  Germany reached this goal in 2007, three years ahead of schedule.  In 2010, renewable energy accounted for more than 100 billion kWh of electricity, providing nearly 17% of Germany’s electricity.  Germany installed more solar PV in the first quarter of 2010 than the U.S. installed in all of 2009.

The economic benefits that Germany has seen have been enormous.  In 2010, clean energy investments in Germany increased to US$41.2 billion.  Additionally, more than 340,000 new jobs have been created in the renewable energy sector.  By contrast, Germany’s only significant domestic fossil energy source, lignite coal, employs only 50,000 people along its entire supply chain, from mining to the power plants.  

These economic benefits are felt by individuals across the country.  Due to the higher rate for smaller project sizes, Germany has seen enormous growth in small, locally owned renewable energy projects.  Over 80% of the solar PV power capacity installed in Germany in 2009 was located on rooftops, and over 50% of Germany’s total windpower capacity is supplied by wind products smaller than 20 megawatts.

Ontario

In late 2009, Ontario passed the Green Energy and Green Economy Act,  which created North America’s first comprehensive CLEAN Program.  One of the unique aspects of Ontario’s policy (locally known as a "Feed-in Tariff" [FIT]) is that to qualify for a CLEAN Contract, developers of solar energy in Ontario must source 60% of the project’s value from within the province.  

Since the launch of the program, 23,000 applications have been submitted to the Ontario Power Authority.  Of those, 86% are for small rooftop solar systems that are being put up by homeowners, schools, churches and farmers.  

In 2008, Ontario’s total installed solar PV capacity was less than 2 MW.  Within two years, Ontario leapt to second in North American solar PV installation for 2010, installing 143 MW of PV systems.  Only California surpassed Ontario, and at the current rate of growth, Ontario may surpass California in 2011.  One estimate suggests that Ontario could install 600 MW in 2011 if supply of PV systems can keep up with the demand.  Thanks to the CLEAN Program and the “buy local” rule, a fast-growing renewable energy industry has emerged in Ontario, with more than 20 manufacturing plants scheduled to open in the next two years.  

Prices under the Ontario CLEAN Program (in Canadian dollars) range from $.104/kWh for biogas projects larger than 10 MW, to $.713/kWh for rooftop solar PV projects less than 250 kilowatts (kW).