Author Archives: John Farrell


About John Farrell

John Farrell directs the Energy Self-Reliant States and Communities program at ILSR and he focuses on energy policy developments that best expand the benefits of local ownership and dispersed generation of renewable energy. His latest paper, Democratizing the Electricity System, describes how to blast the roadblocks to distributed renewable energy generation, and how such small-scale renewable energy projects are the key to the biggest strides in renewable energy development.   Farrell also authored the landmark report Energy Self-Reliant States, which serves as the definitive energy atlas for the United States, detailing the state-by-state renewable electricity generation potential. Farrell regularly provides discussion and analysis of distributed renewable energy policy on his blog, Energy Self-Reliant States (energyselfreliantstates.org), and articles are regularly syndicated on Grist and Renewable Energy World.   John Farrell can also be found on Twitter @johnffarrell, or at jfarrell@ilsr.org.

Solar Getting Cheaper, But Not Equally

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Cost of Solar PV by State Market Size 2010

In January 2011, I plotted the size of state solar markets against their average installed cost and found surprisingly little correlation. When Lawrence Berkeley Labs put out its 2011 version of Tracking the Sun (IV), it was possible to update the chart, which I did in two stages.

The first chart simply overlays the 2010 average installed cost on the original chart, with arrows indicating the movement of the prices in most states (I ran out of room in the small market states). It’s almost like a rainbow rain of falling solar prices. [...]

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Solar Grid Parity 101

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solar home cost

  Solar grid parity, when installing solar power will cost less than buying electricity from the grid, is considered the tipping point for solar power.  It’s also a tipping point in the electricity system, when millions of Americans can choose energy production and self-reliance over dependence on their electric utility. … Read More

Gainesville, Florida, Becomes a World Leader in Solar

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You don’t have to be big to go big on solar power. That’s the lesson from the Gainesville Regional Utilities, the electric utility whose feed-in tariff solar policy has brought over 7 megawatts (MW) of solar to the city’s 125,000 residents. The raw number isn’t much, but it puts Gainesville among the world leaders in solar installed per capita, beating out Japan, France, and China (and besting California, with 32 kilowatts -kW- per 1000 residents). [...]

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Federal Tax Credits May Handcuff Clean Energy Development

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Handcuffing Solar and Wind Power to Wall Street

Clean energy advocates should cast aside their worries about increasing Republican scrutiny of energy subsidies. The clean energy industry’s foolish reliance on tax incentives has already handcuffed its expansion.

Unlike the leading nations in the clean energy race, the United States has no coherent energy policy. [...]

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Bigger Subsidies Make Bigger Solar a Bad Bet

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gchart-ownership-and-attitude-toward-wind-power-v3

This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Americans seem unable to resist big things, and solar power plants are no exception. There may be no reasoning with an affinity for all things “super sized,” but the economics of large scale solar projects (and the unwelcome public scrutiny) should bury the notion that bigger is better for solar. In fact, smaller scale solar and … Read More

Solar Power Can Fit on Existing Land

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infographic - solar fits on existing land

This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. While large-scale solar creates contention between environmental advocates and renewable energy proponents, the truth is that there are thousands of acres in already developed land where solar can easily fit.  This infographic explains a few of the many places solar power can fit, not even counting rooftops. … Read More

Here Comes the Sun – The Chart Paul Krugman Left Out

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Number of Americans at Solar Grid Parity

This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Nobel economist Paul Krugman made waves last month when his column “Here Comes the Sun” noted that the rapidly falling cost of solar electricity – “prices adjusted for inflation falling around 7 percent a year” – meant that “solar is now cost-effective.” It’s close. But it depends on what’s meant by “cost-effective.” The first step is … Read More

Solar for Schools? Not So Easy with Tax-based Solar Incentives

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Public Sector Struggles to Use Federal Solar Incentives

You’re a city manager hoping to cut electricity costs at sewage treatment plant, a school administrator looking to power schools with solar, or a state park official needing an off-grid solar array for a remote ranger station. But unlike any private home or business, you can’t get 50% off using the federal tax incentives for solar (a 30% tax credit and ~20% from accelerated depreciation).  That’s because the federal government’s energy policies all use the … Read More

Group Purchase Gets Residential Solar to Grid Parity in Los Angeles

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Group Solar Beats Grid Prices in Los Angeles

This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Back for a second round, the Open Neighborhoods organization in Los Angeles has organized another group purchase of residential and commercial solar PV, bringing the lifetime cost of solar well under the cost of grid electricity even for individual homeowners. The savings from the group purchase are enormous.  With prices are around $4.40 per Watt installed … Read More

America and Germany Getting Their Clean Energy Just Desserts

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Half of 53,000 MW German Renewable Energy Market is Locally Owned

Germany is the unquestioned world leader in renewable energy.  By mid-2011, the European nation generated over 20 percent of its electricity from wind and solar power alone, and had created over 400,000 jobs in the industry. The sweet German success is no accident, however, and the following pie chart illustrates the results of a carefully crafted recipe for renewable energy. As the chart illustrates, more than half of Germany’s enormous renewable energy generation is in … Read More