Screening Tool for Equitable Adoption and Deployment of Solar
June 6, 2024 by Isa Ferrall-Wolf and Joyce McLaren, NREL
A new NREL tool helps states, cities, community organizations, and solar developers identify equitable solar energy deployment opportunities.
Originating from a need identified by multistakeholder teams of the Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN), the Screening Tool for Equitable Adoption and Deployment of Solar (STEADy Solar) helps identify specific locations where distributed-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects may be economically beneficial, allowing stakeholders to focus resources and deploy solar more equitably.
The STEADy Solar dataset is available in the NREL data catalog as a spreadsheet tool that combines:
- Publicly available information about eligibility for the Solar Investment Tax Credit bonus adders
- Modeled residential and commercial solar economics
- Demographic data
- Building count information—at the census tract level for the entire country.
The STEADy Solar User Guide provides details about the dataset and contains static state-level maps that visualize the dataset.
The STEADy Solar database is a result of technical assistance provided to teams of stakeholders participating in SEIN Round 3. One of those teams, which included the organizations RE-volv, Interfaith Power and Light, and Green the Church, aimed to increase equitable solar adoption for Black, indigenous, and people of color-led houses of worship. NREL developed the STEADy Solar dataset to help the team identify communities in the United States on which to focus their efforts.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022—which you can learn more about on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) website—provided $369B for investments in domestic energy production, promoting clean energy, and established the Solar Investment Tax Credit bonus adders for equitable clean energy deployment. STEADy Solar can help stakeholders understand where private funds or local government funding or programs can leverage this federal Investment Tax Credit or direct-pay benefits and fulfill opportunities for solar deployment.
The STEADy Solar dataset and User Guide can help decision makers at all levels by:
- Overlaying the eligibility maps for multiple solar tax credit bonuses available for projects located within energy justice communities
- Indicating the prevalence of building and land use types (e.g. government buildings, multi-family affordable housing, brown fields) for each census tract
- Identifying census tracts with favorable solar economics, based on NREL modeling.
Access the webinar recording with demo on how to use the STEADy dataset.
Need Assistance Using the Screening Tool for Equitable Adoption and Deployment of Solar?
SEIN staff help new stakeholders apply the solutions that were developed during previous rounds of the program to their own contexts. Contact Isa Ferrall-Wolf or Joyce McLaren.
Additionally, the National Community Solar Partnership provides no-cost assistance to stakeholders that are developing community solar projects.
To apply for help using STEADy Solar to deploy community solar, access the DOE National Community Solar Partnership webpage or contact Community Solar.
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