Policy Reports – Renewable Energy

Harvesting Clean Energy: How California Can Deploy Large-Scale Renewable Energy Projects on Appropriate Farmland (October 2011)

California will need to steer the development of large-scale renewable energy facilities on agricultural land toward lands that do not deplete the state’s prime agricultural and biological resources.

Key policy recommendations: develop criteria for the most suitable agricultural lands for renewable energy deployment, expedite environmental review and endangered species permitting for projects on these lands, and coordinate state and local land use planning and transmission investments to encourage development on these sites.

In Our Backyard: How to Increase Renewable Energy Production on Big Buildings and Other Local Spaces (December 2009)

To meet renewable energy goals, California will need to formulate strategies for greater deployment of renewable energy technologies on businesses and public properties.

Key policy recommendations: Expanded feed-in tariff and net metering policies and state legislation to deploy more renewable energy technologies on state highways, the aqueduct, and other public spaces.