Getting the most from your green

The report analyzes the financial landscape of large-scale renewable energy in California, concluding that while most projects are well-supported by existing policies like the Production Tax Credit and Renewable Portfolio Standard, specific gaps remain. These gaps include high transaction costs for tax equity, limited financing access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and high risks for early-stage innovative technologies. The document proposes that a public institution or 'green bank' could address these by aggregating and securitizing projects, providing alternative loan security (such as property tax-based repayment), and offering loan guarantees or concessional lending for innovative technologies.

• The majority of large-scale renewable energy projects in California are currently well-supported by existing financing practices and policies, specifically the Production Tax Credit and the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which provide necessary demand and revenue certainty.
• Public financial institutions could reduce transaction costs associated with tax equity financing by aggregating and securitizing projects, either internally or by facilitating the creation of a YieldCo.
• Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face financing barriers that could be mitigated through public programs offering alternative loan security, such as on-bill repayment or property taxes via Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs.
• Public institutions can support innovative, early-stage renewable technologies by absorbing project risk through concessional lending, interest-rate buydowns, or loan guarantees.
• The expiration of procurement mechanisms for the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) could severely impact renewable energy projects, particularly larger ones, unless the CPUC extends the RPS using powers under AB327.
• Existing support is unevenly distributed among developer types; for instance, while municipalities have access to QECBs and rural businesses have REAP grants, small urban businesses lack comparable support.

APA

Deason, J., Varadarajan, U., & Levi, P. (2015). Getting the most from your green. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Getting-the-Most-from-Your-Green-A-Case-Study-for-Using-Public-Money-Effectively-for-Large-Scale-Renewable-Energy-in-California-.pdf

Chicago

Deason, Jeff, Uday Varadarajan, and Patricia Levi. Getting the most from your green. Climate Policy Initiative, 2015. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Getting-the-Most-from-Your-Green-A-Case-Study-for-Using-Public-Money-Effectively-for-Large-Scale-Renewable-Energy-in-California-.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Deason |first1=Jeff |last2=Varadarajan |first2=Uday |last3=Levi |first3=Patricia |title=Getting the most from your green |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=November 2015 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Getting-the-Most-from-Your-Green-A-Case-Study-for-Using-Public-Money-Effectively-for-Large-Scale-Renewable-Energy-in-California-.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{deason2015getting, author = {Deason, Jeff and Varadarajan, Uday and Levi, Patricia}, title = {{Getting the most from your green}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Getting-the-Most-from-Your-Green-A-Case-Study-for-Using-Public-Money-Effectively-for-Large-Scale-Renewable-Energy-in-California-.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }