Elevating Pennsylvania's
Solar Future
Where does Pennsylvania currently get it's energy from?
Pennsylvania's Current Energy Portfolio
As of 2017, only 5% of Pennsylvania's electric generation comes from renewable energy. Of that 5%; less than 1% of it comes from solar energy Pennsylvania's Solar Future Plan
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has set a 2030 renewable energy goal
10% of in-state electricity generation must come from solar energy
To help Pennsylvania reach this goal, a student team from Heinz College was created.
The team was tasked with evaluating and elevating Pennsylvania's solar future
We found that reaching the 2030 renewable energy goal is feasible!
Here are some of the sites that we found to be financially and environmentally feasible
Feasible Sites for Solar Deployment in Southwest Pennsylvania
Feasible Sites for Solar Deployment in Southwest Pennsylvania
Why should Pennsylvania invest in solar energy?
Benefits of Solar Energy
Public Health
As solar deployment increases, the threat of pollution caused by the fossil fuel industry will be mitigated. Specifically, solar energy decreases the tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are produced by the fossil fuel industry. This in turn will decrease respiratory problems such as decrease lung function and aggravated asthma. Pennsylvania could especially benefit from the decrease in respiratory problems since the exploitation of marcellus shale.
The Marcellus Shale boom in Pennsylvania has caused a rapid increase in methane emissions, a GHG 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide
Cost Savings
Technological advancements in solar technology has significantly decreased the implementation costs of solar. Just in the past 10 years, solar costs have decreased by over 60%. States that have a vested interest in deploying solar such as New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and California have experienced an annual GDP growth significantly higher than the United States average. All these states attribute this growth to their commitment to renewable energy through their 50% Renewable Portfolio Standard.
Job Opportunities
Since 2010, the solar industry as experienced significant growth in job creation. In the past seven years alone, the solar workforce experienced a 168% increase in jobs; 93,000 jobs in 2010 and 250,000 in 2017. The top three jobs in the solar industry focus on installation, manufacturing, and the distribution of solar panels.
In Pennsylvania alone, there were 3,848 jobs created by the solar industry in 2017.
Solar Siting Analysis
In addition to analyzing the benefits of solar, the Heinz College student team performed a siting analysis of Pennsylvania. Prior to locating feasible sites for solar deployment, we had to identify the characteristics of the ideal site for solar. We came up with the following siting criteria:
Siting Criteria
Siting Criteria
Once a siting criteria was established, we collected geospatial data and performed a siting analysis to filter out infeasible sites for solar deployment. Upon doing so we were able to find 29 financially and environmentally feasible sites within Pennsylvania.
The 29 sites would have a total solar capacity of 1,509 MW and would avoid 2.51 tons of GHG emissions.
Despite being able to locate feasible sites for solar, there are several existing policies that impede the deployment of solar in Pennsylvania. It is for this reason that the Heinz College team made the following recommendations to ease the implementation of solar in Pennsylvania:
- Increase the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard in Pennsylvania
- Create more state and local incentives for solar development
- Implement carbon pricing to reward renewable energy sources
- Create a renewable action team at the state level to streamline and ease permitting for solar projects
For a more in-depth analysis on the team's siting analysis and solar recommendations, please check out the Elevating & Evaluating Southwestern Pennsylvania's Grid Scale Solar Future report.
