PA Department of Environmental Protection releases draft plan to support solar energy development

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently released its draft plan to increase in-state solar energy development and invited the public to submit comments on the plan.

The plan, titled Finding Pennsylvania’s Solar Future, includes 15 recommended strategies to support in-state solar development in supplying 10 percent of retail electric sales from in-state solar energy sources by 2030.

To meet that goal, Pennsylvania will have to install an estimated 11 gigawatts of solar energy, the DEP said. The state currently has approximately 300 megawatts installed.

“Since the project began in 2017, the planning group has completed a modeling process that reflects the knowledge and perspectives of over 500 expert stakeholders statewide, provided through public meetings and working group discussions,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said. “Today, we’re asking for public feedback so that all Pennsylvanians can have a part in the development of a plan that brings the economic, public health, and environmental benefits of solar energy to everyone.”

The plan analyzed five main strategies: increasing Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard requirements for solar to four to eight percent by 2030; improving customer access to capital, including provision of loan guarantees; adopting carbon pricing; increasing consistency between policies for siting and land use; considering tax exemptions that encourage solar deployment and assist solar projects in finding project sponsors with tax equity.

The other ten strategies focused on increasing either small, decentralized projects or grid-scale solar projects.

The plan also examined the job creation potential of solar generation and found that reaching the 10 percent goal would result in the creation of approximately 30,000 jobs at median wages of between $20 and $38 per hour.

The comment period opened July 7 and will close at on Aug. 20.

The final plan will be published in December for informational use by policymakers, regulators, industry, investors, and consumers.

The project group is also developing a complementary document, the Strategy Support and Market Transformation report, which outlines actions to support the strategies. This report will be available for review and discussion at the next project stakeholder meeting in the fall.