Diversity in institutional strategies for distributed renewable energy generation: How American States are designing net metering policy

Saba Siddiki, Kathleen Smith, Chris Koski

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemChapter

Abstract

Encouraging reliance on renewable energy sources is among the most prominent institutional strategies used by governments to address climate change. These strategies rely on various types of instruments that are directed at different types of actors. Some of these instruments compel behavior among producers and providers of public goods and services, while others compel behavior among consumers. An increasingly prevalent class of instruments targets "prosumers," or targets that both produce and consume products. One salient strategy encompassing such instruments is the net metering policy. Net metering enables households, commercial, and/or industrial entities to sell back to utilities unused electricity they produce from renewable energy infrastructure installed on their properties. Net metering policies have been widely adopted by American states. Different states are focused on distinctive arrays of targets, instruments, and incentives within the context of their policies' designs. This chapter provides a descriptive account of policies that states have adopted to encourage the use of net metering toward the broader objective of promoting environmental sustainability. This chapter leverages the concept of 'robustness' to offer a more expansive characterization of variation in the design of states' net metering policies. Accordant with dimensions of robustness, state policies are characterized by diversity, modularity, and redundancy.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationInstitutional Diversity and Sustainable Environmental Management
Subtitle of host publicationScalar, Cultural, and Functional Perspectives
PublisherCRC Press
Pages108-124
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9781003042914
ISBN (Print)9780367488093
StatePublished - Feb 28 2025

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Social Sciences
  • General Environmental Science
  • General Energy
  • General Engineering
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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