This presentation as part of the Distributed Energy Resources debate at the 2019 MIT Energy Conference, dispels myths about the relative economics of distributed and centralized renewable energy and emphasizes how the decision making structure of energy systems is already changing hands.

1. E N E R G Y D E M O C R A C Y
TA P P I N G I N T O T H E P O W E R F U L C O L L E C T I V E U P S I D E O F M A N Y
I N D I V I D U A L A C T I O N S
John Farrell, Energy Democracy Initiative Director

2. 🤚
D O E S S I Z E M AT T E R ?
🤚

3. Costofelectricity
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
Levelized cost
Delivery costs
S O L A R E C O N O M I E S O F S C A L E
Estimated levelized cost of electricity (plus delivery) based on reported 2015 costs*
Sources: Tracking the Sun IX and Utility-Scale Solar 2015
(SunShot, Berkeley Labs); SAM (NREL); Crossborder; ILSR
DOES NOT INCLUDE VALUE OF POWER
USED ON-SITE
kilowatts megawatts

4. Costofelectricity
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
Levelized cost
Delivery costs
S O L A R E C O N O M I E S O F S C A L E
Estimated levelized cost of electricity (plus delivery) based on reported 2015 costs*
Sources: Tracking the Sun IX and Utility-Scale Solar 2015
(SunShot, Berkeley Labs); SAM (NREL); Crossborder; ILSR
DOES NOT INCLUDE VALUE OF POWER
USED ON-SITE
kilowatts megawatts
The price of competition
(retail or market prices)

5. L O C A L I S C O S T
E F F E C T I V E

6. M I N N E S O TA
S M A R T E R
G R I D S T U D Y

7. L O C A L L E A D S T O L A R G E S AV I N G S

8. + 1 3 G I G A WAT T S O F R O O F T O P S O L A R

9. L O C A L P R O V I D E S L O C A L
B E N E F I T S

10. L O C A L S P E N D I N G VA L U E O F S O L A R
Valueoflocalspendingforproject“softcosts”
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
Sources: Crossborder; ILSR
Assumes local soft costs are 25% of installed costs
for residential, 6% for large commercial, and
linearly distributed in between
Value of local spending during project installation
(20-year net present value)
kilowatts megawatts

11. Costofelectricity
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
S O L A R E C O N O M I E S O F S C A L E
Estimated levelized cost of electricity (plus delivery) based on reported 2015 costs*
Sources: Tracking the Sun IX and Utility-Scale Solar 2015
(SunShot, Berkeley Labs); SAM (NREL); Crossborder; ILSR
DOES NOT INCLUDE VALUE OF POWER
USED ON-SITE
kilowatts megawatts

12. D E C E N T R A L I Z E D
T E C H N O L O G Y I S
D E C E N T R A L I Z I N G
P O W E R A N D D E C I S I O N
M A K I N G

13. 6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

14. 6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

15. 6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

16. 6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

17. D E C I D E R S A R E C H A N G I N G

18. www.ilsr.org
C H A N G I N G
T H E R U L E S
P R O V I D I N G
T O O L S
1 0 0 % R E N E WA B L E
L O C A L E C O N O M Y
H U M A N
S C A L E
L O C A L
O W N E R S H I P
D E M O C R AT I C
A U T H O R I T Y
I L L U S T R AT I N G
T H E V I S I O N