Title: Wasatch Solar Project 

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Funding OpportunitySolar Market Pathways
SunShot SubprogramSoft Costs
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Amount Awarded: $600,000
Awardee Cost Share: $164,645

Salt Lake City and its partners are developing a comprehensive long-term solar deployment strategy, which includes an analysis of the value of rooftop solar, a plan to advance a statewide solar financing program, and a plan to integrate solar in emergency preparedness planning. These program strategies ensure continued solar price reductions, increased market penetration, and improved market certainty for Utah’s solar industry and consumers. The “Wasatch Solar Project” will propel Utah’s solar market toward a long-term goal of installing 1,075 megawatts of solar by 2024. For more information on this award and the Solar Market Pathways program, visit their website

APPROACH

In 2015, the team will present technical recommendations and evidence to the Public Service Commission regarding an analytical framework for assessing the costs and benefits of net metering in Utah. In the second year of the project the team will publish a ten year solar deployment plan for Utah based on robust stakeholder input. To increase community awareness of solar energy’s ability to make critical facilities and hospitals more reliable in an emergency, the Wasatch Solar team will publish a summary document of best practices and a roadmap for implementation of solar PV projects with storage at health care facilities. In addition, in order to expand awareness of solar energy’s benefits, the team will collaborate with stakeholders to develop an action plan to address impactful priority programs identified in the solar deployment plan and publicize solar successes across the state.

INNOVATION

Though Utah has some of the most plentiful solar resources in the nation, the solar PV market is still developing. These project objectives use a variety of community planning and engagement techniques to create a path for continued solar price reductions, increased market penetration, and improved market certainty for Utah’s solar industry and consumers.