Siting solar in distribution grids
Our PRP Solar Siting Survey identified over 160 megawatts of potential for large commercial solar installations within the PRP grid area.
The Clean Coalition’s Solar Siting Surveys help utilities, cities, and communities understand the opportunity for local solar generation by identifying potential sites for solar PV deployment within a specific area of the grid.
Recently, Southern California Edison (SCE) contracted with the Clean Coalition to determine the potential for solar PV installations greater than 500 kilowatts (kW) within the Preferred Resources Pilot (PRP) grid area. The PRP is an effort by SCE to study and demonstrate how distributed energy resources, including local solar PV, may support local reliability needs.
Our PRP Solar Siting Survey identified over 160 megawatts of potential for large commercial solar installations within the PRP grid area. Through this effort, we published a suite of materials to support solar project developers in evaluating specific siting opportunities. This data will be particularly informative for solar project developers as they participate in the ongoing PRP Renewable Distributed Generation RFO.
Although this PRP Solar Siting Survey focused on siting opportunities of at least 500 kW, the siting potential for projects between 50 kW and 500 kW is estimated to be two to three times greater.
On May 14, after completing the PRP Solar Siting Survey for SCE, the Clean Coalition hosted a webinar about our process. The webinar detailed the importance of assessing local solar PV potential, our methodology for conducting a Solar Siting Survey, and how this information is useful for forward-thinking utility planning.
The PRP Solar Siting Survey and associated webinar garnered significant interest. Now, we are in active conversations with a number of utilities, cities, and communities, and in the upcoming months, we plan to conduct additional Solar Siting Surveys around the country.
