Policy Analytics

Public policy is at the heart of opportunities and constraints for clean energy.  The dynamics landscape of evolving legislation, regulation, and policy design shape the landscape.

Since its founding in 1998, at the dawn of the modern (post-monopoly) renewable energy policy era, SEA has been ‘at the table’ providing guidance to both public and private sector stakeholders. SEA has supported every state in the Northeast US and over 40 governmental entities nationwide in the development and implementation of renewable energy policies, and over 150 private sector and other market participants in the analysis of renewable energy policy and market dynamics.

Through the lens of our deep experience working with every type of clean energy technology and stakeholder throughout a wide range of markets, SEA’s Policy Analytics team identifies and assesses the issues and options associated with renewable energy policy, program, procurement and incentive design, dissecting implications from all perspectives to find a direct path to viable, robust and analytically supported solutions. Through detailed qualitative and quantitative analyses, SEA helps align policymaker objectives with policy design choices, and market participants identify and justify positions.  SEA is known for its robust support of Task Forces, advisory boards and other multi-stakeholder processes as a credible interpreter of objectives, identifier of options, and analyst of solutions.  SEA (white paper, if we’re being precise) on navigating such processes when, inevitably, renewable energy policy objectives conflict.

Examples of Policy Analytics services include:

• Public policy development implementation and assessment support for state policymakers and stakeholders;
• Drafting of regulations and legislation to meet clean energy objectives;
• Best practices studies, including: Renewable Portfolio Standards, REC markets, Procurement Policies, and a broad range of large-scale and Distributed Energy Resource (DER) incentives;
• Public Policy Benefit-Cost Analyses – which incorporate aspects of SEA’s Market Analytics services, including supply curve, resource potential, and market fundamentals analyses.

SEA has undertaken dozens of studies and provided recommendations to public agencies and stakeholders nationwide in support of  the design of policies that encourage the development of renewable energy markets and achieve state policy objectives.  SEA has also assisted in the implementation of these policies, including developing parameters for resource procurements and incentive programs, providing observations on potential design evolution as part of mid-course program evaluations, and supporting stakeholder engagement in the implementation process.

SEA’s objective analyses are grounded in decades of front-line experience, making SEA uniquely qualified to support both public and private sector decision-making during the next phase of renewable energy policy evolution.