Financing Models for Sustainable Energy Communities in the United States of America

Abstract

Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) are citizen groups that join together with a common goal: implementing renewable energies and/or energy efficiency measures, taking advantage, to the extent possible, of their local resources. These organizations adopt different financing models depending on several factors, such as legal context for renewable energy promotion, renewable technology, activity (production, supply, etc.), number of members, etc. Whereas incentives for renewable energy in Europe are traditionally based on grants, most of the federal incentives in the USA are based on tax reduction. To use these incentives efficiently, investors must comply with some conditions related to tax responsibility, type and level of income. Meeting these requirements is difficult for many individual investors willing to take part in an SEC. That is why, in the USA, several financing models for SECs aimed at overcoming this difficulty have been designed. These models have been very useful for the creation of a large number of SECs producing photovoltaic and wind energy. In this document, these financing models will be described, in order to analyze if they could be applied in Spain.