We have Clean Path Action Teams in Buncombe, Durham, Forsyth, Mecklenburg and Orange counties, with more on the way. To join a Clean Path 2025 action team or help us start one in your county, email us or call 919-416-5077.
North Carolina Clean Path 2025 Action Plan
This 11-page action plan has been developed to help communities implement NC Clean Path 2025. More information will be added as the work progresses.
Related resources are below.
Policy Roadblocks
The Clean Path cannot be fully implemented without changes to certain legislation, regulations and utility policies. Read about the specific roadblocks here. To make sure you are notified when action is needed on these roadblocks, email us to get on the Clean Path email list.
Links and Resources
Media stories on NC CLEAN PATH and related advances elsewhere
Check out the Action Plan above for links to other good examples of existing local programs
Source: Dovetail Solar
Electricity tutorials
- The electricity grid explained (Energy Freedom Colorado)
- Demand response explained
- An introduction to demand charges (NREL and Clean Energy Group)
- What is the “grid edge”? This 21-minute podcast from Greentech Media explains it. Or read GTM grid edge coverage here.
- Cute 3-minute video on battery storage from D-News (2015)
- Long but understandable explainer by David Roberts of Vox on why we need a decentralized grid
Tools
- Solar Resilient, a free tool developed by the San Francisco Department of the Environment to calculate the amount of solar PV and battery storage needed for a particular building. More info.
- REopt and REopt Lite, tools from the National Renewable Energy Laboratories, to model solar+storage projects. (ReOpt = renewable energy integration and optimization; the “Lite” version has fewer features but can be used at no cost.)
- Duke Energy’s Power Manager demand response program
- On-bill financing educational tools for electric cooperatives from the UNC Environmental Finance Center
Reports
- How States and Cities Can Unlock Local Clean Energy
- Bay Area Smart Energy 2020
by Bill Powers, March 2012 - Solar-Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments, 2nd edition, January 2011
- Non-Wires Alternatives Projects: Emerging Utility Revenue Sources for the Distributed Energy Market
by Daniel Munoz-Alvarez, GreenTech Media Research, June 2017 - Identifying Potential Markets for Behind-the-Meter Battery Energy Storage: A Survey of US Demand Charges(NREL and Clean Energy Group) (webinar)
- Inspiring 10-minute video on how municipal utility in Massachusetts is saving $400,000/year using battery storage
- Guides to community solar programs from the US Dept. of Energy Sunshot Initiative, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Nonprofits doing related work
- Institute for Local Self-Reliance
- Clean Energy States Alliance — reports and webinars on a variety of clean energy topics
- Clean Coalition — especially their work on Distribution Resources Planning
- Solar Energy Industries Association, including a page with facts and figures on North Carolina solar
- Solar United Neighbors
NC programs
- Ocracoke microgrid: Article in Ocracoke Observer / Article in Utility Dive / 3-minute video
- Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation community solar
- Roanoke Electric Cooperative community solar
- Roanoke Electric Cooperative on-bill financing
- Jump-starting on-bill energy efficiency programs in NC (a UNC Environmental Finance Center program to help electric cooperatives set up on-bill financing programs)
Cities/counties/towns/states elsewhere that are working on clean energy
- Sterling Municipal Light Department (Massachusetts) energy storage system 9-minute video / 3-minute video
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power 100% Renewable Energy Study
- Los Angeles Sustainable City pLAn
- Minneapolis Clean Energy Partnership
- Energy Freedom Colorado, a research & education project about electricity competition & consumer choice
- San Francisco has a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2030
- Boulder’s effort to form a municipal utiity
Battery storage manufacturers
- Tesla utliity-scale batteries
- Tesla Powerwall batteries
- LG Chem
- Sonnen
- Tabuchi
- AES Energy Storage
- 10 home batteries that rival Tesla’s Powerwall 2 (Business Insider, May 2017)