As utilities and regulators anticipate increased electric vehicle (EV) adoption, they’re assessing how to prepare the electric distribution grid for the additional load. Recent work by the Great Plains Institute (GPI) points to the potential distribution grid benefits of pairing solar production with managed EV charging. Using a newly updated tool from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), GPI explored this value proposition by examining EV charging scenarios alongside solar production. Continue reading »
Solar energy is not only important to reaching a zero-carbon energy system—solar projects can, with appropriate siting and design, also deliver many benefits to local communities where projects are sited. Deploying the level of solar needed to decarbonize our economy will require addressing siting and regulatory processes which are increasingly a barrier to solar project development. The Great Plains Institute is fostering a new paradigm in the deployment of community- and utility-scale solar development; what we call the co-benefits approach to solar. We’re working with state, regional, and national partners to identify how energy development can both help solve the climate crisis and deliver local benefits to the host community. 
As part of the Grow Solar Partnership, toolkits have been assembled to equip local governments in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois with information regarding solar development as it relates to planning, zoning, and permitting. The toolkits were created in 2016, then model ordinances are being updated in 2020 to reflect new best practices and lessons learned since 2016. Minnesota and Iowa are updated and Illinois and Wisconsin are in process, with ordinance for Indiana and Michigan under development. The purpose of these toolkits is to provide resources that will assist communities in addressing barriers to solar energy installations in a manner tailored to each community’s needs.
More communities than ever are using solar energy thanks in part to a program that makes it easier for local governments to make the switch to sun. The Great Plains Institute (GPI) led the Upper Midwest cohort of communities seeking 
