1.
E N E R G Y D E M O C R A C Y
TA P P I N G I N T O T H E P O W E R F U L C O L L E C T I V E U P S I D E O F M A N Y
I N D I V I D U A L A C T I O N S
John Farrell, Energy Democracy Initiative Director

2.
🤚
D O E S S I Z E M AT T E R ?
🤚

3.
Costofelectricity
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
Levelized cost
Delivery costs
S O L A R E C O N O M I E S O F S C A L E
Estimated levelized cost of electricity (plus delivery) based on reported 2015 costs*
Sources: Tracking the Sun IX and Utility-Scale Solar 2015
(SunShot, Berkeley Labs); SAM (NREL); Crossborder; ILSR
DOES NOT INCLUDE VALUE OF POWER
USED ON-SITE
kilowatts megawatts

4.
Costofelectricity
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
Levelized cost
Delivery costs
S O L A R E C O N O M I E S O F S C A L E
Estimated levelized cost of electricity (plus delivery) based on reported 2015 costs*
Sources: Tracking the Sun IX and Utility-Scale Solar 2015
(SunShot, Berkeley Labs); SAM (NREL); Crossborder; ILSR
DOES NOT INCLUDE VALUE OF POWER
USED ON-SITE
kilowatts megawatts
The price of competition
(retail or market prices)

5.
L O C A L I S C O S T
E F F E C T I V E

6.
M I N N E S O TA
S M A R T E R
G R I D S T U D Y

7.
L O C A L L E A D S T O L A R G E S AV I N G S

8.
+ 1 3 G I G A WAT T S O F R O O F T O P S O L A R

9.
L O C A L P R O V I D E S L O C A L
B E N E F I T S

10.
L O C A L S P E N D I N G VA L U E O F S O L A R
Valueoflocalspendingforproject“softcosts”
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
Sources: Crossborder; ILSR
Assumes local soft costs are 25% of installed costs
for residential, 6% for large commercial, and
linearly distributed in between
Value of local spending during project installation
(20-year net present value)
kilowatts megawatts

11.
Costofelectricity
0.0¢
2.0¢
4.0¢
6.0¢
8.0¢
10.0¢
12.0¢
14.0¢
Residential ≤10 10-20 20-50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 5-10 MW 10 to
20 MW
20 to
100 MW
100 to
1,000 MW
S O L A R E C O N O M I E S O F S C A L E
Estimated levelized cost of electricity (plus delivery) based on reported 2015 costs*
Sources: Tracking the Sun IX and Utility-Scale Solar 2015
(SunShot, Berkeley Labs); SAM (NREL); Crossborder; ILSR
DOES NOT INCLUDE VALUE OF POWER
USED ON-SITE
kilowatts megawatts

12.
D E C E N T R A L I Z E D
T E C H N O L O G Y I S
D E C E N T R A L I Z I N G
P O W E R A N D D E C I S I O N
M A K I N G

13.
6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

14.
6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

15.
6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

16.
6 gigawatts of
customer-sited solar in
10 years

17.
D E C I D E R S A R E C H A N G I N G

18.
www.ilsr.org
C H A N G I N G
T H E R U L E S
P R O V I D I N G
T O O L S
1 0 0 % R E N E WA B L E
L O C A L E C O N O M Y
H U M A N
S C A L E
L O C A L
O W N E R S H I P
D E M O C R AT I C
A U T H O R I T Y
I L L U S T R AT I N G
T H E V I S I O N