Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program

Hans Imhof ’21
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Certificate in Environmental Studies
THESIS TITLE
The Modernization of
the Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act
of 1978 and Its Effects
on Solar-Power
Generation: An Analysis
of the Implementation
of PURPA in South
Carolina
ADVISER
Gregory Jaczko,
Lecturer in School of
Public and International
Affairs
In South Carolina, one utility has primarily
driven the incorporation of solar in the state’s
electricity grid, meaning that state policies could
push other utilities in the region to do the same.
The complex differences between the utilities,
however, decrease the transparency of rates, fees
and contract structures despite being regulated
by the same state-level institution. An analysis of
the avoided cost rates, their implementation and
the contract terms revealed that not all aspects
of the standard offers are equally well-regulated.
This has resulted in utility-scale solar projects
being located in one utility’s territory. Fractions
of cents have thousands of dollars' worth of
consequences and allow for a distortion of the
power dynamics between utilities, independent
power producers and consumers. The new
changes to Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act
of 1978 (PURPA) place more power in the hands
of the utilities by increasing the tools available
to them to set avoided costs, and by decreasing
the certainty of returns on investments for solar
investors and developers. Thus, these changes
decrease the competitiveness of solar power.
POLICY, NORMS
AND BEHAVIOR
40