The Steyer-Taylor Center’s Executive Director Dan Reicher and Faculty Fellow Felix Mormann were interviewed about their paper “A Tale of Three Markets: Comparing the Solar and Wind Deployment Experiences of California, Texas, and Germany.” 

Much of our work on clean energy at the Metro Program has focused on local variation: how different jurisdictions generate varying solutions and different outcomes. Now, Nonresident Senior Fellow Dan Reicher and his colleague Felix Mormann at Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance have drilled down on the varied experiences of a fascinating trio of locations in a new paper released today. Recently Dan and Felix engaged with me in an e-mail dialogue on their comparisons of the solar and wind deployment experiences of California, Texas, and Germany:

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Isn’t it a bit odd to compare two states and a nation?

Dan: It’s not so odd when you consider that state energy markets and policies–such as the 29 states with renewable portfolio standards—have driven much of the renewable energy deployment in the United States, with California and Texas leading the pack (of course helped by federal tax credits). So, when it comes to renewables, we really think of all three as distinct and highly intriguing “countries.”

How are these three places comparable, then?

Felix: For starters, they are all economic powerhouses with Germany ranked fourth, California eighth, and Texas 12th among global economies. All three have made considerable progress in the build-out of solar, wind, and other clean energy infrastructure. And along the way each of them has hit roadblocks—and eventually found ways to overcome them, albeit following very different policy approaches in rather distinct political systems.

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