Report collects clean energy manufacturing policies across US

While states implement policies to spur innovation, manufacturing and other priorities related to clean energy, there was no single source serving as a collection of all such policies across the 50 states. The recently released Clean Energy-Related Economic Development Policy across the States: Establishing a 2016 Baseline by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) aims to establish a baseline of existing policy as “a critical first step in determining the potential holistic impact of these policies on driving economic growth in a state.” It focuses on the policies most directly related to expanding new and existing manufacturing.

The report covers over 900 existing clean energy-related economic development laws, financial incentives, and other policies such as agency-directed programs and initiatives as they relate to expanding new and existing manufacturing. The policies are distributed across three categories: state financial incentive programs (including manufacturing recruitment); other policy, generally spurred from executive action or previously existing authority; and enacted legislation that may generate long-term impacts on economic development, particularly through workforce development and training programs designed to prepare workers for a clean energy-driven economy.

The author, Jeffrey J. Cook, notes that some states target more specific manufacturing opportunities than others and cautions that the report does not attempt to explain policy effectiveness. It does, however, provide three case studies to illustrate how such policies may play a role in securing new manufacturing and achieving broader economic development goals.