Publications & Reports from IREC

Here you'll find IREC papers, reports and other publications, all designed to help advance renewable energy in your community, and easily downloadable.

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Best Practices & Recommended Guidelines for Renewable Energy Training (2010) The 26-page document covers recommended principles for training; reviews industry-approved job/task analyses; discusses types of educational programs; walks through the essential steps of designing a training course; offers a checklist for assessing learning outcomes; looks at certification and accreditation; and lists resources to assist in training.

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2009 Updates and Trends Report

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council's annual report on trends in renewable energy, including state energy incentives and policies, solar installation, net metering and interconnection, and green jobs workforce development and training. The report puts these trends in the context of an unprecedented federal commitment to renewable energy, despite the global financial crisis, federal bailouts, and historic and pervasive state budget crises.

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Connecting to the Grid Guide 6th Edition (2009)

Net metering and interconnection policies are essential pieces of a supportive state-level regulatory policy framework addressing two important aspects of renewable energy development: whether a customer investing in renewable generation can unlock the full value of his or her investment; and how that customer will interconnect his or her generation system to the distribution grid. This guide introduces readers to the issues surrounding policy and technical considerations of grid-integrated, renewable energy development.

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2009 Model Interconnection Procedures

IREC first developed model interconnection procedures in 2005 in an effort to capture emerging best practices in this vital area. Since that time, IREC has been an active participant in dozens of state utility commission rulemakings that have focused on the development of interconnection procedures. These updated procedures also include footnotes that explain key provisions and provide information on alternatives that are being practiced in some states.

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2009 IREC Model Net Metering Rules

On significant points such as size of systems eligible for net metering, program capacity caps, and treatment of annual excess generation, there has been broad variation between states. In an effort to capture this variation, IREC’s model rules now include footnotes that discuss the various approaches states have taken on these issues.

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Renewable Energy Training Best Practices (2008)

These pages bring together recommended training guidelines, training criteria, assessment tools, task analyses, credentialing programs, and other related resources for renewable energy training programs.

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2008 Solar Trends Report

Public data on U.S. solar installations by technology, state, and market sector to help industry, government, and non-profit organizations improve their efforts to increase the number of solar installations across the United States. Analysis of multi-year installation trends and state installation data helps these sectors learn more about the state markets and evaluate the effectiveness of marketing, financial incentives and education initiatives.

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Inspector Guidelines for PV Systems

This work is part of the Renewable Energy Technology Analysis Project of the Pace Law School Energy Project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. These guidelines provide a framework for the permitting and inspection of PV systems. There are two separate guidelines since jurisdictions treat the process in two steps. First is the plan-check stage where the information is reviewed for accuracy and completeness. Second is the field inspection stage where the installation is reviewed for compliance with the approved plans.

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Net Metering & Interconnection Procedures Incorporating Best Practices

This paper presents the most significant changes made to IREC’s model interconnection and net metering procedures.  Presented on behalf of IREC at ASES 2009 by Jason Keyes, Kevin Fox, Joseph Wiedman, Keyes & Fox, LLC; and Maureen Quinlan, Laurel Varnado, Rusty Haynes and Keith McAllister, North Carolina Solar Center, on behalf of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council.