HomeMy WebLinkAboutPreliminary Analysis of Unsuccessful Renewable Energy Fund ApplicationsPreliminary Analysis of Unsuccessful Renewable Energy Fund Applications
January 7, 2014
Jed Drolet, Energy Information Analyst
To gain a better understanding of the need for AEA outreach and community assistance efforts, I have
been conducting an analysis of unsuccessful applications in Rounds 1 through 7. The objective is to
determine why each application was unsuccessful and to identify any patterns that might serve as
guidelines for what sort of outreach is necessary to ensure that the highest-need communities are
benefitting as much as possible from the RE Fund.
While the analysis is ongoing, some preliminary results are available. For each application that was not
recommended for funding, I reviewed the AEA review comments and determined the main reason that
funding was not recommended. I then grouped these reasons into two broad categories: “Project-
Related” and “Application-Related.” The former includes those applications where the underlying
project is fundamentally unrealistic or unlikely to be feasible regardless of how much effort is put into
studying it. The latter includes those applications where the underlying project may well be feasible, but
the application as submitted doesn’t adequately demonstrate that to the satisfaction of AEA reviewers.
The category a given application falls into has important implications for what sort of outreach efforts by
AEA are needed.
Figure 1
As Figure 1 shows, for each round the unsuccessful applications were split approximately evenly
between these two categories, with some variation from round to round. This implies that both Project-
Related and Application-Related problems with REF applications are important, and that AEA outreach
should address both issues.
Further research will refine these conclusions by looking at regional and other subsets of the data to see
if any more subtle patterns are apparent. I will also expand the analysis by looking at applications that
were recommended for funding but did not score high enough to actually be funded.
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5
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7Applications RejectedRound
Reasons for Rejection of Applications
Project-Related Application-Related