What do we know about the study of distributed generation policies and regulations in the Americas? A systematic review of literature

Policy-makers are increasingly in search for evidence-based solutions for meeting contemporary challenges of energy services that are both low carbon and sustainable. One of the emerging trends are policies and regulations that incent distributed electricity generation, DG. The question that this article addresses is: what is the current state of the study of these policies or regulations in the Americas? The focus on the Americas was chosen because the article is part of a larger research project that explores regulations for DG in Brazil and Canada. This article uses a non-traditional means for synthesizing academic work; systematic literature review to explore the current state of peer-reviewed publications on the subject. It is a means of transparently locating, evaluating and synthesizing information to avoid bias in data collection. In total, 87 articles were included in the review. Climate Change is the main driving force for DG, as identified in the articles. Job creation or the green economy was cited as a motivating factor more strongly in North America. While in the southern countries, the issue of diversifying the energy mix and avoiding infrastructure costs was more pronounced. Many articles dealt with the issue of mechanisms for incenting DG and over half of these focused on aspects of Feed-in-tariffs. Incentive mechanisms vary depending on policy goals of the jurisdictions, with Renewable Portfolio Standards being more popular in the U.S. The review showed that there is little emphasis on the social impacts and benefits of the regulations or policies and that specific urban challenges and local governance is not widely investigated, pointing to a need for future study in these areas.