Market Structure and Technology Adoption in Renewable Energy

We study the effect of market structure on technology adoption in the U.S. solar and wind power industries. We compare adoption across two market types: restructured markets, which are designed to promote competition, and regulated markets, which are dominated by regulated monopolists. Solar projects in restructured markets are 23 percent less likely to adopt frontier technology. We also find small negative effects for wind projects. We provide evidence this negative relationship between competition and adoption is explained by differences in financing costs across the two market types.