Ranger Power is a New York City based renewable energy developer. Ranger retained Anderson Economic Group to assess the net economic and fiscal impacts of the construction and operations of three proposed solar projects across Michigan.
In order to assess these impacts, we obtained basic project data on each development from Ranger and also conducted research on average build-out costs for different types of solar projects. We then determined the amount of project spending that would happen in Michigan and the respective County each project would be located in. We considered any substitution or “crowding out” that would occur in order to identify the net new spending that would happen in each area. We then multiplied this amount by U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis RIMS II economic impact multipliers to determine the indirect economic impact of each project’s construction and operations. After determining the net economic impact of each project, we estimated the total increase in sales and income taxes that would occur due to new jobs created and new spending on construction and operations materials.
We summarized our findings in a report and one-pager documents that we provided to Ranger. Ranger used these documents to inform the public and local policymakers about the economic impact of each development.