Job and Economic Development Impact Models (JEDI)

The Job and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) model was designed to be an easy-to-use, excel based calculator which uses IMPLAN's economic multipliers to estimate the economic impacts of constructing and operating power generation and biofuel plants at the local and state levels. JEDI is a spreadsheet-based input-output model with a user-friendly interface that employs state-specific data to estimate the economic impacts from the construction and operation of energy generation plants, including renewable and non-renewable technologies, and transmission lines.

This tool is included in the Development Impacts Assessment (DIA) Toolkit from the LEDS Global Partnership.

Approach

JEDI is an input-output model that estimates the economic impact of constructing and operating energy infrastructure, and currently covers a wide range of power generation technologies, as well as biofuels production and the construction of transmission lines. Estimated impacts include direct, indirect and induced effects in two categories: economic activity within the region of interest, and number of jobs supported.

When to Use This Tool

This tool is most useful for development impacts assessments focused on:

Social

Economic

Environmental

Learn more about the topics for assessing the impacts of low-emission development strategies (LEDS).

Key Outputs

JEDI estimates the number of jobs and economic activity resulting from energy infrastructure projects. It measures direct, indirect, and induced (i.e., multiplier) impacts, and presents model results for both the construction and operation period of an energy infrastructure project. See http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/jedi/results.html.

How to Use This Tool

Training Available
User guides are available for using JEDI to evaluate specific technologies.

Level of Expertise
Not Available

Key Inputs

Size of the project(s), usually in terms of nameplate capacity. Economic data on region multipliers when the region, except at the state and national levels.

Case Studies

Examples of how Job and Economic Development Impact Models (JEDI) has helped people assessing the impacts of low-emission development strategies in countries and regions:

Case studies are available at: http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/jedi/publications.html.

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Overview

Originally developed in 2002 for the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Powering America project, the Job and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) model was designed to be an easy-to-use, excel based calculator which uses IMPLAN's economic multipliers to estimate the economic impacts of constructing and operating power generation and biofuel plants at the local and state levels. It comes as a separate model for wind, PV, natural gas, CSP, coal, and biofuels. Job's, earnings, and impact are outputs. Inputs are construction costs, equipment costs, O&M costs, financing parameters and any other costs associated with the project. With its success in modeling wind development impacts at the state and local level, JEDI was expanded to analyze additional technologies and can now be used to evaluate the job and economic impacts of developing biofuel plants and solar power generating facilities as well as coal and natural gas power plants. In order to be applied internationally, economic multipliers would need to be developed for the country applying the model.

This tool would likely be used by local developers or municipality or community staff to determine the economic impact associated with RE projects in their community. A little knowledge of RE is needed for the inputs, and therefore this tool would be well-suited for a user who has received a bid for a project or who has done some research regarding project type and size.

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Inputs and Outputs

Below are descriptions of the inputs and outputs for the tool.

Inputs include:

The user selects:

• The state of the potential project or define and add a county or regional location
• The population of the area in consideration
• The year of construction for the potential project
• The system type
  • Residential new construction
  • Residential retrofit
  • Small or large commercial
  • Utility
• System size (DC nameplate capacity in kW)
• Base installed system cost ($/kWdc)
• Annual direct O&M cost ($/kW)
• And current or constant (dollar year)

The user can choose to use default values for project cost data or can input data for:

• Materials and equipment
  • Mounting
  • Modules
  • Electrical
  • Inverter
• Labor (installation)
• Other costs
  • Permitting
  • Business overhead
• Sales tax
• Labor (technicians)
• Material and services (materials and equipment and services).

The user can choose to use default values for other parameters or can input data for:

• Debt financing
  • Percentage financed
  • Years financed (term)
  • Interest rate
• Tax parameters
  • Local property tax (percent of taxable value)
  • Assessed value (percent of construction cost)
  • Taxable value (percent of assessed value)
  • Property tax exemption (percent of local taxes)
  • Local property taxes
  • Local sales tax rate
• Construction and installation labor
  • Construction workers/installers (Wage per hour)
  • O&M technicians (wage per hour)

Outputs include:

• Project construction or installation cost and the associated local spending amount
• Direct O&M costs and associated local spending ammount
• Other annual costs
• Debt payments and property taxes

It also outputs local economic impacts on jobs, earnings ($), and output ($) for construction and installation labor impacts, construction and installation related services, module and supply chain impacts, and induced impacts. It outputs local economic impacts on jobs, earnings ($), and output ($) during operating years for PV project labor only, local revenue and supply chain impacts, and induced impacts.

Highlights

This is a unique tool in that it provides the jobs and economic impact associated with a RE project development and operations. It is one of the only tools, if not the only tool, with this functionality.

Notes

The use of JEDI requires a one-time free registration for download.