Community Solar provides access to clean energy for households that can’t install rooftop solar panels. It supports climate justice by ensuring that communities most affected by CO2 emissions can benefit from a cleaner, healthier environment. Local community solar projects consist of large installations with thousands of solar panels that generate eco-friendly energy for your utility grid. You subscribe to that power and receive credits on your electricity bill.
Cleaner Air
A solar array produces clean energy, credited to your utility bill. If you cannot install solar panels on your roof, there is an option to enroll in a community solar garden. This will help offset your electricity usage. We build large solar projects called gardens, and you share ownership with other residents who subscribe to the power. Your utility delivers your electricity as usual, but your solar subscription credits appear on your bill.
Community solar helps address climate justice by bringing cleaner energy to historically disadvantaged communities. Dirty fossil fuel plants tend to be located in poorer areas and disproportionately pollute these neighborhoods. On the other hand, solar farms are ideally positioned to reduce CO2 emissions in disadvantaged communities that will most benefit from healthier air and lower energy bills.
Whether purchasing or leasing, community solar offers a hassle-free way to invest in renewable energy for your home or business. Make sure to read the fine print and understand all of your options before signing any contracts.
Reduced Carbon Footprint
The carbon footprint of any product, service, organization, or individual is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced over time. These include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and more. Reduced carbon emissions can help limit climate change and its impacts. Switching to clean energy through community solar gardens is one way.
Community solar, also called community shared renewables (CSR) or co-ops, is a way for people to subscribe to electricity generated by local, often independent, solar projects. These projects generate enough power to offset some of the subscribers’ utility bills, providing significant savings over time.
These programs are designed to ensure clean energy’s benefits go beyond rooftops. By focusing on access for all, these projects are more likely to create high-paying jobs in the area and provide long-term local tax revenue to support communities. Unlike traditional rooftop solar, which requires homeowners to invest in expensive equipment, most community solar garden projects require no upfront investment other than a one-time membership share.
Local Economy
In addition to community solar’s environmental benefits, it can strengthen local economies through its development, operations, and maintenance. Local jobs are created during the construction phase and continue contributing to local tax revenues throughout their lifespan, even beyond the initial investment. Community solar gardens are often developed on land leased from the surrounding community, and a significant percentage of these lease payments go directly to farmland owners, who see an opportunity to monetize unused land.
The economic benefits of community solar extend far beyond this, however, as the projects can bring additional revenue through utility savings passed along to subscribers and the general public. This additional revenue helps support local main street businesses. It reduces the burden of taxes on city and town governments, allowing them to offer more cost-effective services to their citizens.
In addition, community solar has the potential to help low-income residents, communities of color, and indigenous peoples, who are often disproportionately affected by pollution from dirty fossil fuel plants. These communities can easily participate in community solar by subscribing to a project without having to install panels on their roof, and the energy production from their subscription is offset against their existing electric bill.
Accessibility
Solar energy is a clean and sustainable source that can reduce harmful emissions from coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels. However, many communities do not have access to the affordable solar benefits of rooftop solar because of the upfront costs or lack of roof space. This is where community solar steps in. A community solar garden is a collection of solar panels on a shared space in a neighborhood, usually a vacant lot or parking garage. The garden developer sells subscriptions to electricity users located within the project’s service area who agree to purchase or “virtually lease” portions of the energy produced by the panels. The subscribers receive credits on their utility bills based on how much the solar garden produces each month. Like rooftop solar, the amount of energy produced varies depending on the weather.
Community solar programs allow more people to go solar without the cost and upfront commitment of purchasing a system in their homes. This can particularly benefit low-income households, students, those living in rental housing, and others who can’t install their solar. By using a community solar program, those who would not otherwise have access to renewable energy can support a local, renewable generation that will reduce the need for dirty fossil fuel power and lower their electric bills.
