• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta June 29, 2022
London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty June 29, 2022
G7 Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’, Walk Back Pledge to Cut International Fossil Finance June 29, 2022
Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use June 26, 2022
BREAKING: UN Nature Summit, the ‘Paris Conference for Biodiversity’, Moves to Montreal in December June 19, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Demand & Distribution Buildings

U.S. Community Solar Comes of Age, Becomes ‘Something I’d Sign My Mom Up For’

December 18, 2019
Reading time: 3 minutes

Skeeze/Pixabay

Skeeze/Pixabay

13
SHARES
 

With a proven product, a more flexible approach to contracts, and a different notion of customer service and communications, community solar in the United States is getting closer to offering a broadly accessible, scaled-up product for the 50 to 75% of households that don’t have the option of installing their own rooftop systems.

“There has been quite an evolution,” said Hannah Muller, director of public policy at California community solar developer Clearway Energy Group. “It’s reached the point where this is something I’d tell my mom to sign up for.”

To date, community solar has only flourished in places like Minnesota, Colorado, and Massachusetts, Greentech Media reports, with more than a gigawatt of total capacity installed. Nearly half of U.S. states still have less than 10 MW in place.

But “in a short time, the industry has matured,” said Jeff Cramer, executive director at the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA). “You’re seeing the movement of community solar from pilot in the truest sense of the word” to becoming a “significant piece” of a 100% renewable portfolio standard.

“Community solar generally refers to large-scale solar installations that customers can subscribe to, paying monthly for solar energy credits—often at a discount that knocks costs off their regular utility bill,” Greentech explains. “Because they are typically located offsite, community solar gardens can provide solar power to renters as well as people with roofs unsuitable for traditional solar because of shading or slope.”

Most recently, “developers and pro-community solar policy groups have been working to improve accessibility, the core tenet of community solar’s appeal,” the U.S. industry newsletter adds. “Fewer providers require high credit scores, termination fees have declined or disappeared, and discounts over retail rates are becoming more common.” And now, the industry’s attention has turned to the best ways to bill customers, integrate projects with the grid, and bring a wider mix of customers—including less-affluent households—into the mix.

“Even in the last year, it’s been crazy how much the tone in the industry has shifted to re-examine how community solar is being messaged and being brought to the customer,” said former Greentech analyst MJ Shiao, now director of community solar at Arcadia Power. “The conversation is dramatically different now.”

Greentech says community solar developers are divided on whether it’s a problem that customers receive two electricity bills in some jurisdictions. “The argument that dual billing is an obstacle or barrier to community solar adoption is simply a red herring,” said Jennifer Spinosi, vice president of regulatory and compliance at community solar retailer CleanChoice Energy. “In part informed by the experience we’ve had in the retail market, we’re actually concerned that utility consolidated billing could have negative impacts on the community solar market, both in terms of that market’s ability to scale and also in terms of potentially having a negative impact on the customer experience.”

Others see that process as a point of confusion for customers. “That is the single most important change that we have to make happen over the next couple of years,” Tom Sweeney, president of renewable assets for Colorado-based developer Clean Energy Collective, told a recent CCSA event. “It will be the enabler of real growth.” 

Greentech’s coverage explores some of the other issues and opportunities for the industry, including potential conflicts between investors’ expectations for long-term, stable cash flow and customers’ need for flexibility, some financiers’ insistence on high credit ratings that become a barrier for lower-income households, and the emergence of storage as an add-on for community solar projects.



in Buildings, Cities & Communities, Clean Electricity Grid, Ending Emissions, Energy Access & Equity, Solar, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Keith Hirsche
Jobs & Training

Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta

June 29, 2022
392
London Eye UK England
Cities & Communities

London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

June 29, 2022
120
Number 10/flickr
International Agencies & Studies

G7 Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’, Walk Back Pledge to Cut International Fossil Finance

June 29, 2022
142

Comments 1

  1. Judy says:
    3 years ago

    Has any town installed solar on the flat rooftops of their mainstream stores?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Keith Hirsche

Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta

June 29, 2022
392
François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

June 29, 2022
223
David/flickr

U.S. Supreme Court Expected to Gut Emission Controls as Climate Scientists Petition for Plan B

June 26, 2022
1.2k
Danielle Scott/flickr

Advocate Urges Ottawa to Intervene Before Ontario Builds Highway 413

June 29, 2022
128
Number 10/flickr

G7 Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’, Walk Back Pledge to Cut International Fossil Finance

June 29, 2022
142
London Eye UK England

London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

June 29, 2022
120

Recent Posts

AJEL / Pixabay

Windfall Tax on Food, Fossil, Pharma Giants Would Raise $490B to Solve ‘Catastrophic’ Food Crisis: Oxfam

June 29, 2022
57
futureatlas.com/flickr

Ottawa Demands Deeper Fuel Emissions Cuts, Offers Fossils a Double-Dip on Tax Breaks

June 29, 2022
77
Province of B.C./flickr

Comox Joins Municipalities Seeking Ban on New Gas Stations

June 29, 2022
75
/Piqsels

Refocus Agriculture Spending to Cut Emissions, Boost Productivity, OECD Urges Governments

June 29, 2022
28
Jimmy Emerson, DVM/flickr

Public Vigilance Key to Protecting Greenbelts for Climate Resilience, Report Finds

June 29, 2022
35
Miguel V/Wikimedia Commons

Forests Fall Short of Full Carbon Storage Potential, Study Finds

June 29, 2022
62
Next Post
Ron Hart/Twitter

Fossil ‘Youth-Washing’ Includes Sponsorship Funding, Free Trips to COP

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}