Better Understanding of Solar Community

One model gaining traction throughout the U.S. is community solar, a way to share the benefits with neighbors beyond the traditional solar rooftop model of selling solar electricity. 

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, “community solar refers to local solar facilities shared by multiple community subscribers who receive credit on their electricity bills for their share of the power produced."
Think of community solar programs as one big shared electric generator in the middle of a town or housing community. As you need electricity, you go to the generator and take the amount of electricity you need, and it offsets the amount of money you pay the electric utility each month.

The practice of sharing solar is a perfect solution for people who don't own homes, homeowners that have unsuitable rooftops for individual solar arrays, and communities that have the area to use for several panels. Shared solar is also the perfect solution to highly urbanized areas where land is at a premium, but densely packed buildings provide the perfect staging ground for utility-scale arrays. It's also taking root in rural areas where land is plentiful, and it's expensive to string utility wires. In fact, farming communities are perfect places for distributed electricity of any kind.

Community solar allows utilities to give their residential customers' savings on their electricity bills by offsetting their use with the energy produced by their portion of the community solar project. With innovations like virtual net metering and other billing options, people see their power bills go down, while utility revenues can continue steadily along. Community solar proves once and for all that solar power and utility profits are not mutually exclusive—meaning the mindless battles that have often plagued that relationship don't have to continue in perpetuity.

320 GW

To sell 320 GW of solar power roof by roof could take the next hundred or so years, and despite our human-nature belief that we will all live forever, we know that's not true. So why not use community solar to tap into this enormous, untapped market while you can still enjoy the revenues?

It's far easier to sell solar to a group of people than it is to individuals. Once one community member decides they want to purchase a subscription to a community solar array, the rest of the sales come much more quickly. And once you've sold 10 subscriptions or more, you've more than made your investment back on the sales meeting.

Utility backing

From Minnesota to Ohio to New Mexico and every state in between, community solar is being embraced by utilities as a way to keep customers while still satisfying their customers' desires to get their kilowatt-hours from solar energy. Having utility backing means much easier permitting processes, fewer interconnection headaches, and easier collaboration when it comes to commissioning the new solar array. Think of how much easier your life would be with those advantages—and then think of how community solar could help you get there.

Customers love it because it allows them access to solar energy in situations where they might not otherwise be able to participate in the Solar Revolution. Utilities love it because it gives their customers another option while keeping them their customers. And solar installers should love it because it opens new markets that would otherwise be closed to them if they were only selling one solar rooftop at a time. For more, see below; 

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