Community solar
Participants typically invest in or subscribe to a certain kW capacity or kWh generation of remote electrical production.
[2] The project's power output is credited to investors or subscribers in proportion to their investment, with adjustments to reflect ongoing changes in capacity, technology, costs and electricity rates.
[14] The City of Ellensburg, Washington, and its municipal electric utility claim to have installed the first community solar system in 2006.
[15] According a market analysis conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as of June 2024 there were 44 U.S. states with at least one community solar project.
[17][18][19] The bill would have enabled groups of individuals or homeowner associations to develop utility-scale solar power facilities in collaboration with local utilities that would distribute the power and credit owners based on their percentage of investment in the solar farm, extending the tax credits accordingly.
[22] Often, RECs are split from the electricity that community solar projects create and sold to utilities in order to help them comply with renewable portfolio standards implemented by states.
The electricity generated by each customer's "shares appears as a credit on his or her energy bill, a savings expected to average between $4–$50 a month, given sunshine variability.
[34] Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) has a solar farm that began producing power in October 2013.
The municipal utility, which has approximately 55 percent of its 230,000 electric customers living in multi-family housing, sought a unique solution for those wanting to use solar power, but unable to modify the homes they rent or lease.
Today, 1,312 solar panels are generating up to 400 kilowatts (kW) of electricity at OUC's Gardenia Operations facility next to Interstate 4.
Located in Fort Washington, Maryland on a former landfill, Panorama covers 25 acres of land and contains 19,000 panels.
[38] The Green Communities Act of 2008 authorized what was formally known as "neighborhood net-metering", which allowed a group of residents in a neighborhood/town to pool resources to cover the capital cost of a renewable energy installation.
[39] Gardens built by developer Clean Energy Collective started producing power in Newton, Massachusetts in July 2014.
The company originally partnered with now-defunct energy efficiency firm Next Step Living[34] and is currently working with the startup Solstice Initiative.
[citation needed] The largest community solar-plus-storage farm in the state in Winchendon, Massachusetts was completed in March, 2018 by CleanChoice Energy and Borrego Solar.
[43] Under the SMART program, Massachusetts pays solar energy system owners at a fixed rate per kilowatt hour as an incentive.
[49] As of June 2020, Minnesota had the largest community solar market of any U.S. state in terms of megawatts alternating-current installed capacity.
[54] Electric utilities in St. George built a large photovoltaic facility to exploit 310 days a year with sunlight, and allowed residents to purchase it to supplement conventional energy.
[11] Without aligning with community solar, the main concern for utility providers often stems from potential revenue losses.
[59] Most utility providers pay fixed rates proportional to the electricity they generate and subsequently distribute to consumers.
[59] With consumers paying less than the traditionally-fixed rate, utility providers lose a portion of the revenue they would've received under traditional circumstances.
[59] With conventional forms of energy still maintaining the lion's share of power distribution in the U.S. (about 61% as of 2020), however, losses in utility revenue are generally small.
