The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) has launched a slate of initiatives to support the deployment of equitable community solar projects and recognized projects exemplifying best practices in community solar. Community solar allows any household to access the benefits of renewable energy, with an emphasis on those that cannot access rooftop solar.
The Community Power Accelerator and its $10 million prize will leverage $5 billion in private-sector financing commitments to help community-based organizations and other mission-aligned project developers access financing and build community solar projects, particularly in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. The department is also launching a new campaign to highlight the connections between solar energy and its long-term benefits, beginning with community solar. Community solar will play a vital role in supporting the Biden-Harris administration’s Justice40 Initiative to ensure that every community benefits from the clean energy transition and in achieving the President’s goals of a 100% electric grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“The National Community Solar Partnership provides yet another exciting opportunity to harness the power of the sun to power our communities – helping make our climate goals a reality while lowering energy costs and reducing local air pollution,” says U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The President’s historic clean energy laws are supercharging access to renewable energy, and DOE is seizing the moment by accelerating community solar deployment to ensure affordable, clean energy is available whenever and wherever to everyone.”
President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act established tax credits for solar energy projects, including a 20% bonus credit for solar power projects that sell their electricity to low-income households. This tax credit could support up to 18 GW of additional community solar projects over the next 10 years, enough to power over 2.5 million homes. The critical challenge is ensuring that all types of organizations and communities have access to the funds to develop community solar and that the projects deployed deliver “meaningful benefits” to communities and subscribers, like electricity bill savings, community ownership and wealth-building, resilience, equitable workforce development, and low- and moderate-income household access.
DOE’s National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) launched the Community Power Accelerator to bring together investors, philanthropic organizations, developers, community-based organizations, and technical experts to work together to get more equitable community solar projects financed and deployed. The Accelerator will support developers with technical assistance and a Learning Lab to build a pipeline of verified, credit-ready projects that will connect with investors seeking to fund community solar in disadvantaged communities. Financial institutions and philanthropic organizations participating in the Accelerator have committed $5 billion in private sector financing for projects that are credit-ready.
The Community Power Accelerator Prize is a new $10 million competition that will provide pre-development funds to organizations to build the expertise, experience, and capacity required to develop community solar projects at scale.
An online platform, developed by DOE and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, that will enable community-based organizations, intermediaries, and other mission-aligned project developers to connect with investors and philanthropic organizations seeking to fund a more diverse and community-based pipeline of community solar projects.
A Learning Lab and technical assistance program will prepare community-based organizations, small or new solar developers, and others to develop, finance and build “credit-ready” community solar projects – projects that are ready for financing.
During the NCSP Annual Summit, DOE announced the winners of the Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar, an awards program that recognizes best practices in community solar projects and programs that increase equitable access and ensure benefits – such as greater household savings, good-paying jobs, and enhanced energy resilience – go to subscribers and their communities.
Five teams were selected for Grand Prize awards. Across the board, these five winners will help households achieve a projected combined total savings of $4.3 million on their energy bills. The projects provide clean energy access for 7,300 low- to moderate-income households and demonstrate best practices in increasing resilience, expanding community ownership, building a more equitable workforce, and leading community engagement.
The Shungnak-Kobuk Community Solar Battery IPP (Shungnak, Alaska) solar and battery project, led by the Shungnak and Kobuk tribes in the Northwest Arctic Borough region in Alaska, aims to stabilize the cost of electricity and allow the communities to take charge of their energy future.
The Faribault Community Solar project (Faribault, Minn.) is a cooperatively-owned community solar array serving mostly low-to-moderate income residents in southern Minnesota.
Community Power – Jobs and Savings for LMI Households (Brooklyn, N.Y.) delivers energy savings to 500 households, provided workforce training and offered paid jobs to public housing residents.
District of Columbia’s Solar for All (Washington, D.C.) is a program designed to reduce electricity bills for households in Washington, DC, through single-family and community solar projects.
JOE-4-SUN Ashland (Ashland, Mass.) is a 6 MW community solar project that saves low-to-moderate income households over $400 per year on electricity costs and brings the benefits of clean, renewable energy to a superfund site.
DOE also launched a new campaign to highlight the many benefits of solar energy to individuals and communities and provide a resource hub so that the public can learn about how solar will positively impact the nation’s future. The Inflation Reduction Act lowers the cost of solar energy for consumers and businesses while creating good paying jobs as deployment and manufacturing capacity grows across the country. Over the next few years, millions of households are expected to join the nearly 4 million American households that have gone solar—either through installing solar on their rooftops or by joining a community solar program. The Connect the Dots on Solar Energy campaign will focus on making connections between solar energy investments and their enduring, long-term benefits.
