Community Solar Prizes Power Equitable Energy Savings Nationwide | Article

On January 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the winners of the Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar. The Sunny Awards is a $100,000 prize that recognizes projects and programs that increase equitable access to the meaningful benefits of community solar. Fifty teams received $1,000 Sunny Finalist Awards and five teams were awarded the $10,000 Sunny Awards Grand Prize. Together, the five teams selected for the grand prize provide access to clean energy for 7,300 low- to moderate-income households and help households save a combined total of $4.3 million on their energy bills.

On the same day the Sunny Awards were announced, DOE launched the Community Power Accelerator Prize, a $10 million prize to increase the development of community solar projects in underrepresented communities. Equitable access to funding is a significant barrier in the development of community solar, so this prize provides funding and training to participants throughout the competition.

Community Solar is Crucial to an Equitable Energy Transition

Community solar allows customers to jointly own or subscribe to a portion of a solar array in their community. Large solar arrays, called solar farms, are located on inexpensive and sunny tracts of land, and are owned by cooperatives, private companies, or utilities. To receive the benefits of community solar, residents subscribe to a share of a project and receive credit on their monthly electric bills based on the revenue generated by their share of the solar array. Community solar saves customers money and provides them with a source of clean energy.

Community solar projects are an important tool to expand renewable energy access for all and decrease energy costs, particularly for communities of color and low-income communities. According to a DOE report, nearly 50 percent of all U.S. households cannot host a rooftop solar system. Community solar projects allow these households to gain the benefits of solar energy by tapping into a solar project in their community. Accessing the energy savings that comes from these projects is especially beneficial to low-income households. These households spend on average 8.6 percent of the annual income on their energy bills, which is three times higher than non-low-income households.

The goal of DOE is to power five million households using community solar by 2025. Achieving this goal will lead to $1 billion in energy bill savings and help the Biden-Harris Administration reach their target of achieving 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. Working towards these goals will also support the Administration's Justice40 Initiative to ensure that disadvantaged communities have access to the benefits of clean energy.

Sunny Awards Grand Prize Winners

The Sunny Awards is an initiative of the DOE National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP), “a coalition of community solar stakeholders working to expand access to affordable community solar to every U.S. household and enable subscribers and their communities to realize its meaningful benefits.” The Sunny Award recognizes projects that advance the meaningful benefits of community solar, including greater household electricity bill savings, more access for low- to moderate-income households, resilience and grid benefits, community ownership and wealth building, equitable workforce development, and innovation in community engagement and impact. Each of the projects and programs that received a grand prize vary in their design, operation, and benefits they provide community members. By recognizing successful community solar projects, DOE hopes that these projects can provide a blueprint to those interested in developing or expanding community solar. The five Sunny Award Grand Prizes were awarded to the following five projects.

Community Power: Jobs and Savings for LMI Households (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Community Power is a 1.2 megawatt (MW) community solar project that delivers energy savings to 500 low- to moderate-income households across New York City. Multiple community organizations and partners came together to make this project possible. Solar One, a New York non-profit, developed the project in collaboration with WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Con Edison, and the Brooklyn Movement Center. Community Power also had a partnership with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), allowing solar installations to be built on three NYCHA developments. Through this project, subscribers receive a 20 percent discount on solar credits, generating savings of about $120 annually.

District of Columbia's Solar for All (Washington, D.C.)

Solar for All, a program through the D.C. Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE), aims to provide energy savings to 100,000 low- and moderate-income families in D.C. by 2023. Through this program, the D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility works with solar developers to install both single-family and community solar projects. Already, the program has completed over 180 community solar projects, and more installations are planned for this year. Community solar is important in D.C. given that 65 percent of residents live in multifamily housing and do not have the ability to have solar panels installed on their roof. Subscribers “get savings on their electric bills of around $500 annually,” Thomas Bartholomew, branch chief of renewable energy and clean transportation at DOEE, said. “That's enough to cut the average District resident’s electric bill in half.”

In addition to single-family and community solar projects, Solar for All has a project called Solar Works DC that trains district residents on how to do solar installations. “It is mainly focused on training and getting folks into the workforce so District residents can benefit from the clean energy economy,” Bartholomew said.

Faribault Community Solar (Faribault, MN)

The Faribault Community Solar project, developed by Cooperative Energy Futures, is a cooperatively-owned community solar array in southern Minnesota serving mostly low- to moderate-income residents. The co-op model ensures that members receive the largest amount of benefits from the project. “The idea is to provide green energy at a cheaper price and to have people benefit economically from that energy,” Pouya Najmaie, policy director at Cooperative Energy Futures, said. “They all own it, they control it democratically, they run for the board, they elect the board, the board are all the staff members’ bosses. And then we give out our profits that exceed expansion and operating costs to our members through dividends and equity as well. We look at things through the lens of energy democracy, which puts users and local energy first, and disadvantaged populations are also a priority.”

The Faribault Community Solar project reaches out to low-income communities and does not check the income or credit of individuals when they apply. In order to encourage investors to invest in projects that depend on payments from individual subscribers, the Faribault team created the backup subscriber model. This model brings in large, credit-worthy institutions, whether it be a city, state, or community entity such as a church, to subscribe to 5 to 15 percent of the solar array when it is first launched. Additionally, the institution promises to make payments if anyone defaults on their bill. This model gave financers the assurance they needed to invest in projects and has been highly successful, with default rates well under one percent.

The Faribault project is just one of eight solar projects Cooperative Energy Futures are currently running. They plan to use the $10,000 prize money to develop their next group of eight projects. These new projects will create about 7 MW of new solar capacity and connect a few thousand new solar energy users.

The Faribault Community Solar Project. Credit: Cooperative Energy Futures

JOE-4-SUN (Ashland, MA)

JOE-4-SUN is a 6 MW community solar project built on a blighted Superfund site in Ashland, Massachusetts. JOE-4-SUN is a program through the Citizens Energy Corporation, with the Ashland project being one of JOE-4-SUN’s six utility-scale solar farms. The JOE-4-SUN program serves around 2,500 families a year and will save households $13 million over its 20 year lifespan. In order to make community solar more accessible, JOE-4-SUN conducts outreach to low-income community members. “We are deeply committed to making sure that this program is accessible to every eligible customer- our team goes above and beyond to ensure families in need can save with JOE-4-SUN,” Tess McKenna, program manager at Citizens Energy Corporation, said.

McKenna describes how one of their customer service agents provide attentive support to applicants, making sure they understand the program. Additionally, JOE-4-SUN provides mail-in applications for those without internet access and accepts a range of payment options from checks to money orders. All of these initiatives were introduced to ensure all community members have access to their programs.

All of the Grand Prize winners acknowledge that the recognition they have received from this award is extremely important in increasing the community’s trust in their programs. McKenna recognizes that some community members can have a hard time wrapping their minds around the process and the changes to their energy bills. We are really excited the federal government is highlighting the benefits of low-income community solar programs like ours because public awareness and community buy-in is essential to the success of these projects and the clean energy revolution as a whole.” McKenna states that the only other thing needed on a state and local level is “more outreach and more education about how these programs can help your household.”

JOE-4-SUN’s founder Joseph P. Kennedy II with JOE-4-SUN subscriber Essie Thomas-Ware at a project launch event. Credit: JOE-4-SUN

Shungnak-Kobuk Community Solar Battery Independent Power Producer (Shungnak, AK)

Shungnak-Kobuk Community Solar project is a 233-kilowatt solar farm that includes 384-kilowatt hours (kWh) of battery storage. The project was both designed and installed by Alaska Native Renewable Industries in collaboration with Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) and Launch Alaska. The tribal governments own the solar array and sell power to AVEC, allowing the community to receive all economic benefits of the project. NeitherShungnak nor Kobuk are connected to the power grid; both towns had previously relied solely on diesel generators for power. Since the installation of the project, the community has been able to decrease their diesel fuel consumption by 15,360 gallons, saving them between $125,000-$135,000 over one year.

Each of the Sunny Award Grand Prize winners, in addition to numerous community solar organizations throughout the country, recognize the ways in which community solar can expand renewable energy access for all, particularly for communities of color and low-income communities. Programs like the ones from DOE have “a huge opportunity to reshape how we look at this and to reshape who has power within this ever important industry of energy,” Najmaie said.

Author: Madeline Dawson