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The Coalition for Community Solar Access has released a policy roadmap offering legislative guidance, including model legislation.
The Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) released its Policy Roadmap that includes guidance, model legislation, inclusive solar access solutions for low- to moderate-income subscribers, and consumer protection best practices. It is intended to serve as a model for states without competitive community solar programs to pass legislation supporting the programs. It also provides information on how to maximize federal funding.
“Our roadmap distills nearly a decade of the best lessons we’ve learned from building community solar markets across the country into one succinct set of documents,” says Molly Knoll, CCSA Vice President of Policy. “With many states exploring the development of new, or renewed, community solar programming and federal funding ready to be deployed, this seemed like the perfect time to publish this helpful guide for all of our advocates.”
Community solar is booming, bringing economic and social benefits to all Americans seeking clean, local community solar power. By design, it allows people who otherwise would not be able to install solar due to financial constraints or lack of a suitable roof to benefit from solar energy.
Wood Mackenzie forecasts that 7.6 GW of new community solar will be commissioned in existing state markets between 2024 and 2028, with the national total of community solar installations exceeding 10 GW of cumulative capacity by 2026.
The CCSA’s goal with the roadmap is to help the sector continue on its current upward trajectory, which requires strong programmatic and policy decisions.
The release of the roadmap coincides with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that it will allocate $7 billion to state applicants through its Solar for All program, a funding opportunity aimed at bringing solar power to low-income households. Recipients were chosen based on their proposals to develop programs designed to serve communities facing barriers to distributed solar deployment, with 100% of the funding supporting low-income and disadvantaged communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and territories.
Supporting Low-Income Households
As recent community solar programs and research reports from Wood Mackenzie and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have shown, community solar has effectively expanded solar access to multifamily housing occupants, renters, and low-income households. Based on a sample of 11 states, the LBNL study found that community solar adopters in 2023 were about 6.1 times more likely to live in multifamily buildings than rooftop solar adopters, 4.4 times more likely to rent, and earned 23% less annual income.
“The data speaks for itself: When states implement thoughtful policy programs that simplify income verification, billing, and expand access, we see immense growth in community solar adoption by low- to moderate-income households,” said Stephanie Burgos-Veras, senior equity program manager, CCSA. “We hope our Policy Solutions for Inclusive Solar Access primer can lead to the implementation of more community solar programs, so that ultimately more LMI households can benefit.”
The new CCSA roadmap is intended to be used in conjunction with a companion document that provides model legislation for community solar programs, serving as a toolkit for policymakers to develop effective and sustainable community solar policies. The toolkit helps them tailor the program to community residents; operationalize the market with a credit, oversight, and administration structure; and ensure long-term success by integrating community solar programs into a state’s existing energy and utility infrastructure.
Potential challenges, the role of utilities, interconnection issues, program size, and other topics are also discussed. It also offers strategies to ensure that the programs exist in the future and continue to serve local residents.
Community solar legislation has been passed in 19 states and the District of Columbia, with several states having legislation in the pipeline and nearly a dozen considering legislation to create programs. Combined with the Solar for All program, CCSA believes now is the time for policymakers to reconsider the idea of ??bringing community solar to their state. |
