What if people ordinarily unable to install photovoltaic systems because of the initial cost or lack of an unshaded, well-oriented roof could buy into a community installation and receive a corresponding offset on their utility bills?
Speakers at today’s SOLAR 2009 session on community solar described first steps at making this model a reality. Two examples already provide valuable lessons, and more models are emerging.
Dana Hall of Pace Law School’s Pace Energy and Climate Center described Ellensburg, Wash., which became the nation’s first community solar project in 2006. Since then the community has installed a total 57 kilowatts of PV along Highway 90, where it garners a lot of attention. In a partnership with the utility, residents contributed to the system installation cost in exchange for a proportionate credit on their electricity bills for 20 years.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s SolarShares program takes a different approach. Here, customers can subscribe to shares in SMUD’s utility-scale solar system in exchange for offsets on their electricity bill. SMUD’s Rachel Huang described the program as “solar training wheels,” giving customers the opportunity to try owning solar with no long-term commitment or O&M costs. Initial survey results show that in addition to the typical customer segment interested in installing PV — for instance, those with higher incomes — SolarShares participants include a range of customers.
Other speakers described programs in the works. Massachusetts, for instance, is working out details of the neighborhood net-metering provisions included in the commonwealth’s Green Communities Act passed last summer. Conservation Law Foundation’s Seth Kaplan described some of the knotty issues to be worked out.
Sun Farm Network’s Mark Warner shared New Jersey’s effort to transition from rebates to a secured RPS framework using community net metering for shared systems installed for entire communities. He detailed one model, Local Renewable Energy Collaboratives, or LRECs, that would consolidate billing for multiple on-site PV systems. One big advantage is that LRECs are an extension of existing net metering rules, so they would build on an established framework.
With its expensive retail electricity prices and many renters and co-op owners who lack roof space, New York City is an ideal candidate for community solar. Christopher Neidl of Solar One described an effort to create “solar empowerment zones” in locations having relatively low density, lots of roof space and where PV can most benefit the utility grid system. The model remains to be seen, but Neidl said that virtual net metering would be a key ingredient. Virtual net metering would allow municipalities to apply the energy credits produced by the PV installation to any electricity account they hold, not just the meter directly connected to system.
Can the logistical and technical issues be overcome to make community solar the next innovative financing model? If so, we may soon see more systems in that as yet largely unpopulated middle space between residential and large commercial installations.
Seth Masia
Liz Merry
