Community solar farm

SolarShares[11] (2007) offers customers of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District the opportunity to buy "shares" in its solar farm. 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. For a monthly fee—starting at $10.75 a month (averaging 9%) for a 0.5 kW system—participants opt into solar power production. The current phase is sold out, although plans are in progress to expand capacity.[12]

The PVUSA array in Davis, California (2001) provides virtual net metering for city-owned meters. The California legislature passed a law specifically allowing this for this individual array. Senate Bill 43 was signed by Governor Brown on September 28, 2013 [13][14]

Colorado legislation passed in 2010 that requires the Public Utilities Commission to rewrite rules to direct investor-owned utilities to offer rebates for community solar gardens. [9]

HB10-1342, the Community Solar Gardens Act specified:[15]

• Energy must be sold directly to an investor-owned utility.
• Utility pays retail + REC’s.
• Utility provides Virtual Net Metering credit on the subscribing customer’s bill.
• System size limited to 2 megawatts (MW).
• 6 MW total limit on the program for first three years.
• There must be at least 10 subscribers.
• Subscribers must be located in same county or city as the solar garden. Subscribers whose county has a population less than 20,000 may subscribe in a neighboring county.
• Subscribers may buy up to 120% of their own power use worth of solar power.
• Either a for-profit or nonprofit entity may own and administer the solar garden.

In Colorado, Xcel Energy customers continue to pay the standard non-energy fees, but can buy enough solar shares to offset 120 percent of their load.[7]

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. This project also allows those customers the ability to buy into solar without all of the upfront costs. Subscribing customers volunteered to pay a higher rate on their power bill, but they were also able to lock in that rate for the estimated life of the project – 25 years. Today, 1,312 solar panels are generating up to 400 kilowatts (kW) of electricity at OUC's Gardenia Operations facility next to Interstate 4. The panels are on three canopies, which have created 151 covered LED-lit parking spaces over about 2.5 acres. A total of 39 customers have subscribed to the project. Each kW of the array’s 400 kW was sold in blocks, with a limit of 15 blocks per customer. Each block represents 112 kilowatt hours (kWh) on a customer's monthly bill, so the maximum benefit per customer is 1,680 kWh. The average OUC residential customer uses around 1,200 kWh. Any unused power is credited on the account for the next month.[16]

Maryland established a community energy pilot program in 2017.[17] The purpose of this program is to invest in Maryland’s solar industry, diversify the energy resources of the state, and provide renewable energy for all state residents, particularly those who qualify as low-to-moderate income.[18] Several utility companies, including BGE , Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco), Delmarva Power & Light, and Potomac Edison Company (MD) have been working alongside subscriber organizations, including Neighborhood Sun, to provide customers with a subscription to existing solar projects.[18]

There are several existing solar farms across Maryland, including the Panorama Landfill project. It is the largest in the US and the first residential solar farm in Maryland. Located in Fort Washington, Maryland on a former landfill, Panorama covers 25 acres of land and contains 19,000 panels.[19]

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.[20]

Residents of Brewster founded the first cooperatively run solar garden in Massachusetts. The solar garden was built by solar installer My Generation Energy Inc. Each member of the cooperative was to receive benefits from the co-op; including the net-metering credits from the solar garden through Nstar.[20] Known as the Brewster Community Solar Garden,[21][22] it is a 345.6 kW community solar farm located on Cape Cod.

Massachusetts and the Federal government each offered incentives to improve solar economics. A traditional investment in photovoltaics without incentives would take 12 or more years to pay back the initial cost. The incentives lowered the payback period to 6–10 years.[20]

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[7] and is currently working with the startup Solstice Initiative.

The largest community solar-plus-storage farm in the state in Winchendon, Massachusetts was completed in March, 2018 by CleanChoice Energy and Borrego Solar.[23]

New York City is home to some of the first urban community solar farms in the country allowing renters to go solar.[24] Rooftop community solar enables solar to become economically feasible for building owners.[25]

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. The program required no set-up or maintenance for the participant.

Participation is sold in whole and half units of 1 kilowatt (“kW”). A 1 kW “unit” on the SunSmart grid cost $6,000. One unit equals approximately 15% of the average home’s monthly power (or about 140 kWh). A one-time tax credit of 25% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $2,000, was available from the state of Utah. Purchasers received a monthly energy credit for the energy produced that month by the “unit” of panels.[26][27]