Tag Archive for: communitysolar

Top Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Google, Walmart, and Starbucks are partnering with community solar developers.

Major US corporations embracing community solar

Community solar has recently taken off, surpassing 7 GW of installed capacity in the United States. Research firm Wood Mackenzie said it expects community solar installed capacity to essentially double in five years.

Community solar typically involves a customer subscribing to a portion of an off-site solar project’s generating capacity, receiving credits on their utility bills for the electricity produced by the facility. The CCSA noted that household names such as Microsoft, Google, Walmart, Starbucks, Rivian, Wendy’s, and T-Mobile are just a few of the Fortune 500 companies that have signed agreements with community solar developers.

Click here to read the full article
Source: PV Magazine

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

The community solar agreement between Nexamp and Starbucks enables the addition of more solar farms in Illinois.

Starbucks partnership paves way for 40 MW of new community solar in Illinois

Nexamp announced a new community solar partnership with Starbucks. By committing as a long-term renewable electricity purchaser, Starbucks will anchor the deployment of more than 40 MW of solar energy in Illinois communities. The six new community solar projects being added to Nexamp’s growing Illinois portfolio will provide significant electricity savings to more than 1,100 local residents who subscribe within the ComEd and Ameren utility territories.

In addition to the clean energy and savings benefits for communities, these solar farms also represent impactful employment opportunities and will accelerate Nexamp’s workforce development initiatives in the state. Construction and operation on these six projects will help create several hundred new jobs, including roles for participants in Nexamp’s new fellowship programs. Through partnerships with organizations such as City Colleges of Chicago, the Chicago Urban League, Uplift Community High School, 22C, and other Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) job training organizations, Nexamp is leading workforce development programs aimed at a wider range of communities.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Solar Power World

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Critically, community solar programs are increasingly focused on ensuring these energy bill savings are shared with low-income households

Community solar can help affordable housing residents fight inflation

Travel across the country, or even your home state, and you’ll see shining fields of silicon that weren’t there decades ago. There’s no mistake that we’re in the trenches of a momentous energy transition. As the transition evolves and the impact to our existing power generation grid and environment grows, the calls for this transformation to do more than just provide clean power will increase.

In addition to a cleaner grid, we can deliver more equitable energy distribution solution for all. Thankfully, that’s what many states and the federal government are trying to accomplish with community solar.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Solar Power World

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Customers can save money on their electric bills by using community solar rather than installing their own array.

Community solar expands access to clean energy, new study shows

The sun showers us all with energy, but not everyone can put solar panels on their roofs to harness it for themselves. Enter community solar, an increasingly popular way to expand access to solar and help fix its equity issues. For the first time, evidence shows that it’s working.

Community solar allows customers to reap electric bill savings by subscribing to a share of a local solar project, rather than installing their own array. It’s an arrangement that ideally makes the benefits of solar more accessible to people who live in rental or multifamily housing and those who just can’t afford the upfront cost of rooftop systems. Forty-two states have community solar projects in place — but the precise nature of who has benefited remained unclear. Until now.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Canary Media

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Community solar provider Ampion Renewable Energy is partnering with The Wendy’s Company to help Wendy’s restaurants source renewable energy.

Ampion enrolls 130+ Wendy’s restaurants to community solar projects

Community solar provider Ampion Renewable Energy is partnering with The Wendy’s Company to help Wendy’s restaurants source renewable energy. Nearly 100 company-operated restaurants and nearly 40 franchise restaurants in New York, Illinois and Massachusetts are now enrolled in Ampion+, a service that helps organizations reduce energy costs and secure renewable energy certificates (RECs) that substantiate the use of renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

The enrolled restaurants will source between 30 and 100% of their energy from solar without the need to install solar panels onsite. Wendy’s plans to increase the number of restaurants enrolled in community solar through Ampion as additional solar generation capacity comes online and more franchise restaurants enroll in the program.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Solar Power World

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

With supply chain constraints easing and system costs decreasing, the commercial solar segment increased by 19% over the prior year.

Utility-scale may make all the news, but DG solar is incredibly important

The United States reached a milestone in its energy journey last year when, for the first time, solar power accounted for more than half of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the grid. It’s no surprise that the utility-scale segment contributed a majority of the solar capacity with a record 22.5 GW. Nor is it shocking that residential projects maintained their popularity with 6.8 GW of installed capacity — a fifth consecutive annual record.

But the distributed generation (DG) segment also had a remarkable year. With supply chain constraints easing and system costs decreasing, the commercial solar segment increased by 19% over the prior year and installed 1.9 GW of new capacity in 2023, while the community solar segment installed 1.1 GW.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Solar Power World

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Solar developer Nexamp has raised an impressive $520 million to build community solar projects across the US.

$500M+ raised to build clean power plants for low income communities

In a major win for affordable clean energy access, solar developer Nexamp has raised an impressive $520 million to build community solar projects across the United States.

This funding is “one of the largest capital raises to date for this growing sector,” according to Canary Media.

Community solar allows renters, small businesses, and other organizations to benefit from solar energy even if they can’t install panels on their own property. Participants pay a monthly fee to subscribe to a local solar farm and then receive credits on their utility bills for the clean power generated. Those credits are typically larger than the subscription fee — meaning savings for subscribers.

Click here to read the full article
Source: The Cool Down

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Community solar emerged in 2010, providing customers with access to solar energy without the need to install PV panels.

Community solar: A growing opportunity within commercial real estate

America’s Solar Surge

As the U.S. invests in renewable energy, solar power continues to gain momentum, with installations growing by 22% annually over the past 10 years1 and 51% in 2023 alone.2 According to the Solar Energies Industry Association, this growth has been driven by:

  • Reduction in costs for solar photovoltaics (PV) installations
  • Rising demand for sustainable electricity from both public and private sectors
  • Federal policies like solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and, more recently, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

Click here to read the full article
Source: CSR Wire

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

New York State’s largest onsite solar plus storage project – a solar carport canopy at JFK International Airport – has begun construction.

New York State’s largest solar + storage carport breaks ground at JFK airport

,

New York State’s largest onsite solar plus storage project – a solar carport canopy at JFK International Airport – has begun construction.

Once the solar carport comes online, it will help power the AirTrain and reduce electricity costs for residents of low-income neighborhoods in Queens.

The solar carport will be in JFK’s long-term parking lot 9, providing covered parking for 3,000 vehicles. The 12-megawatt (MW) solar canopy will feature enough solar panels to cover the equivalent of 11 football fields and include a 6-MW community solar generation facility.

Click here to read the full article
Source: electrek

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

New grants for Solar for All programs aim to install solar panels and boost community solar access for over 900,000 low- and middle-income residents nationwide.

Making solar affordable: This $7B US investment expands solar for all

Widespread access to solar power is vital to transitioning the US away from climate-warming fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. There’s a problem: Rooftop solar panels are expensive, with prices in the tens of thousands of dollars putting them out of reach for many Americans.

Newly expanded government programs, backed by $7 billion in grants announced Monday by the Biden administration for Earth Day, aim to close that affordability gap. Called Solar for All, they’re intended to make clean energy accessible by offering free or low-cost rooftop solar panels or community solar access. Essentially, the programs provide a share in the power provided by a nearby solar facility.

Click here to read the full article
Source: CNET

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.