Author: US DOE Staff Published: 4/21/2022 SETO
National Community Solar Partnership Target: Enable community solar systems to power the equivalent of 5 million households and create $1 billion in energy savings by 2025
The National Community Solar Partnership set an ambitious target in October 2021 to enable community solar systems to power the equivalent of 5 million households and create $1 billion in energy savings by 2025. Reaching these milestones will help the nation achieve 100% clean electricity by 2035 and ensure that all Americans can reap the meaningful benefits of renewable energy including reduced energy burden, increased resilience, and workforce development.
Why this goal?
At the end of 2020 there was approximately 3 GWDC of community solar in the United States, enough to power the equivalent of 600,000 households. Of all distributed solar photovoltaics installed in the U.S., though, community solar represented just 8%.
Community solar is an important model for ensuring all Americans have access to the meaningful benefits of renewable energy, regardless of income, home ownership status, or the suitability of their roof for solar panels. But community solar development can face barriers that make it more difficult to deploy than other distributed solar.
CHALLENGES TO COMMUNITY SOLAR DEPLOYMENT
EQUITY IN DISTRIBUTED SOLAR
Accelerating Community Solar Deployment
The National Community Solar Partnership provides resources, technical assistance, and peer networking opportunities to its partners to help them overcome these persistent barriers to expanding community solar access, with a focus on those in disadvantaged communities. The Partnership has developed a set of initiatives that form a Pathway to Success for reaching its new target metric.
Find out more below about the initiatives on the Pathway to Success and how they enable equitable community solar deployment.