Community Solar
What is community solar?
A solar solution for municipalities, schools, institutions, and anyone who can’t go solar on their own for one reason or another, such as lacking adequate access to the sun (on their rooftops or land) or renting.
Historical Background & Past Successful Models
Despite traditional community solar effectively ending for new groups, the considerations and motivations that led many Vermonters to seek it – limited roof access, renting homes, equity, and institutional constraints – remain. Luckily, with updates to utility net metering, an updated Renewable Energy Standard, and with the recent passage of Vermont’s plug-in solar legislation, S.202, going solar is still a feasible, affordable option. We encourage you to explore these options in the following sections.
While going solar is a good economic and environmental investment, figuring out the best way to do so isn’t always easy. There are generally two group types considering these projects – individuals who can’t go solar on their own home or land for one reason or another, and institutions, such as municipalities, schools, hospitals, and churches.
For individuals interested in community solar, there are three basic approaches:
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This is more “off-the-shelf,” easy and lower risk but often offers a lower financial-reward. Its primary characteristics are ease, swiftness and certainty, largely because of a partnership with a third-party installer who often manages the financing, construction, development, operation and maintenance of the system. This model is often used for schools, municipalities and institutions – who want to minimize management and risk, as well as an attractive solution for individuals who simply and easily want to secure the financial and environmental benefits of solar. Check out our growing collection of third-party ownership/partnership case studies:
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This approach is more custom, creative and complicated but often a more financially rewarding approach that could help keep more dollars circulating in your community – and in Vermont. There are lots of community-led approaches, showcasing great innovation, tenacity and commitment. We highlight several of them and also offer some model documents that might help interested Vermonters emulate these inspiring approaches. For more on this, check out our case studies:
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This approach is a utility-owned/operated project, open to voluntary customer participation. Examples of these subscription-based projects can be found below: