2023 is the year of community solar

       Ambitious clean energy goals are spreading around the world in an effort to shift global reliance away from fossil fuels and toward more sustainable resources such as solar and wind. While the growth of renewable electricity is faster than ever, there is still a long road ahead in establishing a new energy economy — and it will require a staggering number of renewable energy projects.

　　Clean energy economy electrification

　　Residential rooftop solar has been a significant contributor to the industry's brisk market growth, owing in large part to enticing tax breaks and incentives. However, installing solar one roof at a time remains a relatively slow path to mass adoption. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that installation rates will continue to rise at an exponential rate.

　　Residential solar power is also not for everyone. Many people are not candidates for rooftop solar because of factors such as surrounding shade, home ownership, and access to financing.

　　Utility-scale solar projects are also making inroads across the country, but with much longer lead times and a slew of challenges to overcome. Utility-scale installations are not only more difficult to approve; permits can take years to obtain, and projects are frequently subject to transmission and distribution (T&D) line upgrades. Again, while these projects are important to the nation's overall clean energy goals, relying on them to achieve a mass energy transition in any timely manner is doomed to fail.

　　To truly electrify the economy in ten years or less, we must do more than take one step at a time with rooftop solar, and we must move faster than utility-scale solar allows.

　　Putting the middle market first

　　Community solar bridges the gap between residential and utility-scale solar, bringing more megawatts of solar online quickly and across both urban and non-urban sites.

　　Then there's the social equity factor, which is boosting community solar interest. As the country strives for greater energy equity, community solar has the potential to provide renewable energy to more people than ever before, particularly low-income populations and those who rent or live in apartments.

　　A win-win for installers

　　This shift in market priorities is good news for developers.

　　Installing one larger-sized community solar project is worth more than installing five small rooftop projects in terms of project development, making community solar the path of least resistance in terms of developers' time and resources. Rather than sending a truck and crew to each house in town and going through inspection and commissioning for each one, community solar has one site and one approval process, but with a much higher profit.

　　Because the permitting and approval process for installing a 5 MW system is similar to that of a 500 kW system, it is also a matter of where installers want to invest their time and energy. It goes without saying that larger community solar projects provide more business leverage. Installers may even be able to co-locate community solar projects on commercial properties (a trend that has already gained traction in markets such as New Jersey and, soon, California), allowing them to reach a larger customer base.

　　Clean energy’s silver bullet

　　While it is critical to empower home and property owners to become individual contributors to a clean energy future, it is also critical to recognize that relying solely on homes with viable roof space and utility-dependent projects leaves a lot on the table.

　　Positioning community solar as a silver bullet for decarbonizing the nation's energy economy is the right move, and with so much opportunity at stake, a slew of financiers and developers vying for available projects, many of whom are unfamiliar with the solar industry.

　　As we approach 2023. the success of community solar projects will necessitate extensive collaboration among developers, financiers, and property owners in order to maximize both the greatest return on investment for all parties while also providing a streamlined process for electrifying a clean energy future on a large scale.