{"id":2476,"date":"2019-08-12T18:24:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T18:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/blog\/utility-scale-solar-in-pa-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-08-18T10:41:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T10:41:27","slug":"community-solar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/","title":{"rendered":"Community solar projects can make solar available to all."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christina Boutselis 8\/12\/2019<\/p>\n

While solar energy has become increasingly popular in the United States, it is, by nature, still inaccessible to many Americans<\/a>. Those individuals and businesses that rent, live in multi-tenant buildings, or have a roof that is not equipped to host solar panels are unable to directly benefit from the booming solar economy.<\/p>\n

To address this issue, 19 states and the District of Columbia<\/a> have enacted community solar legislation, which generally allow any electric customer to subscribe to a community solar facility and benefit from solar generation without physically installing solar panels on their property.<\/p>\n

In New York City, one of the leading developers of community solar is Daroga Power<\/a>. Last year, Daroga Power finished developing the largest community solar project in the city at 1.2 megawatts of capacity. This project provides electricity to 196 subscribers in Brooklyn \u2013 of which 70% are residential customers, 20% are small commercial customers, and 10% are low- to moderate-income customers. Customers are not only reducing their energy costs by subscribing, but they help to reduce carbon emissions as well.<\/p>\n

Though community solar is not presently allowed under Pennsylvania law, that could soon change if current legislation in the General Assembly is passed. Introduced earlier this year, House Bill 531<\/a> and its companion bill, Senate Bill 705<\/a>, would amend Pennsylvania\u2019s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act to allow for community solar projects in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

So, what exactly would this legislation do?<\/p>\n

According to the current iteration of HB 531<\/a>, if enacted,\u00a0electric customers in Pennsylvania would be able\u00a0to purchase, lease, or subscribe to part of an offsite\u00a0community solar facility. By doing so, they would\u00a0benefit from the solar generation by receiving credit on their electricity bill, as if they had solar panels on their own property.\u00a0The\u00a0legislation\u00a0would encourage\u00a0community solar\u00a0programs to increase their development\u00a0in low- and moderate-income communities\u00a0so that these groups could benefit\u00a0from\u00a0the program.\u00a0It would\u00a0also ensure that\u00a0when\u00a0the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission\u00a0develops regulations, it\u00a0makes every effort to remove\u00a0barriers to participation\u00a0that\u00a0could affect\u00a0renters, low- and moderate-income customers, and small businesses.\u00a0Additionally, the proposed law would\u00a0allow,\u00a0within reason, community solar facilities to operate in such a way as to\u00a0maximize\u00a0customer participation.<\/p>\n

What would this mean for members of The Energy Co-op?<\/p>\n

Under this legislation, The Energy Co-op could utilize our cooperative model to support solar power developers to finance and build solar projects. As a developer, it can be challenging to find subscribers \u2013 just ask David Matt, principal of Daroga Power, who expressed<\/a> that \u201cone of the biggest issues that community solar programs face is overcoming the lack of awareness and getting customers to participate.\u201d Thus, part of The Energy Co-op\u2019s role, at least initially, would be raising that awareness within our community of members. And then, who knows? Maybe a solar project of our own!<\/p>\n

If you want to see this legislation enacted, be sure to reach out to your State Representative and Senator<\/a> when the Pennsylvania state legislature reconvenes next month and ask them to vote \u201cyes\u201d on HB 531 and SB 705.<\/p>\n

Christina Boutselis is an Operations and Communications Intern with The Energy Co-op. She is currently a rising senior at Penn State University where she studies Earth Science & Policy and Energy Business & Finance.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No roof? No problem. If community solar legislation is passed in PA, solar power will become a real option for many more households.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8636,"featured_media":2479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCommunity solar projects can make solar available to all. - The Energy Coop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pennsylvania is one of 17 states where you can choose to buy renewable electricity. But, do you know where your clean electricity is really coming from?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community solar projects can make solar available to all. - The Energy Coop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pennsylvania is one of 17 states where you can choose to buy renewable electricity. But, do you know where your clean electricity is really coming from?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Energy Coop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-12T18:24:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-18T10:41:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Christina-blog-e1565634607676.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4032\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jon_snyder\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jon_snyder\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/\",\"name\":\"Community solar projects can make solar available to all. - The Energy Coop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-12T18:24:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-18T10:41:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#\/schema\/person\/d23180afe0a6f8668b9b639af78956d4\"},\"description\":\"Pennsylvania is one of 17 states where you can choose to buy renewable electricity. But, do you know where your clean electricity is really coming from?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community solar projects can make solar available to all.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/\",\"name\":\"The Energy Coop\",\"description\":\"Pennsylvania\u2019s community-based energy provider\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#\/schema\/person\/d23180afe0a6f8668b9b639af78956d4\",\"name\":\"jon_snyder\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6159650fccb2c5a285048b895f0e67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6159650fccb2c5a285048b895f0e67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jon_snyder\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/author\/jon_snyder\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Community solar projects can make solar available to all. - The Energy Coop","description":"Pennsylvania is one of 17 states where you can choose to buy renewable electricity. But, do you know where your clean electricity is really coming from?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Community solar projects can make solar available to all. - The Energy Coop","og_description":"Pennsylvania is one of 17 states where you can choose to buy renewable electricity. But, do you know where your clean electricity is really coming from?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/","og_site_name":"The Energy Coop","article_published_time":"2019-08-12T18:24:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-18T10:41:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":4032,"height":1512,"url":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Christina-blog-e1565634607676.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jon_snyder","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jon_snyder","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/","name":"Community solar projects can make solar available to all. - The Energy Coop","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-08-12T18:24:24+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-18T10:41:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#\/schema\/person\/d23180afe0a6f8668b9b639af78956d4"},"description":"Pennsylvania is one of 17 states where you can choose to buy renewable electricity. But, do you know where your clean electricity is really coming from?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/community-solar\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community solar projects can make solar available to all."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/","name":"The Energy Coop","description":"Pennsylvania\u2019s community-based energy provider","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#\/schema\/person\/d23180afe0a6f8668b9b639af78956d4","name":"jon_snyder","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6159650fccb2c5a285048b895f0e67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6159650fccb2c5a285048b895f0e67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jon_snyder"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/author\/jon_snyder\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8636"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8501,"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions\/8501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}