Solar power offers Long Islanders a host of benefits — reductions in greenhouse gases and air pollution, healthier communities, affordable access to renewable energy, and good paying jobs. Solar can also play a significant role in helping address the climate crisis and meeting the goals of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). This nation-leading 2019 law requires 70% of the state’s electricity to be generated from renewable resources by 2030 and 100% of electricity to be generated from carbon-free sources by 2040. Many people are familiar with residential rooftop solar systems, which range in size from 3 to 10 kilowatts (kW). Larger commercial and utility-scale solar systems, which can generate hundreds to thousands of kilowatts each, offer the opportunity to realize the benefits of solar power more quickly and cost-effectively in the region. This report shows how solar power can be scaled up without impacting the natural areas that are critical for wildlife, water-quality protection, and quality of life on Long Island. Low-impact sites like rooftops, parking lots, and other land already impacted by development, such as capped landfills and remediated brownfields, are excellent locations for the development of commercial- and utility-scale arrays. Building solar on low-impact sites minimizes impacts to natural ecosystems and habitat, reduces the potential for land-use conflicts and community opposition, decreases project cost and permitting times, and avoids the harmful release of carbon pollution that results from the conversion of natural areas for development. The Nature Conservancy and Defenders of Wildlife created the Long Island Solar Roadmap (the Roadmap) with the aim of advancing deployment of mid- to-large-scale solar power on Long Island in a way that minimizes environmental impacts, maximizes benefits to the region, and expands access to solar energy, including access to benefits by underserved communities. The Roadmap’s creation was supported by a diverse group of Long Island stakeholders. Individuals from state, local, and county government; the solar industry; the farm community; environmental and community organizations; the electric utility; businesses; and academic institutions provided input and guidance on design, research, and strategies. The Roadmap identifies low-impact sites for solar arrays on Long Island and shows their energy generation potential. Key findings also highlight Long Islanders’ opinions and preferences about solar development in their communities and provide information about the costs and benefits associated with bringing more solar online. It is our hope that the cohesive set of strategies and actions provided in this report will help lower barriers to low-impact solar development that meets the needs of all Long Island communities and benefits the whole region. Together, the key findings of the Roadmap point toward a promising future for Long Island as we transition to renewable energy. Taking full advantage of Long Island’s solar potential will require the commitment and collective action of a diverse group of stakeholders, including local and state government, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), PSEG Long Island, the solar industry, commercial and industrial property owners, farmers and farmland owners, nonprofits, and community organizations.
The specific intent of this study was to draw insight about solar development from participant experience, and responses indicate that the most considerable opportunities and barriers center on social acceptance and public perception issues. Perspectives about the opportunities and barriers to agrivoltaic development were captured via interviews with solar industry professionals, and inductive analysis revealed that interviewees were most focused on opportunities and barriers that correspond with Wüstenhagen et al.’s three dimensions of social acceptance: market, community, and socio-political factors.
Community solar programs (also called “shared solar”) offer the economic and environmental benefits of solar to the 49% of Americans without traditional solar access. Such programs are experiencing rapid growth, with active projects across 26 states, up from 6 states in 2010. This market has the potential to grow more than 50-fold from the 110 megawatt (MW) capacity in early 2016 to between 5,500 MW and 11,000 MW by 2020. Previously, it was often uneconomic to develop individual solar projects of less than 2 MW in capacity (2,000 kilowatts [kW]) if they were not tied directly to or net metered with a customer site. With community solar, projects between 50kW and 2,000 kW are often viable because numerous off-site subscribers can purchase shares of a solar installation rather than hosting the installation themselves. By bringing an enormous source of new demand into the market and offering new contracting arrangements to the 51% of Americans who already have potential solar access, community solar is expected to greatly expand the market for mid-sized solar projects. One strong but sometimes overlooked source of suitable sites for community solar are those covered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative. The RE-Powering Initiative provides data, tools, analysis, case studies, issue briefings, and outreach resources to encourage renewable energy development on contaminated lands, landfills, and mining sites (collectively “RE-Powering sites”). Community solar can overcome financing, contract flexibility, project size, and siting challenges that largely shut out LMI homes, apartments, and small businesses from the solar market, while offering added local economic development benefits if the community solar project itself is located in LMI areas. Because RE-Powering sites are frequently located in or near LMI areas, this paper will explore not only the general potential for developing RE-Powering sites for community solar, but also where siting adjacent to LMI areas extends their benefits. This market intersection is conceptually depicted in Figure 1. Within and outside LMI areas, this paper is intended to support sustainable re-use by characterizing the potential and pointing out the challenges and opportunities of community solar development on RE-Powering sites.
As solar energy continues to become more affordable, many families are expressing interest in this local, clean power source, but are unable to install a solar system at their homes for various reasons. In fact, due to structural constraints, shading from trees, and other issues, about 75% of residential rooftop area in America is not suitable for hosting a solar system. This prevents a large segment of the population from taking advantage of solar energy. The solution to this problem is Community Solar. Community Solar (aka Shared Solar) takes place through the development of solar energy projects that provide power to multiple community members. Community Solar systems are typically sited close to the community they will serve. These programs leverage economies of scale to reduce the price of solar for individual customers. This model allows Southerners to access the benefits of solar energy even if they would be unable to install solar panels on their own homes or businesses. Community Solar can be utility-sponsored (either a utility developing its own program or working with a solar company to offer a program), or it can be third party-sponsored in states that allow for competition. By offering well-designed Community Solar projects, utilities can give their customers meaningful access to affordable, local solar power and tangible control of their energy choices. By providing families more options to lower their energy costs and take advantage of the South’s vast solar resource, Community Solar can create healthier, cleaner, and stronger communities across the region. Community Solar programs also provide benefits for utilities by increasing customer satisfaction, bolstering clean energy investment, and contributing to local economic development. Utilities can take advantage of economies of scale by choosing the optimal system size and number of participants. They can also decide which location will offer the most value to the grid. Community Solar can be a win-win by providing tangible benefits to participating customers, strengthening local communities, and delivering valuable clean energy to the grid. We encourage utilities to adopt the following best practices when developing Community Solar programs to ensure that all customers receive meaningful access to solar power through this innovative program.
The concept of energy sovereignty redefines the priorities for decision making regarding energy systems while encouraging increased reliance on renewable energy technologies like solar. Energy sovereignty involves centering the inherent right of humans and communities to make decisions about the energy systems they use, including decisions about the sources, scales, and forms of ownership that structure energy access. Current U.S energy policy does not center concerns of energy sovereignty, and in many cases may work against it. Policies to enhance energy sovereignty can accelerate electricity decarbonization while also empowering community scale decision making and offering communities control to reduce the myriad externalities associated with the fossil-fuel energy system. Energy policy designed based on the concept of energy sovereignty would prioritize community voices in energy system decision making, ensuring that communities are given an opportunity to express their right to self-determined sovereignty in energy systems transitions and energy system use. Energy sovereignty is an inherently place-based practice, and policy tools that center energy sovereignty would enhance community capacity to plan for transitions while embracing considerations of the health and wellbeing of communities, both human and non-human, now and in the future. The policy tools most effective for enhancing energy sovereignty may not yet exist, but they are essential for promoting a just energy transition that benefits all communities based on their own understanding of energy transition priorities and values.
Driven by climate change and economics, energy generation is undergoing a necessary and rapid transformation towards non-emitting renewable energy, especially solar and wind. As the world decarbonizes, the energy grid will become distributed, characterized by increased local control and decreased transmission losses. The future grid also provides extensive energy security, local employment, and local risk reduction, if coupled with battery storage. Photovoltaics (PV), the direct production of electrical energy by photovoltaic cells, stand out as a key component in the required transition for social and economic reasons: scalability, safety, rapid deployment, longevity, reliability, resilience, and minimal emissions. In the last decade, the cost of solar has decreased precipitously and reached grid parity (costing the same or less than electricity from conventional sources) for most of the world in 2015. In 2019, unsubsidized residential solar was less expensive than most rates charged by utilities, while industrial solar-plus-storage produced electricity at rates that outcompeted all other means of electricity generation. Both residential and industrial solar have a miniscule carbon footprint, as compared with fossil fuels. Since globally 64% of electricity is generated through the combustion of fossil fuels, the potential to decarbonize through solar and wind is not only enormous, but is a societal imperative. Decarbonization of electrical generation becomes even more essential considering the adoption of heat pumps, electric vehicles, and other electrification initiatives. As shown by Jacobson et al. (2019), using just wind, water, and solar, almost complete decarbonization of energy is achievable before 2050. In this period of multiple crises, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a framework to understand and address global issues concurrently. The framework also ensures that tackling one goal does not incidentally hinder or reverse achievement of the others. Community owned solar, especially with added storage, contributes to climate change action, pollution reduction, and energy security, while reducing the relatively high energy burden for low income households. Before addressing avenues to and challenges of community solar, it is necessary to briefly summarize the many benefits of PV, separating societal benefits from benefits to an existing electrical grid. Given the stark reality of less than 10 years remaining to achieve the SDGs (United Nations 2015), community solar provides a readily available and economically viable solution to multiple SDGs. It targets the elusive middle ground in scale between residential and industrial solar and can deliver electricity competitively and at scale without requiring massive investment in supporting infrastructure. Most importantly, community solar provides more than just affordable and clean energy by democratizing the renewable energy transition. By giving power to the people, communities can utilize community solar programs in providing decent work, reducing inequalities, and increasing local resilience – while making a positive climate impact.
Community shared solar is a new and growing model for broadening local solar markets and extending the benefits of solar energy to new customers. By expanding access to solar energy, community shared solar can be a useful tool for San Francisco and other jurisdictions that seek to expand use of distributed, local solar power. To help educate stakeholders, including other Rooftop Solar Challenge partners and other cities, this paper discusses: (1) the basics of community shared solar; (2) the benefits of community shared solar; (3) variations in design of community shared solar programs; (4) examples of community shared solar program; (5) California’s regulatory context; and (6) community shared solar’s potential to expand San Francisco’s solar market. Community shared solar could also improve San Francisco’s solar market by enabling more San Francisco residents and businesses to invest in solar energy. The majority of San Francisco residents live in multi-family buildings, rent, or both: two-thirds of residential units are in multi-family buildings and 60% of San Francisco households rent. Community shared solar would allow renters and others who cannot install solar onsite to purchase solar energy for their home or business.
This guide is designed as a resource for those who want to develop community solar projects, from community organizers or solar energy advocates to government officials or utility managers. By exploring the range of incentives and policies while providing examples of operational community solar projects, this guide will help communities to plan and implement successful local energy projects. In addition, by highlighting some of the policy best practices, this guide suggests changes in the regulatory landscape that could significantly boost community solar installations across the country. The information in this guide is organized around three sponsorship models: utility-sponsored projects, projects sponsored by special purpose entities – businesses formed for the purpose of producing community solar power, and non-profit sponsored projects. The guide addresses issues common to all project models, as well as issues unique to each model. This guide focuses on projects designed to increase access to solar energy and to reduce up-front costs for participants. The secondary goals met by many Community Solar projects include: Improved economies of scale, Optimal project siting, Increased public understanding of solar energy, Generation of local jobs, Opportunity to test new models of marketing, project financing and service delivery.
With more than 600,000 miles of operational transmission lines throughout the U.S., there is a significant opportunity for investments in conservation. By establishing native vegetation in these project corridors, developers and private landowners can add value to the rights of way used by electric transmission infrastructure. The size of prairie strips and the goal of providing conservation outcomes allows landowners and developers to work together to adopt this practice on private farmland within transmission line corridors. Farmers and project developers contemplating the adoption of prairie strips on private lands within transmission line corridors should also note that the width of an individual prairie strip may be adjusted to accomplish the purpose of the practice, prairie strips may not exceed 25 percent of the cropland area per field, developers could form agreements with participating and/or surrounding landowners to manage this vegetation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has vegetative height requirements depending on transmission line voltage and type, and owners of public land may also qualify for cost-share for prairie strips through CRP if the land is being farmed.
This manual covers the business models or pathways through which electric cooperatives can deploy utility-scale solar PV installations to meet their renewable energy goals. In this report, they define utility-scale solar PV installations for the electric cooperative sector as being 1 MW or larger—to account for the interest they have witnessed in the sector as well as the smaller scale of operations of cooperative utilities. However, the analysis and discussion presented in this manual, as well as the models used herein, apply to installations as small as 0.25 MW. Electric cooperatives’ interest in solar energy has risen in recent years. Although not-for-profit co-ops are not typically eligible for tax benefits, they often seek a “taxable partner” for solar and wind projects, either through a power-purchase-agreement or through a shared ownership model, such as a tax-equity flip or a tax-lease-buyback project. The ITC extension reduces pressure for planners to implement solar projects in 2016 and allows for more careful planning. This is especially important for co-ops that are planning community solar projects, because it allows them to pursue a multi-year plan and avoid trying to cram everything into 2016. Solar costs are expected to continue falling as the technology and the industry continue to mature. The steep rate of cost savings seen in recent years will likely slow, however. Solar Power Purchase Agreements utilizing various tax incentives have already fallen under $60 per MWh in many parts of the US—and below $40 per MWh in some areas. With the continued cost reduction, more parts of the country will start to see prices for large scale projects in the $50 to $60 per MWh range. When combined with falling costs and industry maturity of large scale energy storage, this may open opportunities for investment in carbon-free generation technologies as replacement for more traditional sources of energy, especially peaking plants. The new law will also provide a measure of stability for the development of wind projects over the next four years. Both wind and solar will play an important role in developing state implementation plans to meet the 2015 EPA Clean Power Plan.
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