Community solar farms are built on ideal locations for generating electricity from the sun, and they feed that electricity directly into the grid. Customers can support clean energy and save money by subscribing to community solar.
The main distinguishing feature of community solar is that it does not require customers to
install solar on their property, whether on their roof or on their land. Instead, a company, organization, or group of individuals install a large solar plant in an ideal place for generating electricity.
- Select the spot for a large solar farm and build the solar farm: Typically, community solar companies select fairly flat land that is near electricity infrastructure for solar farms. The infrastructure must be able to handle the large amount of electricity the solar plant generates.
- Clean electricity from solar feeds into the grid: The electricity then goes directly into the local grid and is managed by the local utility. Electricity from community solar programs is already part of the mix customers use every day, but they may not be aware of where it comes from.
- Local residents and businesses sign up to community solar: Community solar customers support the development of solar energy through a crediting system. They sign up to receive a share of a community solar project, usually sized close to the amount of electricity they use.
- Local community benefits from lower cost electricity: The solar company then provides a discount on the credits and the remaining cost of the credit pays for the solar energy.
Customers that choose to sign up to a community solar program are simply getting the benefits of a program that is already in place and supporting their state’s goals to transition to clean energy sources.