Solar fun in the US sun

How can you encourage the growth of solar energy in communities where, say, many of the residents are renters who can’t put up their own solar panels?

Across the US, more and more utility companies are finding the answer lies with community solar programs. These programs let customers buy shares of a local solar-energy project before it’s built, then pays them back in the form of regular credits on their household electricity bills. Typically, the credit is based on how many kilowatt-hours of energy each person’s share of the project generates.

With the exception of Florida, western states are home to most of the leading community solar programs right now, according to a new assessment of utility-led green power programs by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The largest of these is California’s 1-megawatt SolarShares program run by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which features more than 17,000 solar panels on a seven-acre section of a local turkey farm.

As of December 2010, the top community solar programs include:

• 1 megawatt – The Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s SolarShares program, launched in 2008
• 250 kilowatts – The SunSmart program, started in 2009 in St. George, Utah
• 117 kilowatts – The three-year-old Simple Solar program, run by the Florida Keys Electric Cooperative
• 80 kilowatts – The Mid Valley Solar Array in Colorado, launched last year by the Holy Cross Energy/Clean Energy Collective
• 63 kilowatts – Solar Pioneers II, a program started in 2008 in Ashland, Oregon
• 27 kilowatts – The oldest program on the list, the Community Solar Project in Ellensburg, Washington, has been operating since 2006
• 10 kilowatts – Launched in 2009, the Sol Partners Cooperative Solar Farm in Colorado is run by United Power
• 5 kilowatts – The Solar for Sakai program, offered on Bainbridge Island, Washington, since 2009

Some 850 US utilities now offer community solar and other green power programs; last year, they sold more than 6 million megawatt-hours of renewable energy, according to the NREL. Wind energy accounts for about three-fourths of all the renewable power sold under these programs.