Community solar farm

A community solar farm or solar garden is a solar power installation that accepts capital from and provides credit for the output and tax benefits to individual and other investors. The power output of the farm is credited to the investors in proportion to their investment, with adjustments to reflect ongoing changes in capacity, technology, costs, and electricity rates. Companies, cooperatives, governments or non-profits operate the farms.^[1]

The farms encompass both photovoltaic and concentrating solar power technologies.

Legislation

United States

Changes to federal and other tax laws are necessary to enable community solar farms. U.S. Senator Mark Udall is proposing the SUN Act (Solar Uniting Neighborhoods) to extend the existing 30% tax credit to community solar farms. Senate Bill 3137 has been referred to the Finance committee.^[2][3]

Groups of individuals or homeowner associations would be able to locate utility-scale solar power facilities on a piece of common ground in collaboration with local utilities that would distribute the power and credit owners based on their percentage of investment in the solar farm, extending the tax credits accordingly.^[3]

“These projects have the potential to drastically increase the adoption of clean energy nationwide, but the tax code hasn’t kept up,” Udall said. “You can get a 30-percent tax credit for putting a solar panel on your house, but not for investing in a solar farm.”^[3]

California

California already has enabling legislation. SolarShares^[4] offers up to 1,000 customers of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the opportunity to buy "shares" in a 1 MW solar farm. The electricity generated by each customer’s “shares” appears as a credit on his or her energy bill, a savings expected to average between $4–$50 a month, given sunshine variability. For a monthly fee—starting at $10.75 a month (averaging 9%) for a 0.5 kW system—participants opt into solar power production. The current phase is sold out, although plans are in progress to expand capacity.^[5]

Colorado

In the Colorado state House, Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, introduced a bill that requires the Public Utilities Commission to rewrite rules to direct investor-owned utilities to offer rebates for community solar gardens. The bill was signed June 5, 2010 by Governor Bill Ritter^[3]

Colorado: HB10-1342, Community Solar Gardens Act

• Energy must be sold directly to an investor-owned utility.
• Rate utility pays for energy is retail + REC’s.
• Utility is required to provide the Virtual Net Metering credit on the subscribing customer’s bill.
• System size limited to 2 MW or less.
• 6 MW total limit on the program for first three years.
• There must be at least 10 subscribers.
• Subscribers must be located in same county or city as the solar garden. If the subscriber's county has a population less than 20,000, they may subscribe in a neighboring county.
• Subscribers may buy up to 120% of their own power use worth of solar power.
• Any legal for profit or nonprofit entity may own and administer the solar garden.

Final Text of Community Solar Act

Massachusetts

State Representative Matt Patrick authored the Green Communities Act of 2008, authorizing what is formally known as “neighborhood net-metering”, which allows a group of residents in a neighborhood/town to pool resources to cover the capital cost of a renewable energy installation.^[6]

Residents of Falmouth plan to construct a cooperatively run solar garden. Each member receives benefits from the co-op; including tax credits, S-RECs, and the production purchased by NSTAR.for its residents.^[6]

Massachusetts and the Federal government each offer incentives to improve solar economics. A traditional investment in photovoltaics without incentives would take 12 or more years to pay back the initial cost. The incentives lower the payback period to 6–10 years.^[6]

Utah

The electric utilities in St. George built a large photovoltaic facility to exploit 310 days a year with sunlight, and allow residents to purchase it to supplement conventional energy. The program itself has no set-up and no maintenance for the purchaser.

Participation is sold in whole and half units of 1 kilowatt (“kW”). A 1 kW “unit” on the SunSmart grid costs of $6,000. One unit will generate power equal to approximately 15% of the average home’s monthly power (or about 140 kWh per month). A one-time tax credit of 25% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $2,000, is available from the state of Utah. Purchasers receive a monthly energy credit for the energy produced that month by the “unit” of panels.^[7]

Siting considerations

Home-owners and others can already benefit from solar power generation (and the accompanying tax benefits) by installing systems on their properties. Siting and related considerations include:

• Trees, roof size and/or configuration, adjacent buildings, the immediate microclimate and/or other factors which may reduce power output.^[8][9]
• Building codes, zoning restrictions, homeowner association rules and aesthetic concerns.^[10]
• Homeowners may lack the skills and commitment to install and maintain solar systems.^[8]
• Only property owners are eligible for the credits.^[1]

Panels hosted in a solar garden can address some of these issues, allowing anyone to own their own solar panels. The Solar Gardens Institute^[11] maintains a national directory^[12] of community solar projects and organizations.

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Galbraith, Kate (March 15, 2010). "For Renters, Solar Comes in Shares". New York Times. http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/for-renters-solar-comes-in-shares/. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "S. 3137, The Solar Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Act of 2010". Washington Watch. http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_SN_3137.html. Retrieved April 15, 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Williams, David O. (March 18, 2010). "Udall’s SUN Act would extend tax credits to community ’solar farms’". The Colorado Independent. http://coloradoindependent.com/49373/udalls-sun-act-would-extend-tax-credits-to-community-solar-farms. Retrieved April 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Solar Shares". Sacramento Municipal Utility District. http://www.smud.org/en/community-environment/solar/pages/solarshares.aspx. Retrieved May, 2010. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Zheng, Connie (March 16, 2010). "Sacramento Offers Solar Shares for Renters". http://www.getsolar.com/blog/sacramento-offers-solar-shares-for-renters/4522/. Retrieved April 15, 2010. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} "Falmouth Community Solar Garden". http://www.falmouthcommunitysolargarden.com/. Retrieved April 15, 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Tomorrow's Power today". SunSmart. http://www.sgsunsmart.com/faqs.htm. Retrieved April 15, 2010. 
8. ^ ^{a b c} "Residential Solar Energy Installation - 13 FAQs And The Answers". http://www.solar-for-energy.com/residential-solar-energy-installation.html#Is%20shade%20a%20problem%20to%20the%20system?. Retrieved April 16, 2010. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Taylor, E. (November 3, 2009). "Photovoltaics: Getting Started". PVPower. http://www.pvpower.com/photovoltaicsgettingstarted.html. Retrieved April 16, 2010. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Rubin, Evelyn (September 5, 2006). "Everything You Wanted To Know About Solar Power and Were Afraid To Ask". Seeking Alpha. http://seekingalpha.com/article/16341-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-solar-power-and-were-afraid-to-ask. Retrieved April 16, 2010. 
11. ^ http://solargardens.org/
12. ^ http://solargardens.org/?page_id=150
13. ^ Sewall, Adam (March 17, 2010). "Solar Power Rundown for Wednesday, March 17". http://www.getsolar.com/blog/solar-power-rundown-for-wednesday-march-17/4594/. Retrieved April 15, 2010. 

See also

	Energy portal
	Environment portal
	Sustainable development portal