Hi all!
The ASES Chapter Leaders meet quarterly to hear a presentation about any policy related to the renewable energy industry. Please see the recording and notes attached that were discussed for your reference.
Recording:
https://ases-org.zoom.us/rec/share/mtdvJFZFrpc4p8AkaZQ-VKMxLJb107sISmkWmxrVn_JvqA6oHcBZdJpoWFGPwdMp.QJzw_QoxhnY0HZTT
Passcode: 1@M6h?yS
Please see some notes from the meeting below:
Introducing Jill Cliburn: From her consultancy in Santa Fe, NM, Jill Cliburn provides program design, market development, evaluation, and process leadership for solar and solar-plus projects, and integrated energy strategies. She is widely known as an innovator in the solar field and is a Fellow in the American Solar Energy Society. Jill leads the Solar Value Project www.solarvalueproject.com, a gateway to resources from Solar-Plus for Electric Co-ops (SPECs), an effort that is part of the Solar Energy Innovation Network, administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. She is also a technical advisor to the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) program, which is co-funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Solar Energy Technology Office (SETO). Contact: jkcliburn@cliburnenergy.com
Community Solar Goals:
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Right now, the goal is to solve climate problems locally
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The pressure between doing things at the community scale and reaching our climate goals is something we should think about
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How can we reach our goals? Community solar! Most of the innovation in this area.
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How do you integrate all of our resources in your toolkit to make things work at a local level? Ultimately you need high-tech stuff (grid modernization and software) and clean electrification.
Overall Solar Trends:
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State solar PV installations rankings 2021 (largest to smallest)
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Large-scale solar has to be part of our climate solution!
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There's a massive NREL project about all of the scientific groups to make this plan. Starting now until 2035, they are saying we have to have an average of 45-90 gigawatts per year of wind and solar.
Definitions of Community Solar and Ways to Maximize it
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There's community solar in every state; however, there are different definitions.
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Goal: a stretch goal has just been announced in January 2023 at the National Community Solar meeting, reaching 30 gigawatts by 2023 of just community solar.
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Drew: "I presume community solar is part of the 3gw of behind-meter solar in iso-ne. Their load is only 20 gw, so solar is now showing daytime demand lower than night buying from com solar means competition for utility money to b made by investors. Developers can cut tape better than individual cust"
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Maximize Community Solar: Democratize our energy system!
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Unleashing the free market
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Cutting red tape
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Leveraging private capital
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Creating equity and access to the grid
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The Vision 2023 goal from CCSA (CCSA is a coalition of community solar businesses that has led the charge for community solar policy and target of 30 GW of community solar by 2030)
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Rich commented: "As we work to meet these goals for 2030 and later, we must be mindful that not all PV suppliers are equal. Simply focusing on XX GW of PV arrays ignores the variance in product quality. Not all of the manufacturers are producing at the level of their claimed warranty. We need to ensure that financers and developers are setting proper acceptance and commissioning criteria and ongoing inspections/checks. Simple shortcomings like nameplates that fade in 10-15 years can render modules not reusable when state electrical inspectors look for CE or UL listings."
Money Flow for Community Solar
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The developer asset owner contracts for the service of the platform
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From Jill's Diagram from her slide deck:
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Discount is good because of the scale of the project. The best discounts in the country are in Illinois - 20% up to 50%, and the reason is that they have state government subsidies for LMI customers.
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How do you solar companies make the discount? Most solar companies have a pretty high margin and can easily discount that 10%. The most expensive part of doing your business is marketing (acquiring customers). If you have a system that is hands-off ppl are coming to you, and you'll save a lot of money on marketing (soft cost reduction)
Questions/Comments at the End:
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Comments: We need to make sure people are aware of discount subscriptions; it is challenging. LMI populations are transient and renters. How do people easily get these benefits?
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Drew: There are tremendous disadvantages to utilities. Community solar is in this strange between large utility projects and individual building and owner projects. Lots of opportunities there. Not seeing the cost-effectiveness can happen. Duplicate or add another bill.
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Jill: This could be a good pitch to join the National Community Solar Partnership ( for free) and explore the resources on their website. Through the work that these platforms are doing, it is so easy.
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Community solar is an opportunity for energy democracy!
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Is there a way to help LMI have this equipment on their own or in their buildings? Why does it have to be down the road 2-100 miles away? Having trouble seeing where the economies lie
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Rich: One other option for low-income solar would be to convince the states to allocate some of their federal LIHEAP allocation to pay for low-income dedicated community solar gardens that provide monthly bill credits to the same households they already serve. I think that this could be more economical to fund solar gardens than simply do bill credits out of their annual LIHEAP budget. One challenge of building-based low-income solar gardens is the amount of roof space versus how the units are metered. There would need to be a mechanism for the utility to credit the individual meters.
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Janelle: "What about utility-owned community solar-like in Georgia? EMCs and Georgia has "utility" community solar programs."
Action Items
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Ella Nielsen
Membership & Engagement Manager
American Solar Energy Society
Boulder CO
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