Community solar, also known as shared solar, allows residents or businesses to share the benefits of a local off-site solar farm. While subscribers receive clean energy and save money on their electric bills, the positive impact of community solar goes even further. Residents, communities, the local economy, and the environment all benefit from community solar. Here’s how:

• Offers greater electricity rate stability and bill savings for participants. Community solar subscribers can immediately receive the benefits of solar and save on their electricity costs from 10-15% or more annually.
• Makes clean energy accessible to underserved communities. Many community solar projects have carve-outs for low-income customers to receive larger discounts for subscribing. For example, Maryland Community Solar Pilot Program includes a dedicated carve out of 30-54% of capacity to the low-to-moderate income (LMI) community. Nautilus Solar Energy received grant funding from the Maryland Energy Administration to offer LMI subscribers a guaranteed 25% discount on the community solar portion of their electric bill; all other customers are guaranteed to save 10% annually.
• Allows for land conservation, particularly unusable land such as landfills, brownfields, or abandoned industrial sites. Plus, individual landowners use part of their land for community solar projects and earn thousands of dollars in annual lease payments.
• Provides local tax incentives and jobs for the community. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), over the next decade, solar jobs will more than double, from over 255,000 today to 538,000 by 2032.
• Builds a stronger, distributed, and more resilient electric grid by siting projects in specific locations that can benefit the grid the most. Additionally, developing community solar arrays enables utilities to improve their relationships with customers and increase engagement.
• Contributes to a cleaner, healthier community by decreasing dependence on dirty fossil fuels and reducing the presence of harmful air pollutants.
• Helps communities become energy independent by reducing their reliance on centralized, utility-scale power plants and the associated transmission and distribution infrastructure.

Simply put, community solar provides a way for more people to access clean energy, save money, and reduce their carbon footprint while promoting community engagement and economic development.

Want to learn more about community solar?

Learn more about community solar from our comprehensive guide here.

Want to know more about how community solar works, click here.

Like to know about the growth of community solar, read this article next.

The benefits are good - are you ready?

By joining a Community Solar project, you've chosen an easy way to support renewable energy, get affordable electricity, and create local power projects that increase regional grid resiliency and reduce emissions. And you don't have to maintain or optimize your own residential panels yourself or pay someone to do it for you. Subscribing is simple and you will save money on your electric bills with no upfront cost. All that is needed is five minutes and a utility account. To learn more about how you can go green and keep your green with community solar, go to NautilusSolar.com.