The community solar business model is still relatively new. The developer of a small utility-scale solar project signs up customers who pay it subscription fees. The electricity goes to the local utility. The customers receive bill credits for the electricity from the utility. Projects are getting financed, but usually in portfolios of multiple projects. Most of the activity to date has been in Colorado, Minnesota and Massachusetts, but the model is expanding to other states.
Three community solar developers and one aggregator of community solar customers talked at the Infocast Community Solar 2.0 conference in New Orleans in November about the how the basic business model is evolving and current issues in the market.
The panelists are Rick Hunter, CEO of Pivot Energy Solutions, Joel Thomas, manager of community solar for independent power developer Community Energy, Inc., Jesse Grossman, CEO of Soltage, and Laura Pagliarulo, senior vice president for community solar and commercial sales at CleanChoice Energy. The moderator is Keith Martin with Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington.
Norton Rose Fulbright
December 18, 2018 | By Keith Martin in Washington, DC