First unveiled about two decades ago, community solar entails a small-scale solar model wherein customers purchase shares in a new solar farm in their service area, developers build the project then subscribers receive credits that cut their utility bills by ~10%. Community solar offers a viable solution to the roughly half of American households that are unable to install rooftop solar due to factors like roof shading, issues with property ownership or specific regulations. Further, these solar projects tend to offer friendlier contract terms for people with lower credit scores.

Unfortunately, the community solar boom could be over before it has even properly begun. A fresh report by global data, research, and consulting services provider, WoodMackenzie, has revealed that U.S. community solar installations dropped 36% year over year in the first half of the current year, with just 437 MW installed, thanks to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-hottest-clean-energy-230000121.html

Wall Street’s Hottest Clean-Energy Bet Hits a Ceiling
byu/Epicurus-fan inenergy



by Epicurus-fan

2 comments

  1. IOW it wasn’t economically effective without other peoples money?

  2. Two things that come to mind which may affect this:
    – state level CS targets: I’m pretty sure that once they’re hit, no further projects are developed (maybe depends on state? Someone here know?)
    – distribution network capacity: because CS projects are MW in scale and directly connected to distribution lines (not BTM, where most energy production is self-consumed), each feeder can prob only handle on project until things like voltage or thermal violations become an issue. And similarly, the upstream transformer banks might only be able to handle a few CS projects until reverse power becomes an issue. Once any of these issues arise, the CS has to pay for upgrades (which often tips the scale for economic viability)

    I’ve also heard anecdotally that the CS subscription process can be a slog, which add to a developer’s customer acquisition costs (not sure how common this is tho)

    Some good info here:

    https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/lbl_cs_grid_impacts_final_09.01.23_v3.pdf#page44

    https://docs.nrel.gov/docs/fy25osti/91361.pdf

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