By 2025, the US Department of Energy (DOE) targets to install community solar power capacity in the country to the equivalent of 5 million households. This National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) target will enable $1 billion as savings for electricity bills, it added.
Achieving this target would translate into more than 700% capacity addition over the next 4 years from the currently installed community solar capacity that's enough to power 600,000 households.
DOE said it is offering free, on-demand technical assistance to NCSP partner members comprising various stakeholders including solar developers and community-based organizations.
A DOE initiative by the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), in collaboration with NREL and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, NCSP aims to capitalize on the benefits of a single solar array located within a community, by providing clean energy to the subscribers. The business model being followed for community solar ensures subscribers to get revenue from the energy produced in the form of savings in their monthly electricity bills.
Community solar also ensures deployment of solar for households who live in apartment complexes with or without ownership, and with no access to a rooftop, at an affordable rate.
Calling community solar a powerful tool for ensuring affordable solar energy for all American households, Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said, "Achieving these ambitious targets will lead to meaningful energy cost savings, create jobs in these communities, and make our clean energy transition more equitable."
As the US President Joe Biden led administration aims to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2035, the country believes there is potential for solar energy to claim 40% of the national electricity mix by 2035, without raising prices (see US Wants 40% Electricity From Solar By 2035).
According to the US Solar Market Insight: Q2 2021 report, in the reporting quarter of Q2/2021, the US installed 16% more community solar capacity with 177 MW DC on a annual basis (see US Installed 5.7 GW DC New Solar In Q2/2021).