{"id":9542,"date":"2015-03-03T09:33:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T15:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=9542"},"modified":"2025-12-03T15:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:39:52","slug":"sometimes-it-takes-a-community-to-go-solar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2015\/03\/03\/sometimes-it-takes-a-community-to-go-solar\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes it Takes a Community to Go Solar"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Andrew Barbeau, EDF\u2019s clean energy consultant<\/em><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have a south-facing roof. You have too many trees in your yard. You may not be committed to staying in your house for the next ten to fifteen years. Or maybe you rent, or don\u2019t have the upfront money to install.<\/p>\n

These may be some of the reasons why you can\u2019t go solar. You are not alone.<\/p>\n

In fact, only 22 to 27 percent of residential rooftops are suitable for installing a solar PV system, due to structural, shading, or ownership issues, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory<\/a>. These effects are even more prominent in densely-populated, urban areas, like Chicago, where viable project siting is limited and renters account for more than half (55 percent<\/a>) of housing.<\/p>\n

But in a new utility world of flowing electricity data<\/a> and layered intelligence, we shouldn\u2019t limit participation in the rapidly growing solar market to those inconvenienced by circumstance. We need to shift our thinking of distributed solar from the individual to the community.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “EDF and CUB introduce #communitysolar proposal to #IllinoisCommerceCommission www.edf.org\/pZo @ComEd”]<\/p>\n

Virtues of virtual net metering<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Citizens Utility Board<\/a> (CUB) filed<\/a> Illinois\u2019 first-ever community solar plan with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) last week. The plan would enable customers of the largest utility in the state, ComED, to sign-up as \u201csubscribers\u201d to larger solar arrays located in the neighborhood. The subscribers would then get a credit on their electricity bill for the energy produced from these community solar projects through a process called virtual net metering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under virtual net metering, residents would get a \u201ckilowatt-hour for kilowatt-hour (Kwh)\u201d credit on their electricity bill for their share of the electricity produced by the community solar project. For example, a 250 kW community solar project may generate 37,500 kWh of electricity per month. If you, as a subscriber, had a one-percent share of that community solar project, you would see 375 kWh of electricity use deducted from your electricity bill.<\/p>\n

While some find it hard to rationalize a direct roll-back of electric meters if the solar array is not connected to an actual home, it does makes sense. If a community solar project generates more electricity than is needed for subscribers\u2019 homes, the electricity goes back to the power grid. The electrons don\u2019t travel to Pennsylvania and back. They go to your neighbor, or to the businesses down the street. As a distributed, self-generating asset, community solar actually supports the larger power grid and brings overall system costs down.<\/p>\n

Other perks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Community solar and virtual net metering provide a number of additional benefits that have made them popular across many states:<\/p>\n