U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján introduced legislation that would increase access to community solar nationwide.
Community solar arrays allow subscribers who would not otherwise have access to renewable energy to receive at least some of their electricity from an array. This can benefit renters, low-income households and people living in multi-family dwellings.
Luján, D-New Mexico, has championed such projects in the past, including previously introducing legislation that would have required states to consider policies promoting community solar.
The new legislation introduced this week would require the U.S. Department of Energy to expand existing loan, grant and financing programs to include community solar programs. The DOE would also need to establish a program that includes technical assistance and is intended to increase access to community solar programs.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Florida, is sponsoring the companion legislation in the House.
“As the climate crisis continues to worsen, it’s clear that we must do more to support clean energy projects like community solar,” Luján said in a press release. “I’m proud to introduce the Community Solar Consumer Choice Act to expand access to solar power through community solar projects for all Americans and create more good-paying, clean energy jobs. This bill is a step forward in combating the climate crisis, and I look forward to working with Representative Castor to get this bill passed.”
The legislation would further require electric utilities to offer community solar programs.
It would also allow the General Services Administration to offer a public utility contract for up to 30 years rather than the current maximum of 10 years.
Community solar has been growing in popularity and nearly half of the states in the country have passed community solar legislation, including New Mexico which passed it in 2021.
New Mexico’s Community Solar Act allows 200 megawatts of community solar to be built in the state, divided between three investor-owned utility service territories, and requires a certain amount of the energy generated go to low-income households or organizations supporting low-income communities.
New Mexico’s community solar legislation focused largely on investor-owned utilities, however such projects can also benefit customers of Tribal and rural electric cooperative utilities. The legislation Luján is sponsoring could help those customers.
“The New Mexico Climate Investment Center is particularly focused on development of community solar facilities that are community-owned, tribal-owned, and those in rural electric cooperative districts of New Mexico,” Beth Beloff, CEO of New Mexico Climate Investment Center, said in a press release. “Such community solar facilities will need the technical assistance in developing such programs particularly to provide greater access to low-cost solar subscriptions for the low-income disadvantaged households they are targeting. This bill seeks to address the need for technical assistance and other types of support to provide greatest access to those subscribers.”
