An Equitable Solar Access Pilot Project in Minnesota benefitting Manufactured (Mobile) Home Residents

Minnesota Clean Energy Resources Team, along with Detroit Lakes Public Utilities, Mahube-Otwa Community Action, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and the Chan Lab at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs successfully developed the first solar array as part of the Equitable Solar Access project earlier this year. The solar array, which is 11 kW, is located adjacent to a previous solar array and installed to benefit local income-eligible households, including manufactured homes residents, who heat with electric heat.

The aim in installing this array is for the project team to work through:

• How to utilize and integrate the Energy Assistance process and program with the utility billing process and crediting for Energy Assistance clients.
• An analysis of the criteria to prioritize Energy Assistance clients such that this model will deliver meaningful energy burden reduction to these households.
• A bill analysis and documentation of how this approach can consistently benefit participating households, particularly those who heat with electricity and live in manufactured homes.

The panelists for this webinar include Gabe Chan and Steve Coleman with the Chan Lab at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Dan Josephson with Mahube-Otwa Community Action Partnership. They provided an in-depth overview and current status of the project.

This Clean Energy States Alliance webinar is part of US Department of Energy-funded Scaling up Solar for Under-Resourced Communities project. For more information and to sign up to participate in the solar for manufactured homes learning network, click here.