Community Solar for Low- and Moderate-Income Consumers

Because community solar can be made accessible to renters and can include flexible terms, it holds promise for spreading the benefits of solar to low- and moderate-income (LMI) consumers. In this webinar, guest speakers from Solstice and from Alpine Bank presented two financially sustainable models for making community solar more available to LMI consumers.

Kelly Roache from Solstice discussed their efforts to develop new underwriting practices that might help moderate-income customers qualify for community solar, while keeping risk low for the large investors who provide the initial funding.

David Miller and Noel Hansen from Alpine Bank discussed a project in which the bank bought shares in a community solar project and donated them to a community organization, which in turn allotted the monthly bill credits to low-income households.

These presentations were followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Panelists:

• Kelly Roache, Senior Program Manager at Solstice
• David Miller, Senior Vice President at Alpine Bank
• Noel Hansen, Vice President and eBanking Specialist, Alpine Bank
• Diana Chace, Program Associate, Clean Energy States Alliance

This is one in a series of Sustainable Solar Education Project webinars on bringing the benefits of solar to low-income residents. The Sustainable Solar Education Project, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative, is helping state and municipal officials to ensure distributed solar electricity is equitable and consumer friendly.