Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Major Report: Community Solar Program Design Models | Solar Electric Power Association

The Solar Electric Power Association is the solar power advocacy group most associated with the utility industry. According to their website, "SEPA is an educational non-profit that enables the transition to a clean energy economy by facilitating utility integration and deployment of solar, demand response, other distributed energy resources, and supporting technologies onto the grid."

SEPA has released a major report on community shared solar prepared through DOE SunShot's Solar Market Pathways grant program. The report analyzes the current state of the solar gardens market and the business models used. Many existing arrays are not currently fully subscribed.


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PV Solar Report article has posted an article on this topic:

"The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) surveyed 25 of the active community solar projects for a new report to discover how to make them more successful. It found that currently only one-third of the projects are fully subscribed. A quarter of them were less than 50 percent subscribed. The new report, “Community Solar Program Design Models,” is intended to help community solar farms gain the customers they need to be successful."

"Overall SEPA is tracking 68 community solar projects across the country. The majority of them are smaller than 1 megawatt in size. SEPA also found that the majority, 73 percent, charge an up front fee of $3 per watt in 2015, down from $5 per watt in 2011 for customers participating."

"SEPA’s initial research shows that consumers are interested in community solar. But they community solar options with flexible commitments. They’re not looking for long-term contracts, for instance, and they want their shares in the farm to be transferable. Some consumers also want the solar farm located where they can’t see it."

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