For community solar projects to run, they require a base of subscribers paying into the project and receiving renewable energy credits for their contributions. Even though this subscription typically costs customers less than their usual electricity bill, community solar isn’t a widely adopted energy option nationwide.
“It’s always been a great challenge trying to figure out, how do you educate, how do you acquire and how do you continue to retain customers?” said Dan Clarke, SVP of marketing for community solar developer Nexamp. “It’s not a challenging product, but a product that doesn’t have a lot of awareness in the space. It’s not like buying a soft drink, where people know it’s like Coke and Pepsi and a few others.”
Students visit a community solar array on a field trip organized by Nexamp. Nexamp
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported that community solar projects are present in 44 states, with 23 states plus D.C. explicitly enabling this type of solar via legislation as of June 2024. Unlike standalone projects, a community solar array requires financial involvement from residents living and businesses operating within that community, making outreach a crucial step in project development and long-term maintenance.
The style of outreach for a new community solar project depends on a community’s level of awareness. Then it depends on how engaged a city or municipality is with that project.
Traditional outreach methods include in-person meetings covering the basics of community solar; mailers sent to residents — sometimes printed on official municipal letterhead — informing them about a new project in their community; or digital marketing campaigns and informational videos.
“It’s always education first,” Clarke said. “We go into a lot of details that help the customer understand what it is; the benefits, [how] we’re not a third-party energy supplier, why we’re different, how it works. We spend a lot of time and effort and resources creating educational content to really help explain a program that can be somewhat challenging to understand. I mean, energy by itself is complex.”
Nexamp develops, builds and maintains both the community solar arrays and the subscriptions, which Clarke said helps when starting one up in a new town. If it’s successful, that array will be there for 30 years and will need subscribers for the duration.
“With new markets, new locales, you’re starting from ground zero, because community solar is not on the national radar,” said Keith Hevenor, communications manager at Nexamp. “It’s really only on a state-by-state radar.”
The company aids advocacy groups like the Solar Energy Industries Association and Coalition for Community Solar Access to raise awareness about the concept of community solar and how the programs work.
New York solar developer UGE does not manage community solar subscriptions but still found outreach a necessary element for project origination. UGE leases land for community solar projects, and landowners often require a similar education on the concept as potential subscribers.
Cece Carey-Snow, consultant for marketing and strategic projects at UGE, said people are aware of residential rooftop solar and large-scale utility solar, but community solar occupies a lesser-known space between the two.
Nexamp conducts a public meeting on the topic of community solar. Marketing and educational initiatives like these are necessary elements of community solar development. Nexamp
“Explaining this middle-sized project that exists, but also the shared subscription model and the leasing of property to host a solar project is new to most people that we reach out to,” she said. “Even in more mature markets like New York City and New Jersey, where we do a lot of work, there’s still not a ton of awareness.”
For potential project site owners, UGE has organized educational sessions across states permitting community solar, including a public series with the University of Maryland Extension that was a collaboration with other solar developers. UGE also publishes blog posts and builds paid marketing campaigns on the topic of community solar its benefits for landowners.
“The paid marketing is education in large part, and especially because most people who see our messaging, whether it’s paid or organic, are not going to have a site that’s ultimately going to work for us,” Carey-Snow said. “The funnel is going to be so small … But at least these people know that this exists.”
Once land has been secured for a community solar project, UGE’s development team continues to educate the landowner, neighbors, town and community to dispel any lingering misconceptions of solar.
While community solar outreach can be cumbersome, UGE has found that education combined with a successful first project in a new town has led to more projects in those regions, Carey-Snow said. Gaining a foothold somewhere establishes the concept of community solar for these markets, which opens the door to potential developments in neighboring towns.
“It’s funny. A lot of folks are like, ‘Well, this seems a little too good to be true. So, you’re going to pay me for leasing my land, and I save on energy, and so do my neighbors?’” she said. “It’s convincing them that it’s real and building trust and credibility.”
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