Why Community Solar Is Key to the Clean Energy Transition

Solar growth has soared over the past few years. With new projects coming online this year, experts predict that U.S. solar power generation will grow 75% from 163 billion kilowatt hours in 2023 to 286 billion kWh in 2025. It has been an important part of the Biden Administration’s plan to eliminate fossil fuels as a form of energy generation by 2035. And on either end of the spectrum, both small-scale individual rooftop solar panels and large-scale utility solar arrays have benefited from incentives to increase solar, including tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). But over a third of Americans rent, and over half of homeowners can’t use their individual rooftops to capture the sun’s energy. Until recently, this “missing middle ground” has largely been left out of the market and the clean energy transition. 

Now, community solar is stepping up to fill that gap, says Bruce Stewart, CEO and president of Perch…