Community Shared Solar
For Municipalities
Want to learn more about community shared solar? Visit the main CSS page!
Municipalities can facilitate the adoption of Community Shared Solar (CSS) in multiple ways, including:
- Helping residents, nonprofits, and businesses identify and contract with responsible vendors,
- Providing space for a CSS system, including public land such as a municipal roof or parking lot, and
- Participating directly in CSS as a subscriber.
Municipal Models for Community Shared Solar
Subscription Model
System Owner and Operator:
A third party owns and operates the system. There is usually a primary (or anchor) offtaker, such as a municipality or private business, who subscribes to a significant portion of the system.
Benefits:
Reliable electricity savings with low commitment requirements
Length of contract:
Can range from short (1 year) to about 20 years
Who would be a good fit to participate?
Anyone. Renters may find this model particularly beneficial due to the availability of short-term contracts.
Ownership Model
System Owner and Operator:
Residents either own a share in the company or a share in the system. A third party operates the system.
Benefits:
This model is set up as an LLC, which allows residents to have partial ownership with comparatively low time investment
Length of contract:
Long-term (typically 20 years)
Who would be a good fit to participate?
Homeowners and long-term renters who can make a long-term commitment to a share.
Cooperative Model
System Owner and Operator:
Residents own the system and have joint decision-making power
Benefits:
This model is set up as a Co-Op instead of an LLC.
Length of contract:
Long-term (typically 20 years)
Who would be a good fit to participate?
Homeowners and long-term renters who can make a long-term commitment to a share, and would like to be involved in the operation of the system.
Identifying Community
Shared Solar Projects
A Request for Information (RFI) can be a good way for municipalities to evaluate how many Community Shared Solar systems are, or will soon be, available for subscription for residents in their municipality. The RFI can also serve to answer consumer protection questions, such as what a subscription contract for residents would look like, how much savings a resident could expect on their electricity bill, and what are the requirements for subscribing. A sample RFI, based on the RFI that MAPC released on behalf of the City of Framingham and the Towns of Wayland and Natick, is linked below as a template.
Providing Space
Municipalities can support the development of Community Shared Solar projects by hosting the system on municipal property. To participate in the market in this way, cities and towns should conduct a competitive procurement using a solicitation such as a Request for Proposals (RFP) or Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in order to solicit and receive proposals from project developers and other project partners to deploy CSS on the site.
While the most cost-effective CSS projects are often ground mount systems, suitable sites for CSS are by no means limited to greenfields. Municipalities can identify sites with beneficial co-uses, such as parking lots, landfills, and rooftops, to host the CSS system. Location-based benefits and incentives within the Massachusetts solar incentive program, SMART, can help offset additional costs of these preferred, but potentially more challenging, sites. Municipalities should consider ownership options that allow them to take advantage of tax benefits associated with solar.
Participating in CSS
Municipalities can participate in a CSS system as an offtaker. Municipalities may choose to play the role of the primary, or anchor, offtaker, a subscriber to the CSS system that accounts for a large share of the system and provides security to the solar developer in case the shares are not fully subscribed. Municipalities may also want to subscribe to a CSS system in order to demonstrate leadership and reduce electricity costs. If a municipality chooses to retain and retire the solar rights (the Solar Renewable Energy Credits, or SRECs) to the system, rather than participating in the SMART program, they can also formally count the system toward their carbon mitigation goals.