What is community solar and how does it expand access?
Community solar lets households and businesses subscribe to a shared array and receive bill credits—expanding clean energy access without rooftop ownership.
Community solar is a growing segment of the U.S. clean energy market. Shared solar programs expand access to renewable power for households, small businesses, and institutions that cannot install panels on their own rooftops—making community solar a compelling opportunity for developers and infrastructure investors alike.
How does community solar work for subscribers?
Subscribers buy a share of a shared offsite array and receive bill credits for their portion of the project's output—without installing or maintaining rooftop equipment. A community solar project is typically a few megawatts, located in a participating utility territory. Credits are usually portable if the subscriber moves within that territory.
NREL's community solar resources document how state programs set bill-credit design, eligibility, capacity limits, and subscriber-location rules, including low- and moderate-income provisions.
Key benefits for subscribers:
- No upfront cost: subscription models require no capital outlay
- No maintenance: the project owner handles operations
- Portability: credits follow the subscriber within the utility territory
- Savings: subscriptions are typically priced at a discount to the retail rate
How large is the U.S. community solar market?
NREL and industry trackers such as SEIA document a growing set of state programs that enable shared solar—many with provisions for low- and moderate-income households. The development pipeline remains active, and additional state programs remain under consideration. For developers and investors, community solar offers:
- Diversified offtake across many small subscribers
- Recurring revenue with low single-subscriber concentration risk
- State-level policy support, even as federal incentives tighten
The policy environment demands attention: with the federal ITC phasing out for solar, developers are racing to satisfy beginning-of-construction and placed-in-service deadlines for existing pipelines, and future state program design will need to work without a federal credit.
Community solar complements commercial and industrial (C&I) solar by serving residential and small-business customers who lack suitable rooftops.
Sunlight's role
Sunlight Energy Investments finances, develops, and operates community solar projects across participating U.S. markets. We bring institutional-grade underwriting and long-term asset management to projects that expand clean energy access in the communities we serve.
Developers with late-stage community solar projects seeking equity partners can explore our developer program. Investors looking for exposure to this growing segment can learn about our investment approach or contact our team.
