Community Solar 101 — How It Works

If your roof can't support solar panels — because you rent, have too much shade, or your roof is in poor shape — community solar offers another way to save on electricity. Instead of installing panels at home, you get credit on your utility bill for a share of the power produced by a solar array built elsewhere. These projects now exist in 43 states and Washington DC, with a combined 11 gigawatts of capacity.

There are two main ways to join. With an ownership model, you pay upfront for panels or a share of the array and get billed credits based on how much energy your share produces, similar to buying a home system outright. With a subscription model, you pay nothing upfront and simply subscribe to buy solar power at a lower rate than your utility charges, which means immediate savings. Because subscriptions require no money down and no credit check or home ownership, they've become a common way for lower-income households to access solar savings. Projects can be run by a utility, a nonprofit, or a group of investors who form a business to develop the array, and each setup comes with its own rules about who can join and how much energy you can draw.

Community solar is growing quickly because it reaches people who can't put panels on their own roof. If you're interested, check whether a project serves your area — availability and rules vary by state and by utility, so it's worth looking into what's actually offered where you live.