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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Technical Potential and Meaningful Benefits of Community Solar in the United States

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2308823· OSTI ID:2308823
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Clean Kilowatts LLC, Plymouth, MI (United States)
The report describes the methodology and results from a study on the technical potential of community solar and associated meaningful benefits. A key finding of the study suggests that the opportunity space for community solar to meet unmet demand for solar energy is not primarily constrained by technical potential, but by technological, market, and policy factors. NREL used rooftop and ground-mount photovoltaic siting data to model annual energy production from community solar based on various constraints and system performance. Given modeled results and community solar deployment, we discuss potential benefits including household savings, low-to-moderate income household access to solar, resilience and grid benefits, community ownership, workforce development and entrepreneurship as well as insights into community solar siting opportunities.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2308823
Report Number(s):
NREL/TP--6A20-87524; MainId:88299; UUID:7f0dc28b-70f3-461a-a39b-e6b16caad138; MainAdminId:71822
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English