This document introduces the Energy Department's new Guide to Community Shared Solar: Utility, Private, and Nonprofit Project Development. The guide is designed to help those who want to develop community shared solar projects - from community organizers and advocates to utility managers and government officials - navigate the process of developing shared systems, from early planning to implementation.

Implementing solar energy projects at federal facilities is a process. The project planning phase of the process includes determining goals, building a team, determining site feasibility and selecting the appropriate project funding tool. This fact sheet gives practical guidance to assist decision-makers with understanding and selecting the funding tool that would best address their site goals.

Over the last several years, solar energy technologies have been, or are in the process of being, deployed at unprecedented levels. A critical recent development, resulting from the massive scale of projects in progress or recently completed, is having the power sold directly to electric utilities. Such 'utility-scale' systems offer the opportunity to deploy solar technologies far faster than the traditional 'behind-the-meter' projects designed to offset retail load.

These slides are from an interactive workshop, presented by the SunShot Solar Outreach Partnership, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 18, 2012.  The workshop was designed to provide actionable information on overcoming local-level barriers to solar, addressing soft costs, and implementing a successful local solar program in areas including:  1) revising zoning codes and ordinances to allow for solar; 2) streamlining permitting processes to facilitate solar installations; 3) financing solar projects; and 4) installing solar on municipal and other community facilities.

The Guide is intended to provide guidance specifically to regional planning organizations on the unique roles they can play to move solar energy deployment forward in their regions. By focusing on case studies and regionally-specific tools, the Guide seeks to be a practical and applicable resource for taking full advantage of the opportunities in regional solar energy deployment.

Learn how through collaborative procurement, communities can reduce the up-front costs of solar installations by working together as a group to evaluate project sites, procure solar systems and negotiate contracts, thus yielding much lower transaction costs for each individual partner.

Small communities looking to go solar may face challenges, especially when looking to achieve the economies of scale that make solar projects cost effective or attractive to developers. On this webinar, learn about some of the considerations for small communities looking to go solar and then hear directly from local governments that have installed solar on their facilities or partnered with solar installers to undertake installations in their communities. 

Aurora, Colorado, is pursuing solar as part of the city's larger sustainability strategy.  In 2009, the city, population 325,078, updated its Comprehensive Plan to include a Sustainability Plan with goals for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and economic growth.  Aurora now has three solar PV installations on city properties and three solar thermal installations on city properties with plans for a fourth.  Additionally, Aurora has a streamlined permitting process and has adopted a renewable energy ordinance.

Park City, Utah, is leading by example when it comes to solar.  The city of 7,558, located southeast of Salt Lake City in the Wasatch Mountains is installing solar on municipal facilities, and working collaboratively with other jurisdictions in Northern Utah through the Wasatch Solar Challenge, one of the Department of Energy’s 22 Rooftop Solar Challenge teams.  Since 2009, Park City has installed four solar projects on municipal facilities and the city is planning to complete two additional projects in 2012.

To stimulate investment in renewable energy generation projects, the federal government developed a series of support structures that reduce taxes for eligible investors--the investment tax credit, the production tax credit, and accelerated depreciation. The nature of these tax incentives often requires an outside investor and a complex financial arrangement to allocate risk and reward among the parties.