Project aimed at developing models and marketing strategies to expand community solar.

The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) today (Friday) announced it has received a $705,830 competitive award from the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative for a first-of-its-kind project aimed at accelerating the spread of community solar.

The collaborative research project will draw on expertise from utilities, developers, non-profit organizations and other groups to develop easily-adoptable models for community solar project design and marketing – all aimed at accelerating the growth of such programs.

The SEPA project is one of 15 receiving SunShot competitive awards as part of the initiative's Solar Market Pathways program.

"Say 'community solar' and – depending on where you're saying it – the term could have different meanings," said Becky Campbell, SEPA's senior manager of research and advisory services, who will lead the project. "For some, it's a 'solar garden' allowing individual customers to lease one or more panels, while for others it could be a remote or virtual net metering program under which groups of individuals co-own a single project, with each receiving a utility bill credit proportional to their share.

"The diversity of programs show how popular these programs are becoming. But what SEPA has seen, as we track community solar projects, is multiplicity can also, unintentionally, become an obstacle to the kinds of basic, easily-adoptable models for program design and marketing that could spur even more widespread growth."

Key components of the two-year research project will include: Program model development: SEPA will form a cross-industry working group that will identify and assess different community solar programs being used nationwide, with a focus on the cost-benefit values for customers, utilities and the solar industry. Based on this research, SEPA and the working group will release a report laying out a number of core models for community solar.

Market demographics

Research on market demographics and messaging: Working with Shelton Group, a marketing research and consulting firm, SEPA will conduct in-depth research – including surveys and focus groups – on how different market segments view community solar. The goal here will be to connect the resulting market insights with model program designs to develop effective communications strategies and best practices for targeting and expanding community solar markets.

Practical applications: In addition to publicly-available reports, SEPA also plans a series of workshops, webinars, articles and other public education efforts on the project results. The SunShot funding will also allow SEPA to work with eight different utilities to help them set up community solar programs.

"We've been polling Americans about the attitudes and behaviors related to energy consumption for more than 10 years, so we are very much dialed in to perceptions of, and the desire for, solar energy," said Suzanne Shelton, president and CEO of Shelton Group.

"For this project, we'll evaluate reactions to specific models for community solar among both residential consumers and businesses to identify what makes these programs compelling and the potential differences in perceptions by customer class, demographics, industry sectors and geography."

SEPA president and CEO Julia Hamm, said: "People want choices in their energy supply; they want solar. From careful siting at key locations on the grid to providing local jobs, we see huge benefits in these projects. Having basic, easily-adaptable models should help minimize risks and uncertainties and help more utilities and communities stand up their own community solar programs."