Communities Tackle Energy Injustice

• Author: Herb Stevens
• Position: Chief Executive Officer New Partners Community Solar
• Pages: 43-43

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 | 43

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, September/October 2021.

Copyright © 2021, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Sidebar

SI DE BAR

EVERY day, we use the sun’s

energy to power our lives

— in this way, the sun is ev-

ery human’s birthright. So when

we seek energy justice we do so

because this essential resource

should be shared among all per-

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Partners Community Solar with

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Peabody, Jeff Lesk, to address

energy injustice. Our mission is

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energy access equitably to entire

communities.

We discovered that a power-

ful way to achieve these goals is

through a new law in the District

of Columbia allowing for “commu-

nity solar.” It in turn is based on a

program in Colorado that allows

homeowners to share energy in

their neighborhoods. D.C.’s law

and our program utilitizing it con-

verts the western state’s program

to an urban setting.

Our new model helps large

commercial building owners in

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of their rooftop solar energy to

low-income families across town.

By requiring the electric utility to

convert the power going into the

grid to cash, the money can be

distributed to residents through

credits on their electric bills.

This leap is a big one — the

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their own homes; they can be

renters or condo owners and still

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of solar energy only to those in-

dividuals and businesses that own

property, the solar panels can be

placed anywhere in the utility grid

and serve all people.

The community also gets the

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which reduces dangerous pollution

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used roof space is turned into sites

for green jobs that employ people

in the local neighborhood.

Although 19 states and D.C.

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community solar by encouraging

its growth through policy and pro-

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step to achieve energy justice, all

states should enact robust com-

munity solar programs with true

access for all built into the law.

Each state should also require

its utility regulator to remove the

electric grid barriers to distrib-

uted solar energy production. We

have so many places in urban or

rural areas that solar could be put

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es, schools, and apartments — but

putting solar in these new places

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er electricity system, which does

not always allow distributed power

to feed into the grid. Removing

these barriers not only improves

infrastructure resilience but also

helps provide more equal access to

solar in our communities.

States will need to create more

balanced incentive programs. Right

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value contained in solar carbon

credits are only available to people

and businesses that can own solar

panels. This shuts out access to

renters and people of low income.

We are not treating the sun’s

energy as a basic human right when

we make low-income families pay a

disproportionate amount for their

energy. Energy for a low-income

family can be three times the bur-

den compared to a wealthier family

in America, when considering the

proportion utility bills takes up in

their monthly budgets.

States can use different incen-

tives to address this disparity, as

well as the lack of access to capital

to build or buy solar systems. The

District of Columbia, for instance,

uses penalty payments each year

for utilities that do not meet the re-

newable energy standard for solar

and uses these payments to subsi-

dize a “Solar for All” program.

Years ago, at a seminar, I saw

a map of my city that showed

dots where all the solar installa-

tions were. Then laid over it, they

showed the income levels through-

out the city. One person in the

audience spontaneously shouted

out, “It looks like the sun shines

only on the rich.” Let us work to

change that.

We’d love to hear your ideas

and get your support on this im-

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tive director, Sasha Srivastava, at

engage@npsolar.org.

Communities Tackle Energy Injustice

“Although 19 states and D.C.

have recognized the benets of

community solar by encouraging

its growth through policy and

programs, most have not”

Herb Stevens

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New Partners Community Solar