From Conversations to Impact #2: Lessons from the Front Lines of Community Resilience and Clean Energy
Insights |
By Adaora Ifebigh
Pictured above: Installing energy-efficient windows at CHP’s S.A. Robinson apartments in Pembroke, VA.
Our Philosophy & How We Approach the Work
As a national clean energy developer and independent power producer, Sol uses its platform to accelerate America’s energy transition while investing in the communities where our projects are located. Through our Infrastructure + Impact ® approach and a community investment fund, we pair clean energy development with support for local organizations strengthening resilience, expanding opportunity, and advancing environmental stewardship.
At the center of this work is a simple belief: local partners know their communities best. By listening early and working with trusted organizations, we can design programs that respond to local needs and create benefits that last beyond any single project.
That commitment to listening continues through implementation. Conversations with community impact partners help surface practical lessons about resident engagement, workforce capacity, and the realities of delivering clean energy solutions in low- and moderate-income communities. Their feedback helps us adapt and strengthen programs over time.
Our work with Community Housing Partners (CHP) shows how meaningful resident engagement can lead to stronger energy-efficiency outcomes. At S.A. Robinson Apartments in rural Pembroke, Virginia, CHP launched an initiative to improve resident comfort and reduce energy costs for households, many of whom live on fixed incomes.
S.A. Robinson Apartments in Pembroke, VA, during renovation.
Before improvements began, CHP listened to residents to understand what mattered most. Residents identified window replacements as a priority for improving comfort and lowering utility bills. With support from the regional community investment fund, CHP installed new energy-efficient windows throughout the property.
Energy efficient windows are installed at the S.A. Robinson apartments in Pembroke, VA.
At an August 2023 celebration marking the project’s completion, residents shared how the upgrades improved comfort, reduced monthly expenses, and helped them manage energy burdens more effectively.
Adaora Ifebigh, Sol Systems' Senior Director for Community Impact, speaks at a celebration marking the project’s completion.
CHP’s experience reinforced that successful clean energy projects require more than technical solutions or financing. They depend on organizations willing to listen, adapt, and design programs around residents’ lived experiences.
Workforce Constraints Remain a Major Barrier to Scaling Energy Efficiency Programs
Partners shared that there are not enough trained energy auditors and qualified contractors to meet growing demand for weatherization and energy-efficiency services. Licensing requirements, post-pandemic workforce shortages, and limited training pipelines have all made it harder to scale programs quickly.
To address these challenges, partners explored ways to share resources across neighboring cooperatives, collaborate with mission-aligned organizations, and expand recruitment beyond their immediate service territories.
Community partners participate in a discussion on workforce challenges and lessons learned from local energy efficiency initiatives in Charleston, SC.
The broader lesson is clear: equitable clean energy progress requires investment not only in infrastructure, but also in people, workforce development, and long-term community capacity.
Turning Lessons into Action
Across these partnerships, one theme stands out: community-centered clean energy work is strongest when it begins with listening, continues through honest feedback, and adapts based on what partners and residents experience on the ground. CHP’s work in Virginia underscored the importance of designing around lived experience, while partners in the Carolinas highlighted workforce constraints that can limit the reach of energy-efficiency programs. Sol will continue using these lessons to strengthen its Infrastructure + Impact® approach, deepen collaboration with community partners, and support investments that build clean energy infrastructure and local capacity together.
Interested in More Insights from Sol’s Impact Work?
This post builds on the ideas introduced in the first installment of our Conversations to Impact series, where we explored how listening to communities shapes stronger partnerships and more meaningful investments. If you missed it, we invite you to start there:
From Conversations to Impact #1: Insights from Workforce Development Partners Driving Progress in Clean Energy
Community Impact |
By Adaora Ifebigh
Our governing philosophy toward community impact: Over the past five years, Sol has significantly increased our community investment funding and expanded our network of community partners to more than 30 organizations working to advance community resilience across the country. As our work expands, we continue to be guided by the belief that working with and in partnership with communities where our projects are located relies heavily on the acknowledgement that our partners understand their local context and that to create sustainable opportunities that serve communities for the long term requires listening, learning and adapting insights from communities themselves.
How We Approach the Work
Adaora Ifebigh, Sol Systems' Senior Director for Community Impact, speaks at 2024 Climate Week in New York, New York.
Founded in 2008, Sol Systems (Sol) leverages its platform as a national leader in renewable energy to work together with its customers and partners to accelerate America’s clean energy future and invest in local communities
To deliver on this mission, Sol has created a unique Infrastructure + ImpactTM approach. This approach ensures that when our partners and we execute projects and transactions, we commit funding to local community organizations that lead initiatives to enhance community impact and restore the land and natural habitats around our projects.
These integrated programs are designed to benefit under-resourced communities and those disproportionately affected by environmental pollution, while also incorporating best practices to minimize our ecological footprint during construction.
Sol’s impact approach focuses on engaging with and investing in trusted partner organizations embedded in their communities. This engagement strengthens the community’s ability to benefit from a more inclusive energy infrastructure.
Since 2020, Sol has partnered with grassroots community organizations to implement impact initiatives in regions surrounding our solar projects. Through dedicated community investment funds, we’ve supported organizations across the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest—including in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Nebraska, Maine, New York, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. These investments have enabled local partners to deliver energy efficiency and home repair programs, establish solar-plus-storage community resilience hubs, provide job training and education, and offer wraparound support services.
Through this effort, Sol gained valuable insights and lessons that will guide our future work and deepen our impact. We believe that sharing these learnings is essential to advancing community-centered practices across the energy industry. By doing so, we aim to foster industry-wide learning, strengthen collaboration with our partners, and continue driving progress toward a more impactful and sustainable energy future for all
Insights from the Community: Grassroots Perspectives on Workforce Development
Our approach to community investments developed as we learned from our community partners and adapted our approach to suit their needs. Through periodic conversations and an established program reporting process, we gained several programmatic insights that will help us adapt as we move forward with our community impact programs. Our workforce development partners highlighted challenges in retaining trainees, both before and after graduation. To be successful, trainees require wraparound support services that increase workplace inclusion, reduce financial and logistical obstacles, and increase trainees’ ability to adapt to new job environments..
Our partnership with GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic and PowerCorps PHL demonstrated that robust support services not only enhance recruitment but are also crucial for boosting graduation rates and job retention.
Life-management and workplace counseling: GRID Alternatives provides counseling services and life-management training so trainees can discuss everyday challenges and receive tools to manage workplace expectations and the activities of daily living, including shopping for groceries and keeping up with doctors’ appointments. This support, in addition to the primary classroom curriculum, helps trainees better navigate external life factors that can be obstacles to following through on workplace commitments.
Financial management training: The ability to manage finances, including the stipends provided through the training program, also can indicate whether a person will complete the training program. GRID helps trainees—many of whom have never opened a bank account before— navigate the direct deposit process
Transportation support: Transportation can impact a trainee’s ability to finish a workforce development program. To address this, PowerCorps PHL offered transportation services to their trainees. This included helping trainees obtain a driver’s license and providing funds to ride public transportation or pay for parking
Wraparound support is crucial to guaranteeing that participants finish a program and retain jobs or internships successfully. For organizations like GRID and PowerCorps PHL, the ability to offer wraparound support services to their trainees helped them improve recruiting, retention, and was a fundamental factor in graduation rates
Carrying the Work Forward: Applying Lessons to Future Partnerships
Research over the past two decades has shown the effectiveness of wraparound support across many domains. Specifically, as it relates to some of our community partnerships, this support is effective across a range of important youth outcomes such as educational achievement and self-sufficiency. Informed by the lessons learned through our grassroots partnerships, Sol has made providing wraparound support a key pillar of our community investment strategy that focuses on community resilience. We aim to support grassroots organizations by funding wraparound programs that are key to successful implementation of their core program activities.
Sol is committed to building and strengthening partnerships with community organizations so that our clean energy initiatives remain community-focused and meet our land stewardship and energy supply goals. We look forward to sharing new lessons learned as our work progresses.
Welcome to Morgan County, IL: Meet Our New Community Impact Partners!
Insights |
By Adaora Ifebigh
We are excited to announce the first group of community partners in Morgan County, Illinois, home of our Prairie Creek Solar project.
These partnerships build on the foundation set in 2021, when we announced our first power purchase agreement partnership--one of the country’s largest--with a groundbreaking strategy to fund investments that bolster the community, environmental, and social impact over the lifecycle of solar energy projects. As part of that agreement, Sol Systems (Sol) committed to engaging with and investing in organizations that are trusted in their communities to implement initiatives that are tailored to specifically benefit under-invested communities and enable their participation in building America’s energy future.
Since then, we have funded multiple organizations in both rural and urban communities across the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Appalachia, and Washington D.C. The funding empowered these communities to provide energy efficiency and home repair programs, solar-plus-storage community resilience hubs, foundational job training, education, and wrap-around support service. Sustained by the successes and lessons learned to date, as our solar projects become commercially operational, we focus on investing in the communities where our projects are based. In Morgan County, Illinois, we are proud to partner with local groups that share our commitment to community focusing on resilience and sustainable growth.
Faith in Place (Central Illinois)
Since 1999, Faith in Place has empowered people of diverse faiths and spiritualities to be leaders in advancing environmental and racial justice, providing resources to educate, connect, and advocate for healthier communities throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The organization advances its mission through five program areas: energy & climate change, sustainable food & land use, water preservation, environmental advocacy, and youth empowerment. Sol’s partnership will implement the “Faith Outreach and Engagement to Advance Community-Led Sustainability and Resiliency in Morgan County, IL” initiative to advance Faith in Place’s “Green Team Model” which recognizes houses of worship as critical anchors and natural centers of learning that inspire, educate, and mobilize members for community advancement. The initiative will conduct energy audits for houses of worship, implement energy efficiency upgrades, and provide information and guidance that enables them to pursue additional energy efficiency and clean energy opportunities needed to reduce their facilities’ energy usage over time.
Jacksonville Promise
Inspired by the Kalamazoo Promise in Michigan, Jacksonville Promise encourages students to pursue their post-secondary education at a local institution by offering scholarships to high school graduates. The idea for a Jacksonville Promise started in 2008, and after several iterations of ideas and attempts at funding, a nonprofit entity was established in 2014 and awarded the first scholarships to 17 applicants in 2016. By supporting and encouraging students to stay local for education, the organization incentivizes staying in the community for a career which ultimately impacts the local economy. Sol’s partnership with Jacksonville Promise focuses on increased outreach and awareness of the scholarship to underserved communities in Morgan County, raising the number of scholarships awarded each school year and instituting an award ceremony for new scholarship recipients.
Lincoln Land Community College
Lincoln Land Community College is the largest community college district in Illinois in terms of land mass, covering all or parts of 15 counties in central Illinois and 4,115 square miles. The main campus is in Springfield, with outreach centers in Jacksonville, Litchfield, and Taylorville. The college supports a diverse manufacturing sector across Illinois and, through industry feedback, has identified industrial maintenance skills as essential to the continued success of these local employers. Sol’s partnership will enable the college’s Industrial Maintenance Program to purchase and maintain training equipment, increase the annual class size, support onsite workforce training for local manufacturers through site visits, and engage high school Career and Technical (CTE) program students to foster early interest in manufacturing and STEM jobs that will drive economic growth in Illinois
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Morgan County Extension 4-H program)
The Morgan County 4-H Extension Program is the UIUC affiliate that serves Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Morgan, and Scott Counties in Illinois. Through this program, land-grant colleges and universities bring vital, practical information to agricultural producers, small business owners, consumers, families, and young people. Sol’s partnership commits funding to create new 4-H programming and expand access to 4-H groups for youth in Morgan County, IL. The new 4-H program will offer a new community experience that focuses on exploring food access, renewable energy, and the environment. Specifically, the collaboration will support a garden and education center in Jacksonville, sponsor increased participation in 4-H programs for underserved communities and enhance after school and summer programs.
Future Possibilities
Our collaboration with these organizations focuses on encouraging genuine relationships and meaningful, lasting change in Morgan County. Our investments go beyond one-time donations; rather they reflect our long-term commitment to building opportunities and supporting the community throughout the life of our Prairie Creek Solar Project. Looking ahead, Sol Systems is committed to building and strengthening partnerships with community organizations so that our clean energy initiatives remain community-focused and meet our land stewardship and energy supply goals.
Fostering Community Connections: A Conversation with Rebecca Halford, Senior Director of Community Engagement at Sol Systems
Community Impact |
By Adaora Ifebigh
Rebecca Halford is Sol Systems’ Senior Director, Community Engagement where she leads teams to develop community engagement strategies for renewable energy projects and ensures inclusive stakeholder participation. With over a decade of experience in renewable energy and climate strategy, Rebecca's career includes senior roles at AES Corporation where she led stakeholder relations in the WECC region, and at Clean Energy Collective where she managed education and engagement for community solar projects.
I hope you enjoy learning how engaging communities on infrastructure projects fosters trust through consultation and communication, influencing their success and sustainability.
How did you begin your career in renewable energy, and what do you find most rewarding about this work? What motivates you in your role as Senior Director for Community Engagement?
Before getting into solar energy, I owned a small real estate brokerage in Albuquerque, NM that specialized in land development. I had a small team, and the market was robust. However, with the onset of the Great Recession, the financial landscape shifted dramatically; banks halted lending, and my business struggled. Despite the economic downturn and numerous business closures, I noticed solar was taking off. As people began to seek energy independence and take advantage of tax incentives, I discovered an opportunity that enabled me to present to small groups like real estate brokers, teaching them about the value of rooftop solar, and showing them how they could access solar energy incentives for their homes. From this role, I transitioned to community solar and then into utility-scale solar development.
My motivation has always been rooted in the desire to share the benefits of solar energy and educate communities about the advantages of transitioning to clean energy. A former colleague used to say, “This is homegrown energy,” highlighting the local pride associated with creating energy from within communities. I am passionate about forming connections, conveying the positive impacts of solar projects, and nurturing relationships to become a trusted partner in the process.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is celebrating the completion of a project. These projects require extensive time and effort, from introducing project ideas to the community and developing plans for local benefits, to realizing the impact through community programs. Knowing that our team has contributed to long-term positive change through our programs is incredibly fulfilling.
Sol Systems is a renewable energy firm dedicated to accelerating America's clean energy future and investing in local communities. What role does community engagement play at Sol Systems, and how does the community engagement team collaborate with other teams to ensure the successful development and construction of solar projects in local communities?
The Community Engagement Team plays a key role within Sol Systems, working with almost all the teams at Sol from the earliest stages of project development. Our development teams rely on us to assess opportunities and identify partnerships in the communities where we intend to develop or purchase early-stage projects. We keep track of our projects to understand the community feedback around a new infrastructure project. We work with the policy team to understand regulatory frameworks that impact solar development. Our partnership with the construction team ensures that the community's experience with the project is well-managed, addressing questions and concerns and keeping residents informed about construction timelines. Whether it’s the social and economic benefits, or during construction when it can be a little bit stressful or disruptive for a short period of time within a community, we represent the community and ensure that our teams hear their voice as we go through the different phases of a project.
The Sol Systems’ Impact Team is a valuable and unique partner as we establish relationships with communities at the beginning of a project. We provide a bird’s eye view of the community needs that could translate into future economic benefits for the community once the solar projects are operational. The community engagement team’s earliest efforts shape our relationships and the impact-driven initiatives that we establish post-construction.
Some communities are passing laws to ban new renewable energy projects, while others are enacting laws to prevent local governments from doing so. How is your team navigating these challenges and working with communities to advance the clean energy transition? How do you address concerns or resistance to clean energy projects within these communities?
Engaging with communities allows the developer to understand the community’s philosophy and interest in large scale infrastructure projects. This engagement highlights the various roles within the community and how the local government is structured. By meeting people where they are—whether at townhalls, community fairs, or school meetings—we gain insight into what matters to the community and explore possibilities for collaboration.
I don't view moratoriums and ordinances for renewable energy projects as roadblocks. Instead, moratoriums can provide small governments with the opportunity to establish guidelines that ensure projects meet community needs. Outright bans on infrastructure projects can be complex, but we remain hopeful that our team can meet with the community leaders, build relationships and try to have conversations about infrastructure projects respectfully. Successful solar projects and the economic benefits that come from such projects in neighboring communities may help to lessen concerns from communities that are debating whether to pass an ordinance against solar projects or not.
Ultimately, our goal is to show communities that we support their self-determination and aim to be a long-term, reliable partner.
How do you build and maintain strong relationships with the communities where Sol Systems’ projects are located? What are the benefits of these partnerships in addressing challenges facing both the industry and these communities? What challenges have you encountered in fostering these partnerships, and how have you overcome them?
Building strong relationships begins with understanding the community's values and priorities. For example, on a recent trip to Kentucky, I met with community members and local government officials to learn about their community values—agricultural programs, education, and energy mix to name a few. Rather than imposing an agenda, we work with community contacts to identify and support initiatives that align with local values. These early connections are crucial, and their impact endures beyond project completion. Communities recognize that we listened to their needs and delivered on our commitments, which fosters trust and long-term collaboration. Once the project is complete, those early connections prevail.
We recognize there can be some opposition to renewable energy projects in any community, particularly when driven by misinformation. As we build partnerships and become a trusted advisor in the community, we want to provide them with the education needed to counter the misinformation. Our role is to empower communities with facts and build lasting trust.
With economic concerns being top of mind for many Americans, are there any policy changes or industry trends influencing your team’s community engagement approach? Do any of these give you confidence that authentic engagement can lead to economic development and land stewardship, addressing community concerns about utility-scale projects while ensuring benefits for all and leaving no communities behind?
The energy communities’ provision in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a tremendous opportunity to maximize the project impacts. Since the legislation passed two years ago, we have worked to leverage its benefits in our communities. Understanding the intricacies of the IRA and engaging in open dialogue with local officials allows us to maximize community benefits. On a recent trip to Champaign, IL, the Economic Development Director, expressed interest in funding to build out transmission in the state which would create new jobs and economic benefits for the community. Our Infrastructure + Impact approach ensures that solar projects benefit communities that are disproportionately affected by climate change. This includes initiatives related to the importance of diligent land stewardship, pollinator-friendly solar certifications, and research into the benefits of native perennial vegetation around solar project sites. Recently, Sol Systems executed an agreement with American Farmland Trust (AFT) that focuses on Smart SolarSM initiatives. Smart SolarSM, a concept service created by AFT, outlines principles to minimize the environmental impacts of solar developments while enhancing ecosystem-focused practices at solar sites. Over 2,000 acres of land from the projects that Sol Systems will develop in the next four years will participate in a research partnership with AFT to test soil health and assess the impact of beneficial vegetation.
The mission of the IRA, the growing momentum in the renewable energy sector and the interest in building deep community partnerships gives me confidence that while economic concerns remain top of mind and should be important to many Americans, we have the tools to build a clean energy economy that works for everyone.
Whether it's Illinois or Louisiana or anywhere else, we prioritize these types of partnerships and want to make sure that we return the land in the best condition possible. The IRA, the renewable energy sector's momentum, and our commitment to deep community partnerships instill confidence that we can build a clean energy economy that benefits everyone while addressing economic concerns.
Is there anything important we haven't discussed that you'd like to share with us?
Reflecting on the industry since I joined in 2010, I am continually inspired by the rapid evolution and growth in community engagement practices. Over the past decade, community engagement has become a priority with most development firms and seeing that evolution has been rewarding. We strive to build great projects and strong relationships, which help mitigate community opposition or navigate regulatory challenges.
We also aim to collaborate effectively with communities, ensuring that our efforts are valued and that we respect and integrate their values. At Sol, the emphasis on community engagement is evident in how our team’s contributions are appreciated across the company. This affirmation of our work demonstrates Sol Systems’ commitment to building meaningful relationships and identifying pathways for progress.
From Vision to Impact: Sol Systems’ Journey Towards a Community-Focused Clean Energy Economy
Community Impact |
By Adaora Ifebigh
In the three years following our inaugural Power Purchase Agreement announcement with Microsoft in 2020, we have significantly expanded our commitment to invest in under-resourced communities and climate change-impacted communities. This groundbreaking strategy started with 5 community organizations in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. In 2023, we concluded the year by supporting 15 community impact organizations across the Eastern Seaboard of the United States backed by funding and support from two additional corporate customers, Google, and Gas South.
Leaning into Sol Systems’ focus on a “Pathway to Solarization” especially for under-resourced communities, our partnerships have been instrumental in creating community-centered programs that promote clean energy access, facilitate critical home repairs for energy efficiency, and bolster education and workforce development programs that provide wraparound services for program participants. These initiatives are designed to provide comprehensive support to participants. We shared our journey, lessons learned, and opportunities at various events throughout the year, collaborating closely with our partners, industry experts, and federal agency representatives.
Sol Systems Community Impact Engagement Series
The Sol Systems Community Impact Engagement Series hosted two significant webinars. The first, "From IRA to BIL – Available Funding to Accelerate Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Equitable Workforce Development," offered insights into funding opportunities under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The second webinar, "Reducing Energy Burden: Enabling Access to Solar and Resiliency through Pre-Weatherization and Energy Efficiency," showcased our integrated approach to ensuring universal clean energy access.
Industry Partner Events
A key highlight was our participation in the Rural Renaissance Roadshow, organized by Groundswell, Inc., in Northwest Arkansas. This event brought together rural energy practitioners to discuss the future of local clean energy, innovative partnerships, and funding for rural community programs.
Joined by our partners, Appalachian Voices, and Aiken Electric Cooperative, we hosted a session, “The Power of Partnerships: Leveraging Scale for a Successful Community-Centered Clean Energy Development,” which emphasized the importance of collaboration in achieving impactful community-centered clean energy projects.
A Rewarding Journey
Since launching our first-of-its-kind impact initiative, our journey has been filled with learning experiences and achievements, affirming our dedication to making clean energy accessible to all, especially for under-resourced communities. Celebrating the solar installation at the City of Refuge in Baltimore, a faith-based organization that supports families and individuals on their path out of a crisis with Groundswell in October was a memorable and rewarding moment. This event symbolized the tangible impact of our collaborative approach to expanding access to clean energy in communities where it is needed the most.
New Partnerships
While continuing our commitment to nurturing early career exposure to the clean energy industry, we fostered a new partnership to support middle and high schools in Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia. To date, over 20 teachers have participated in the KidWind training to implement renewable energy curriculum in their classrooms, and it is estimated that over 64,000 students will be impacted by this curriculum over time. Furthermore, we strengthened our relationship with electric cooperatives, who provide services to 92% of the counties in the United States facing persistent poverty. This was achieved through a targeted initiative in the Carolinas, designed to "close the pre-weatherization gap" by addressing essential health and safety home repairs in over 100 homes across the region producing an estimated 604 MWh of energy savings, $74,000 of electricity cost savings per year, and over 400 MT of CO2 avoided.
Future Possibilities
Inspired by Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the Places You'll Go," we are excited about the future possibilities. Our ongoing and new partnerships, especially around our solar project sites, promise even greater impacts in the years to come. We look forward to the journey ahead, committed to expanding our community impact and fostering an equitable transition to a clean energy economy.
Infrastructure + Impact Spotlight: Q&A with Lynn Heller of Climate Access Fund
Community Impact |
By Adaora Ifebigh
Lynn Heller is a social entrepreneur with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector. Prior to launching the Climate Access Fund, Lynn served as Vice President of the Abell Foundation, where she oversaw the foundation’s operations and managed the Foundation’s environmental grants portfolio. Lynn has worked as a nonprofit strategic planning and management consultant and has launched political and economic development programs in Baltimore, California, and Indonesia. Lynn is Board Chair of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, a past member of the Maryland Climate Change Commission, and a founding member of the Baltimore Sustainability Commission.
I hope you enjoy learning more about expanding low-income community solar through partnerships, innovative financing, and advocacy in the summary of our conversation below.
-Adaora Ifebigh
Lynn Heller - Credit: Climate Access Fund
For those who might not know, what is the Climate Access Fund?
The Climate Access Fund (CAF) is a nonprofit green bank that uses flexible capital to increase community solar development in and for historically disinvested communities in Maryland. As we know, environmental harms and the impact of climate change disproportionately affect historically disinvested communities as well as neighborhoods with greater percentages of low-income people of color. In Maryland alone, there are 400,000+ low-income households, yet only a fraction have participated in Maryland’s Community Solar Pilot Program since the program’s inception six years ago.
Most community solar projects are located on large tracts of land and serve higher income families because these are the projects that tend to provide the most attractive financial returns for investors. Yet smaller (<1 MW) projects located on commercial rooftops and parking lots in underserved communities have the potential to offer a range of community benefits in addition to electricity bill savings. These “co-benefits'' can include, but are not limited to, job training, employment and educational opportunities, and wealth creation through shared ownership of the solar asset itself. CAF’s low-cost financing – raised from a combination of public, private, and corporate sources – makes these projects viable.
What inspired you to start the Climate Access Fund?
I was working at a private foundation that had a history of supporting efforts to tackle and alleviate poverty. The foundation had a focus on Baltimore City and a history of social impact investing. I had long been passionate about environmental sustainability, reducing the impact of climate change, and advancing social justice efforts, and while at the foundation, I was focused on making sure that low-income households would not be left out of the clean energy transition.
After the 2016 election, I felt moved to do more on this issue because I sensed there would be less motivation at the federal level in the coming years. The more I learned about low-income household access to solar, the more I discovered: (a) the real potential of community solar to reach low-income households at scale; and (b) a clear financing gap was preventing private solar development from benefitting low-income households. CAF was launched to plug that financing gap using social impact capital.
Through a community impact partnership with Sol Systems and Microsoft, Climate Access Fund is implementing a community solar project “Solar4Us @ Henderson-Hopkins” in Baltimore, MD. Can you share the history and details of this project?
Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins Partnership School (or as most people refer to it, Henderson-Hopkins) is a Title I, K-8 school in the heart of East Baltimore. It is a few blocks away from Johns Hopkins Facilities – the hospital, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the School of Medicine. Henderson-Hopkins is a contract school (like a charter school) that serves a school community that is over 95% Black/African American, with 100% of its students eligible for free and reduced lunch. The K-8 school is part of a state-of-the-art school campus that also includes the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Early Childhood Center, a local pioneer serving families eligible for Head Start alongside families paying market rate.
Henderson-Hopkins operates as a community school, which is a school that places focus on supporting and building partnerships with residents in addition to academics and student outcomes. During the height of the pandemic, I went to Henderson-Hopkins as a volunteer, and I delivered food to residents who were lining up in their cars. Impressed by the ethos of the school and their community school approach, I reached out to school leadership to introduce the concept of a rooftop solar array that would benefit the families in their school community as well as other neighborhood residents. Henderson-Hopkins was enthusiastic about this idea and agreed to be our demonstration site, and Solar4Us @ Henderson-Hopkins was born. Henderson-Hopkins agreed to use 100% of all power generated for the benefit of the school community as opposed to drawing energy for the benefit of the school campus. The project anticipates serving ~150 - 175 low-income households. Each household that enrolls will experience a 25% savings on their electricity bills.
Our approach also emphasizes the necessity of other co-benefits, such as workforce and education-related opportunities. The construction of the system will create solar-related jobs in the neighborhood, and we prioritize local hiring. We are also working with a local nonprofit, CivicWorks, to offer paid apprenticeships to graduates of their solar installation job training program. Furthermore, we are sponsoring an after-school club for Henderson-Hopkins middle school students that focuses on environmental sustainability and clean energy, and with the solar panels being an on-site, provide an experiential learning tool. Ultimately, our target is to offset 27,000 metric tons of C02, the equivalent of ~3.04 M gallons of gas consumed and generate $1.1 M in household savings over the projected 35-year lifespan of the solar panels.
Why is this project important for the area where it is located?
The opening of the Henderson-Hopkins campus in 2014 represented progress toward the fulfillment of a commitment made by Johns Hopkins University to families in the Old Town/Middle East neighborhoods of East Baltimore. In these neighborhoods, the median income is less than $25,000, and over 50% of children live below the poverty line. It is a predominantly Black neighborhood, and 90.8% of residents identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). Over 50% of the adult population is unemployed. For participating families, the 25% discount on monthly electricity bills could very well be the difference between a paid bill and cut off electricity, which negatively impacts children and families from financial, health, and well-being standpoints.
What would you say are the benefits of partnerships when trying to address challenges facing our communities today?
At the fundamental level the only reason CAF is doing this is because of our partnership with the school. We are so fortunate to have such an enthusiastic and values-aligned partner like Henderson-Hopkins for our first demonstration of this community solar approach. We recently filled our last fundraising gap through a crowdfunding effort and should begin construction in Fall 2023.
Funding from Sol Systems has been critically important in the financing of this project because it has allowed us to do things like create a working capital fund, which every solar project needs. It also allowed us to establish necessary reserves, which we wouldn’t otherwise have. We also appreciate Sol Systems sharing their significant expertise with CAF, as well as sending us relevant funding opportunities as they learn of them to help us leverage additional funding.
We are intentional about cultivating mutually beneficial partnerships at every level. This includes large national coalitions, peers in the green banking and solar development fields, elected officials, and quasi-public agencies at all levels of government; community-based organizations and resident leaders, renewable energy and environmental justice advocates, and other mission-aligned organizations. Partnership development is an area of work for which we care deeply about, and as we grow, we look forward to having more internal capacity to expand our reach.
In short, our work has really taken a village. Solar4Us @ Henderson-Hopkins would not be possible without partnerships with the public and private sectors, other nonprofit groups, and philanthropy. Many stakeholders have come to the table to make this happen, which is especially important since we are doing something new– new because it is renewable energy with community solar, new to Baltimore City, and new because of the innovative ways to finance this project. This project is a first of its kind in almost every respect, and when you are attempting to implement a project of that nature, a multitude of committed partners is necessary.
Do you see your approach to community solar as a new way of bringing economic fairness to under-resourced areas? What makes your approach unique in addressing urban disinvestment?
Absolutely. I see this as a unique approach. Most community solar projects are built on large tracts of open, arable land. That’s where the economies of scale tend to be more beneficial. Bigger projects yield a greater return on investment. The revenue-to-cost ratio is higher, and naturally, the market gravitates towards those larger projects. This is great from a renewable energy perspective, but these projects typically do not prioritize enrolling low-income households, and the household savings rate tends to be lower.
However, rarely do private developers approach community solar as a broader economic development tool in low-income communities. It is often the case that it is out-of-state investors who own the projects and reap the long-term economic benefits in Maryland, and there are no co-benefits like community education and job training and apprenticeships. Local hiring is not usually a priority unless it is a public project. Private solar developers are not trying to figure out how to share the benefits of long-term asset ownership with the community members themselves. All these kinds of co-benefits tend to not exist in other types of larger scale solar development, and even community solar development generally.
Complementing our work as a green bank, CAF also has an advocacy angle that has been instrumental in paving the way for this holistic way of approaching community solar. In 2022, CAF originated HB 1039, which exempts community solar projects on rooftops, parking lots, and landfills that are at least 50% low and moderate income (LMI) from personal property taxes. In 2023, CAF was at the table to strengthen and advocate for HB 908, which made permanent the statewide community solar pilot program, eliminated the pilot program’s arbitrary cap on community solar projects at 580 MW, required that every project reserve at least 40% of its power for low-income households, and made bill consolidation mandatory for utilities.
