Community Solar News

Community Solar News
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  • Updated Semiweekly

The national community solar beat: program dockets and capacity blocks, project awards, subscriber acquisition, and the developers and operators building the market. New episodes Tuesday and Thursday. Produced with AI.

  1. 1d ago

    The Low-Income Subscriber Just Got Valuable Enough To Fight Over

    Neighborhood Sun quadruples its New York footprint by buying Meadow Energy's sixty-seven-project portfolio, with Climate First Bank backing the deal specifically for its low- and moderate-income subscriber reach. Meanwhile, Maine's Public Advocate is telling a dozen community solar companies to stop pitching low-income bill-assistance customers a worse deal than the one they already qualify for. Ray and Della on going after the same subscriber for the right reasons versus the wrong ones. Sources: Neighborhood Sun Acquires Meadow Energy and Community Solar Portfolio | Solar Power World | https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/10/neighborhood-sun-acquires-meadow-energy-and-community-solar-portfolio/ Maine OPA Warns Community Solar Farms of Misleading Appeals to Low-Income Customers | Maine Public | https://www.mainepublic.org/climate/2026-10-26/maine-opa-warns-community-solar-farms-of-misleading-appeals-to-low-income-customers Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

  2. 6d ago

    The Dirtiest Lot in Maine Just Got a Second Life, and Illinois Brought Sheep

    Nautilus Solar turns a toxic former circuit-board recycling site in Sanford, Maine into a 7 megawatt community solar farm serving over 960 subscribers, the show's first Maine story and Nautilus's third state in two months. Plus: Generate Capital and TurningPoint Energy energize the first site in an eight-project Illinois portfolio, with grazing sheep and a nearly $70 million savings projection to show for it. Sources: Generate Capital and TurningPoint Energy Energize 3.5 MWac Community Solar Project in Sandwich, Illinois | Solar Power World | https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/10/3-5-mw-community-solar-project-completed-in-illinois-shines-program/ Nautilus Solar Energizes 7 MW Community Solar Farm on a Former Contaminated Circuit-Board Recycling Site in Sanford, Maine | Energies Media | https://energiesmedia.com/17-acre-maine-lot-once-buried/ Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

  3. Oct 20

    The Land Nobody Wanted Is Having a Moment: Apples, a Superfund Site, and the Money That Followed

    A four-hundred-year-old Massachusetts orchard grows solar around its trees, a former Superfund zinc smelting site in Illinois turns into a city tax line, and two very different financing deals, one a developer's first-ever term loan, one a $387 million bet on Illinois and Maryland, show the capital is following. Four wins, no heads-up, the same beat proving itself on land and on paper. Sources: BlueWave's Three-Site Dual-Use Community Solar Finalist in Granville, Massachusetts | Solar Builder Magazine | https://solarbuildermag.com/projects/vote-1-mw-to-10-mw-2026-project-of-the-year-awards/ AC Power Turns a Former EPA Superfund Zinc Smelting Site Into Community Solar in Hillsboro, Illinois | Solar Builder Magazine | https://solarbuildermag.com/projects/vote-1-mw-to-10-mw-2026-project-of-the-year-awards/ Pivot Energy Closes Its First Term Loan: $173 Million for 51 Community-Scale Solar Projects | Pivot Energy (via Pulse 2.0) | https://pulse2.com/pivot-energy-closes-173-million-term-loan-with-first-citizens-bank-huntington-bank-and-bankunited/ Aligned Climate Capital Lands $387 Million to Build Out 126 MW of Community Solar Across Illinois and Maryland | PV Tech | https://www.pv-tech.org/aligned-climate-capital-nexamp-secure-finance-community-solar-projects/ Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

  4. Oct 15

    Three Pieces at a Time, Two Hundred Million All at Once: Same Business, Every Size

    A Georgia co-op opens enrollment on a one-megawatt solar project sold in small blocks along an interstate, an Illinois village clears zoning for its own project unanimously, Captona backs a 55 MW Nexamp portfolio across four states, and New York puts $200 million behind NY-Sun. Four wins, no heads-up, same industry working at every scale. Sources: Cobb EMC Launches SolarShare Community Solar Project Along Georgia Interstate | Cobb Business Journal (MDJ Online) | https://www.mdjonline.com/cobb_business_journal/cobb-emc-celebrates-launch-of-solarshare-community-solar-project/article_c9954323-2c63-48e8-a1ac-960c6a66c5a9.html Illinois Village of Oswego Advances Community Solar Project Offering Residents a 10% Bill Discount | Shaw Local News Network | https://www.shawlocal.com/kendall-county-now/2026/10/14/oswego-residents-would-share-in-power-generated-by-community-solar-project/ Captona Makes Preferred-Equity Investment in 55 MW Nexamp Community Solar Portfolio | Kirkland & Ellis | https://www.kirkland.com/news/press-release/2026/10/kirkland-advises-captona-on-preferred-equity-investment-with-nexamp New York Commits $200M to Expand NY-Sun, Including New Capacity for Commercial and Community Solar | NYSERDA / NY-Sun (via NY State Senate newsroom) | https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/pete-harckham/harckham-applauds-governor-hochuls-ny-sun-roll-out Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

  5. Oct 13

    Sixth Fund, First Harvest: Community Solar Proves It Can Repeat Itself

    A Massachusetts cranberry bog that had sat fallow for years is producing fruit again, thanks to the lease income from the community solar array built over it. Then Generate Capital and KeyState close their sixth tax equity fund together, $154.5 million for 43 megawatts in New York and Illinois, and Ray and Della argue about what a sixth deal actually proves. Sources: Distributed Energy Infrastructure celebrates harvest of groundbreaking cranberry agrivoltaic wetlands | PR Newswire | https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/distributed-energy-infrastructure-celebrates-harvest-of-groundbreaking-cranberry-agrivoltaic-wetlands-302905015.html Generate Capital and KeyState close community solar fund | Renewable Watch | https://renewablewatch.in/2026/10/12/generate-capital-and-keystate-close-community-solar-fund/ Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

  6. Oct 6

    Beating the Queue: An Airport, a Nonprofit, and the Four-Year Wait Behind Them

    A Staten Island affordable-housing nonprofit builds and subscribes its own tenants to community solar, and a DeKalb County airport turns unused land into an eight-megawatt project that funds its local schools. Then: new Berkeley Lab data on just how long the interconnection queue has gotten for projects this size, and what to actually do about it. Sources: ComEd and SunVest energize nearly 8-MWdc community solar array at DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport | Offshore Source (BusinessWire) | https://offshoresource.com/business-wire/comed-sunvest-celebrate-energization-of-near-8-megawatt-dc-community-solar-array-at-dekalb-taylor-municipal-airport Sisters of Charity of New York brings community solar savings to Staten Island affordable housing | Solar Power World | https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/10/solar-on-staten-island-affordable-housing-serves-community-and-tentants/ Distributed solar interconnection timelines stretch to nearly four years for larger projects | PV Magazine USA | https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/10/05/distributed-solar-interconnection-timelines-stretch-to-nearly-four-years-for-larger-projects/ Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

  7. Oct 1

    No Drama Today: Three Wins and a Ribbon Cutting Happening Right Now

    Three clean wins, zero heads-up. Enterprise Energy cuts the ribbon on a new Minnesota garden as this episode goes out, Cultivate Power proves it can run what it builds in Illinois, and TurningPoint Energy and Nautilus Solar push their Delaware portfolio to the halfway mark. Sources: TurningPoint Energy and Nautilus Solar energize third of six Delaware community solar projects | Joplin Globe (BusinessWire release) | https://www.joplinglobe.com/region/national_business/turningpoint-energy-celebrates-the-energization-on-third-of-six-delaware-community-solar-projects/article_b94e8cbd-e6e9-51ba-bfff-8827c8fdb6a5.html Cultivate Power energizes Bowes Solar in Elgin, Illinois | Elgin Patch | https://patch.com/illinois/elgin/community-solar-booms-il-kane-co-project-powers Ribbon cutting set for Owatonna community solar garden | KTTC | https://www.kttc.com/2026/09/30/ribbon-cutting-set-owatonna-community-solar-garden/ Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

  8. Sep 29

    Fifty Bucks, Fine Print, and Nine Figures: Community Solar's Growing-Up Week

    Altus Power teams up with a Rensselaer County nonprofit on a hyper-local subscriber drive, a six-organization coalition brings Oregon its first community solar project, and Illinois hands developers a new labor-agreement rulebook. Then Generate Capital closes a $117 million facility that says the institutional money isn't slowing down. Sources: Altus Power and The Arc of Rensselaer County launch community solar partnership | BusinessWire (via Yahoo Finance) | https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/altus-power-arc-rensselaer-county-160000609.html 800 kW community solar array breaks ground in Northeast Portland to serve low-income households | KXL | https://www.kxl.com/community-solar-project-now-under-construction-in-northeast-portland/ Illinois Shines sets Project Labor Agreement filing requirements for community solar projects over 3 MW | Illinois Shines (Adjustable Block Program) | https://illinoisshines.com/project-labor-agreement-submission-requirements-and-process-for-community-solar-projects/ Generate Capital secures $117 million MUFG facility for 114 MW community solar portfolio | SolarQuarter | https://solarquarter.com/2026/09/16/generate-capital-secures-117-million-mufg-facility-for-114-mw-community-solar-portfolio/ Sponsored by Our Power Co. — you build the solar, we bring the community. Community solar customer acquisition for developers and operators. Looking to subscribe and lower your own bill? Go to https://joincommunity.solar Produced with AI. https://communitysolar.news

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The national community solar beat: program dockets and capacity blocks, project awards, subscriber acquisition, and the developers and operators building the market. New episodes Tuesday and Thursday. Produced with AI.

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