A New Approach to Developing Community Solar Projects for LMI Communities in ERCOT's Competitive Electricity Markets

Abstract:

The development of Community Solar (CS) projects across the United States has increased in the last decade because of benefits like the reduction in the cost of solar and the avoidance of upfront capital costs common for standalone solar home systems (SHS). Many communities, cities and states have turned to CS projects to meet their climate action plans, renewable energy portfolios, and sustainability goals. CS projects can also be used to reduce energy bills for low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities. This is not the case in Texas. Due to the unique characteristics of the Texas electricity market, deploying CS projects can prove difficult. In this paper we discuss some of these characteristics. We also introduce and discuss a new community solar (CS) model that focuses on increasing under resourced, underrepresented and LMI income communities' access to clean energy technologies while reducing their high energy burdens in the process in the competitive ERCOT electricity markets in Texas.