Perch Energy’s Community Solar Turns Renewable Cons Into Pros

“Whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end,” said U.N. Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell during his closing speech at last year's global climate talks (COP28). "Now all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.”

This month, all eyes are on the next stage of U.N. climate talks (COP29) and the fossil fuel transition agenda. And Stiell's call to action is not just for governments, but also for businesses to their double energy transition efforts. 

Expanding the use of solar energy can make significant progress on the greenhouse gas reductions needed to slow climate change, but particularly at the residential level, the transition to solar presents a big issue of access. Some people may not be able to finance a switch to solar, and others may simply not have the space. Likewise many with the desire to be a part of the transition may live in a rented or leased property and thus lack the ownership or authority. Solar isn't a one size fits all solution. It has to fit — on your roof specifically. It also has to be facing the right direction for the system to generate enough power. 

Perch Energy is aiming to remedy this access issue and expand the limits and application of renewable systems with its growing community solar network. “It's about building smaller format community solar farms, which usually produce about 5 megawatts of clean power from the sun.” Perch Energy CEO Bruce Stewart told 3p. “The idea is that you could sign up as a member of that community, and whatever your house or business needs, you receive that discount on your monthly bills.”

Community solar works just as it sounds: A small solar system is installed in a community, and neighbors and businesses can purchase shares of the power it generates so they can start using more renewable energy and lower their monthly bills. Perch's community solar farms could be anywhere from the side of a highway to the top of a building and are connected directly to the community’s power grid, Stewart said. Through this direct grid connection, the solar system supplies all the power acquired, and customers receive a discount on their bills based on their subscription. And it’s not just residential addresses that are eligible for subscription in this program. Anything from a restaurant to a hospital can sign on, and it’s currently available in 20 U.S. states. 

Perch’s community solar stands out because of this widely applicable group model that brings the solution of solar into unlikely places like the densely populated city of New York. New York so far has a large market for this new service, with over 6.6 gigawatts of capacity that has already been built. States like Colorado are also seeing massive growth in the market, Stewart said, and projections mark the value of this industry to more than double over the next five years. What’s the secret to the growth of this new venture and its future projections? Well, it’s not a secret and it’s not just one. 

Ironically, a community of stakeholders came together to make these projects possible. Most states have carbon reduction or net-zero items on their development agendas, so getting the legislation for shared renewables passed has been reasonably smooth. Although the need for renewable solutions has existed for some time, the barrier to access impedes the progress of this clean energy transition even for builders. To be more specific, many cities have the need for alternative clean energy, but the proper space to build and provide enough power to make a difference in the community often eludes companies and governments when tackled alone. It was concerted community efforts that brought Perch’s solar services much of the success it has managed so far. 

Logistical issues like space plague some of the greener ambitions of cities across the U.S. At a certain point in the ideation process for community solar, stakeholders learned that it actually costs less material and funds to build a larger farm to service a large population as opposed to individual solar systems for individual households and businesses. This seed of breaking the door to access through the community took root and inspired other stakeholders. Power companies, for instance, offered to provide incentive for programs like these, which helped to ease the process for builders and those who maintain the farms, Stewart said. Perch Energy comes in as the manager of this customer relationship between the solar farms cooperative and the customers.

Perch's community solar model has also benefited New York renters living in affordable housing in Brooklyn, the Bronx and other boroughs. “Part of the community solar rules are geared toward creating incentives to help low- and medium-income customers. These folks who are low-income and renters probably won’t be able to put anything on their roof. So, we sought to deliver 20 percent savings to some of them. For people who live in that economic position, when the power bill is such a large part of the household budget, it’s really valuable,” Stewart said.

This affordable housing campaign in partnership with the investment company Nuveen aimed to enroll residents across New York. The program continues to provide these savings to low and middle income families. The benefits to community solar are abundant, and with a program like this even the most vulnerable in our societies can enjoy some. It can alleviate many logistics concerns and limitations in the construction industry and effectively make solar possible in areas where it was ruled out as impractical. It also has the potential to massively reduce the financial barrier to entry for the working american that may not necessarily be able to afford that initial hardware and installation fees. In short, community solar can turn many of the cons of solar energy into pros.