The FREE research team has recently published their primary findings regarding the ongoing and rapidly accelerating growth of Community Clean Energy Choice (CCE) authorities in the United States, in particularly in relation to their solar energy offerings. In contrast to the conventional arrangement, where energy utilities determine the available energy options, CCEs enable community-wide energy decision-making. The research focused on the trajectory of CCEs in California, Massachusetts, and New York and explored how this innovation could shake-up the existing energy regimes in these states and accelerate the deployment of solar energy. The full research report, titled “Community Solar Governance: Institutional Design and Collective Choice Options”, is available via the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) or via the FREE research page where you can find all the research publications of the FREE research team.
Several Key Findings from the Research Effort:
- Sizeable Market: We estimate that the CCEs in operation in the three states in question now represent over 15 million people. In particular, we identify 471 cities, towns, and counties that have embarked on the community solar choice and CCE authority trajectory. For each state, we assess market conditions by evaluating solar sales, contracts, CCE coverage, and CCE market scale. We find that 55%+ of the Massachusetts population now resides in jurisdictions with active CCE efforts and the same is true for ~41% of the California population. Rapid growth of the CCE model is expected to continue in all three states.
- Rapid Solar Growth: We find that CCEs spur substantial solar energy deployment. For example, we were able to examine 85 solar energy transactions by California CCEs that together exceed 3.8 GWp of solar capacity.
- Sharing of Benefits: CCEs are realizing lower solar-generated electricity prices compared to incumbent utility offerings. The benefits are often explicitly shared with low- and moderate- income families that receive, for instance, temporary relief due to emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic and permanent discounts on their electricity bills through bill offsets and shared savings. CCEs in California, Massachusetts, and New York are earmarking solar energy deployment that directly serves LMI households through discounted electricity offerings.
- Community-based Governance of Energy Decisions: The solar energy programs and projects initiated by CCEs in the three states are managed and overseen by local governments. While the extent and depth of local government participation varies, we see evidence in all three states that local government oversight produces benefits for the community as a whole that would otherwise be unavailable in utility or private developer-based subscriber programs.
The CCE authorities have grown rapidly over the years. Major population hubs like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego are now part of the CCE movement. As we document in our report, this growth pattern is expected to continue in the following years, making FREE’s research a timely and necessary piece for understanding the possible implications.