What the Heck is Community Solar and How Can it Help Pennsylvanians?

What is community solar?

Did you know solar energy contributes only about 1.5% of Pennsylvania’s electricity generation mix?

Yes, you read that correctly— a meager 1.5%!

So, you decide you want to help Pennsylvania reach its clean energy goals by going solar, but you find out you can’t. Maybe you live in an apartment or condo, rent your home (like myself!), or own a house but can’t (or don’t want to) put solar panels on your roof.

Then, community solar could be for you!

Community solar lets people in a neighborhood or community share one big solar power system instead of each person putting panels on their own roof.

So, how does community solar work?

Imagine a solar farm is built nearby. People in the community can sign up to buy or rent a share. The farm generates electricity, and each person who signed up gets a credit on their electric bill based on their share of the power it produces.

If you already have solar on your roof, most community solar regulations and programs allow you to benefit from both rooftop solar and community solar. The details will vary by program.

Usually, you can subscribe to community solar to cover any electricity your rooftop solar doesn’t provide. This way, you can meet 100% of your energy needs with locally produced solar energy.

Here are the steps-

Community solar is not…

A “solar co-op” is when neighbors use their collective buying power to get better prices on rooftop solar panels. Each member buys their own solar system and installs the panels on their home. Our friends at Solar United Neighbors have led several of these local projects throughout the state; you can learn more about them here.

"Retail Supply" — PAPowerSwitch.com allows customers to pick an energy supplier other than the area’s utility company. Some of those suppliers offer “retail supply” or “green power,” which usually means hydroelectric, wind, or solar power. I currently do this for the house I rent; but these options are often more expensive than the utility’s rates.

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Benefits of community solar

Pennsylvanians can unlock numerous benefits from community solar. This includes:

• Making clean energy accessible for more Pennsylvania residents— Based on a sample of 11 states, community solar adopters were about 6.1 times more likely than rooftop solar adopters to live in multi-family buildings, 4.4 times more likely to rent, and earned 23% less annual income. The researchers concluded that community solar has effectively expanded solar access to multi-family housing occupants, renters, and low-income households.

• Making our power grid more resilient with fewer severe outages by decentralizing power generation and reducing stress on local transmission lines— A University of Tennessee study examined over 2,000 blackout events across 278 U.S. cities and found fewer severe blackouts in regions with high renewable integration. When blackouts did occur in those grids, they were shorter, affected fewer customers, and did not fall as far short of demand.

• Lowering our energy bills— A 2020 Penn State study projected that with over 1,000 megawatts planned across the state, electricity customers would save over $30 million per year through community solar participation.

• Reducing fossil fuel pollution— A study found that solar prevented 595 premature deaths from fossil-fuel air pollution and avoided 178 million tons of CO2.

• Creating good-paying local jobs— A Vote Solar study using the NREL JEDI model showed that 500 megawatts of new community solar could mean a 26% increase in solar jobs, including 1,053 sustained full-time jobs in the first five years, plus $361.6 million in earnings for those Pennsylvanians employed; approximately $33/hour.

• Growing the economy— A 2020 Penn State study found that opening the community solar market could generate $1.8 billion in economic impact for Pennsylvania.

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So, what is Pennsylvania waiting for?

Unfortunately, community solar is not legal in Pennsylvania yet. Groups like PennFuture have been advocating for this critical legislation for over a decade. Meanwhile, neighboring states and most of the country have already taken advantage of community solar’s many benefits, while Pennsylvania lags behind.

Source: NREL

Let’s make community solar a big part of Pennsylvania’s energy plan!

Check out our latest report, The PennFuture Energy Playbook: Building Our Energy Future! This guide for state leaders outlines steps for real energy progress, including implementing community solar. PennFuture will continue this fight to finally get community solar over the finish line and deployed in the commonwealth.

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Sources:

Pennsylvania Electricity & Energy Mix 2025-2026 | Generation by Source

Community Solar Fact Sheet | National Caucus of Environmental Legislators

How community solar works - Solar United Neighbors