Community solar programs are initiated at the state level and are smaller, utility-scale projects typically ranging from 20-80 acres (3MW to 10MW) in size. Local residents are able to subscribe to the energy generated by community solar projects for a discount on their electric bills. 

Successful community solar programs are currently underway in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington) and the District of Columbia.

For community solar sites, we target single parcels with 15-75 acres of land, and for transmission projects, we target sites with as few as 175 acres to over 1000 acres of contiguous land. 

We assess sites for how many “buildable acres” they contain, so we omit constrained land that is in wetland areas, flood zones, treed locations, and areas with significant topography. The best projects are those that are shade free, high, dry, and flat and in close proximity to existing utility infrastructure.  The closer a project is to the utility infrastructure, the fewer costly upgrades required to tie our projects into the electrical grid, as a result, we pass along any upgrade savings to our landowners through increased lease rates.

Lease terms typically last over 20 years and generally no more than 40 years. Rent is paid annually at the beginning of the year, once construction is complete.

The Option Period, which lasts approximately 3 to 5 years, is the initial due diligence period where the developer will be obtaining permits & working with your utility for the right to connect to the nearby power lines. Developers offer fixed annual payments during these periods to complete the lengthy due diligence required for each project. The option period is required regardless of whether the transaction is a lease or purchase.

With all power generation projects, there is a substantial due diligence period. The reasoning for this is that utilities require projects to go through detailed engineering studies, which can take 2+ years. We then allot 1 year for zoning and permitting, ~9 months for design and 6 months for financing. Hence, the 4 to 5-year option periods.

Yes, landowners can continue to utilize their land as they have in the past. When the option is exercised, appropriate consideration will be given to landowners to cover any commercial impacts to their existing land use (ex. farming corn, soy, walnuts, etc).

We work hand-in-hand with our landowners to select the best locations for all our projects, and we strive to impact their current or planned future uses for their properties as little as possible. Additionally, we prefer to site projects as far from neighboring properties as possible, ensuring better site lines and less interference during the construction and operations periods.

Many developers are open to co-locating solar energy installations and agriculture beneath and/or between rows of photovoltaic panels – this can include sheep grazing, raising honey bees, and the growing of shade friendly crops (ex. radishes, carrots, and potatoes. The goal of agrivoltaics is to help ease the land-use conflict between constructing solar projects on productive agricultural land.

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