Expanding Access to Solar for Low-to-Moderate Income Households and Communities:

Lessons Learned for State Agencies

 

A new resource published by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) highlights best practices and lessons learned from a three-year multi-state initiative to develop and implement innovative strategies for expanding access to solar for low-to-moderate income (LMI) households and communities.

 

From 2017 to 2020, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia worked with CESA on the State Energy Strategies project, supported by funding from the United States Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. Through the course of this project, over 30,000 LMI households have received or will receive the benefits of solar energy. In addition, the project team developed a deeper understanding of the unique challenges of LMI solar and of ways to meet those challenges.

 

The differences in implementation across the participating states point to the many diverse routes available for implementing LMI solar. The experiences of those states provide useful guidelines for other states and indicate the need to continue growing the knowledge base around LMI solar policy.

 

Lessons learned from the State Energy Strategies project are compiled in a new webpage. The page also provides links to case studies, reports, webinars, and other products developed over the life of the project. We believe that the insights and links included here can be of use to states across the country and to many other stakeholders interested in LMI solar.