Keeling Curve

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Solar United Neighbors began in 2007 when Anya Schoolman‚ son Walter and his friend Diego saw An Inconvenient Truth. They wanted to install solar panels on their homes, but when Anya looked into going solar, she discovered it was complicated and expensive. Anya wondered if bulk purchasing might make solar affordable. Diego and Walter knocked on doors throughout their neighborhood to sign people up. That first group, the Mt. Pleasant Solar Cooperative, helped 45 neighbors go solar. Soon after, other neighbors from across the District, then across the country, started organizing solar co-ops and fighting for better solar policies together.

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Solar United Neighbors seeks to transition our existing fossil-fuel driven grid towards one with 100% clean, equitable energy. We simultaneously work to help people deploy solar and to pass legislature to expand clean energy standards and rights. Utilizing a solar co-op model, where a group of homeowners goes solar together at a reduced group rate, we help people go solar, join together, and fight for their energy rights. Solar United Neighbors has spent the last 12 years developing this cyclical solar co-op model, which is designed to profoundly shift public perception, policy, and the market for clean energy. As we work to take people solar, we also increase solar literacy and acceptance in a community. For every person we help go solar, we estimate we directly educate roughly 1,000 people. This has a compounding effect and serves to fundamentally change the conversation around solar in communities. Our model shows people that clean energy is appealing across the board. It is real, local, provides jobs, solves problems, saves money, and helps communities. Since 2007, our reach has expanded to 13 states and we have facilitated solar installations for over 8,000 homes, totaling over 73,000 kW of energy. Over the past decade, we have seen that co-ops elevate solar adoption beyond the co-op itself, boosting the entire local market. About 30% of co-op participants go solar through the co-op. The remaining 70% often solicit proposals on their own. Combined with the awareness created by our information sessions, public outreach efforts, and the surge in local installations, this drives additional business for all regional installers. This ripple effect typically lasts one year after a co-op is completed. For example, Rockville, Maryland saw solar installations more than double from 2014 to 2015 as a result of the Rockville Solar Co-op. For every co-op system installed, five non-co-op households went solar. When we take people solar, we educate them, which creates both a broad change in public perception and an educated constituency with a tangible stake in renewable energy rights. This results in mobilized, empowered communities willing to take on commitments to clean energy‚Äîincluding adopting better solar legislation, removing barriers to expanding access, or opting for 100% clean energy. We have seen our model inspire municipalities to undertake these types of commitments in places such as Miami, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and Prince Georges County in Maryland. Our model builds a grassroots army for clean energy and therefore is incredibly effective in forging sustainable cities, ultimately substantively reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The power of our policy work is exemplified in our DC program. Beginning with the passage of the Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008, we succeeded in consistently passing strong clean energy legislation that reduced barriers for solar adoption, created strong solar incentives, and ensured that all District residents benefit from renewables. In April 2018, our efforts culminated with the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018, which made the District a national leader by setting a 100% renewable energy standard by 2032. Today our work in DC is focused on ensuring that the District follows through on its commitments, and that the benefits promised by the clean energy transition are realized by all District residents. DC is not the only place that our work has helped transform the political landscape for solar energy. Some of our policy highlights included defeating proposed rate-increases in Ohio and Pennsylvania, preventing both Virginia‚ Rappahannock Rural Electric Cooperative and Jacksonville, Florida‚ municipal utility from shutting down rooftop solar, and successfully urging Minnesota‚ Governor Dayton to veto a bill that would prevent community solar projects. In other cases, we were able to initiate or finalize efforts to amplify solar rights‚Äîone large success included passing a 50% renewable energy portfolio standard in Maryland with expanded community solar. Additionally, we negotiated major increases to the total amount of distributed solar allowed in Virginia, proposed a solar property rights bill in Indiana that will likely pass in the next session, and pushed for legislation for third-party ownership of solar in West Virginia to facilitate nonprofits and government agencies going solar. Protection and expansion of renewable rights is a crucial component in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fighting for these rights is a large part of what we work to achieve. Our organizational focus seeks to elevate the voice of solar homeowners and ratepaying constituents. This is a departure from framing support of solar in terms of environmental values and activism and has allowed us to grow a diverse base of supporters. As such, our efforts transcend traditional party lines and demographic divides, a task with which many organizations focused on mitigating greenhouse gases struggle. Bipartisan support is key in achieving an energy transition and our network allows us to effect change across a range of political parties.

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As an organization, Solar United Neighbors is committed to diversity and inclusion as the foundation of both our work and our workplace. Despite substantive gender inequity within the solar industry as a whole, our organization is 45% female, including our Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. We believe in bringing all voices to the table and celebrating differences within and between communities. We strive to create an organizational culture and a solar movement that celebrates diverse viewpoints and life experiences. We have led workshops on gender inclusion within the solar industry at our Solar Congresses, which are statewide events that bring constituents together for a day of learning, sharing, and discussion about the present and future of solar. 
As for economic equity, we are pioneers in low-income solar, community solar, and conservative engagement in solar. We have passed community solar programs in D.C. and Maryland, securing low-income carve-outs in these programs, and have established a multi-million-dollar low-income solar program in D.C. called Solar for All. In 2017, Solar United Neighbors was selected by the District of Columbia as a grantee under the Solar for All program. The District‚ goal is to help 100,000 low- to moderate-income (LMI) families go solar at no cost to them and reduce their electric bills by 50% by 2032. Our program design was selected because of its unique focus on the needs and benefits to low-income homeowners. What made our program stand out was the fact that the homeowners in our program owned their systems from day one. As such, they were able to utilize the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC) and were not encumbered by third party ownership, which is the most common model for low-income solar. Also, our approach integrated and empowered people from across the District in a robust education program. Thus, participants learned about solar and went solar together across racial and economic barriers. Through our Solar for All program, we were able to help 73 families go solar at no cost to them and offset their energy bills by at least 50%. Over the next 15 years, each family will earn an estimated $23,000 in savings and income. 
We are now working to launch a similar program in Indiana through a partnership with the City of Indianapolis. Additionally, we are seeking to begin partnering with a variety of municipal and community partners across the country to help their residents install solar and further improve the affordability of their homes.

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