ReVision: Community solar farms give everyone access to renewable energy

For those people with rooftop solar panels, sun-generated electrons help power their lights, refrigerator and everything else that requires electricity. If they don’t use all that they’ve generated, the excess power goes into the electric grid and the homeowner gets a credit on their bill from the utility company.

But not everyone — because of finances, sun-starved location or an inappropriate roof — can access solar directly into their homes.

For those people who can’t grab those sun-powered electrons, community solar farms (CSFs) offer environmental and financial benefits.

“In the case of a community solar farm, those electrons are flowing into the grid,” said Mark Zankel, director of community solar farms for ReVision Energy. “What you get is essentially a comparable financial and environmental benefit.”

This Revision Energy-supplied graphic shows the layout of its community solar farm, the first of its kind, on the capped landfill in Jaffrey. (Courtesy photo)

ReVision is constructing what it says will be the state’s largest CSF on the capped landfill in Jaffrey. It is being built to generate 1.4 megawatts of power into the grid. Construction on the array is expected to begin in the latter half of 2024, with the hope of delivering solar energy to the grid, and bill credits to customers, in 2025.

“We’re very excited and proud to be building what will be the first megawatt scale — what we call off-taker-owned — community solar farm,” said Zankel. “That means it will be owned by the households and/or businesses that purchase shares in it. It’ll be the largest one of that type in New Hampshire.”

Founded in 2003, ReVision Energy is a 100% employee-owned organization with locations in Maine, Massachusetts and in Brentwood and Enfield, NH.

Households, nonprofits and small businesses can buy shares in the CSF, according to Zankel.

While Jaffrey residents have first-come-first-served access to the shares, any Eversource New Hampshire utility customer not currently served by solar can purchase a share in this CSF. That means an Eversource utility customer across the state in Durham can have access to the economic benefits of the solar array in Jaffrey.

“In essence, a community solar farm is a large solar array that allows more than one electricity user to share the benefits of the energy that it generates,” said Zankel. “CSFs are great, because they expand access to the benefits of solar energy by eliminating the need for at least some electricity customers to put panels on their own property.”

New Hampshire is behind its neighbors in solar power generation. While Massachusetts and Vermont get more than 20% of their electricity from solar (21.8% and 20.1%, respectively), New Hampshire gets 1.4%. Maine gets 8.7%.

“State policy in New Hampshire hasn’t been as solar-friendly, but the climate crisis isn’t waiting for legislation,” says ReVision. “If we’re going to reach our climate goals and keep our planet livable, we need more people to abandon fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy. We know rooftop solar doesn’t work for everyone, so we’re bringing community solar to New Hampshire.”

The cost of a share in the CSF will be based on the shareholder’s electrical usage. Shares can be purchased up front, or they can be financed through a ReVision lending partner with a $1,000 deposit. According to ReVision, a solar loan grants ownership of a share that provides the shareholder with long-term energy savings, even as they pay off the loan.

Share owners get the benefit of a 30% federal tax credit. For information about being part of the CSF, go to: https://www.revisionenergy.com/solar-products/home/community-solar-power

In neighboring Maine, ReVision has 20 CSFs serving about 1,100 shareholders, according to Zankel.

But there are limits to just how much these solar farms can provide — limits set by the size of the farm’s site but also limits set by New Hampshire on how much power they are permitted to feed into the grid under the state’s net metering rules.

The maximum allowable size for a solar farm with residential and commercial off-takers is 1 megawatt AC.

In 2023, the Legislature passed and Gov. Christopher Sununu signed HB 281, which allows municipalities, schools and other local governmental entities to enroll as off-taker members in a net-metered solar farm up to 5 megawatts AC located anywhere within their utility’s territory.

Zankel explained that AC is alternating current, while DC is direct current. Arrays capture sun and generate DC energy, which is then converted to AC energy by inverters. “AC is what flows into your home/business and from your solar array into the grid. Solar developers refer to both numbers when talking about the size of an array,” he said.

For customers with direct access to renewable energy (solar panels on their roof, for example, or wind or hydro), they can send unused excess electricity back to the grid in a net metering fee structure with their utility.

In New Hampshire, a non-governmental customer can have a system of up to 1 MW AC (which is equal to 1,000 kW AC) and be able to net meter as long as the system is properly sized to the customer’s historic electricity consumption.

Customers who net meter have a special meter which measures the difference between the electricity provided by the local utility and the electricity produced by an on-site renewable energy source.

For the Jaffrey site, the projected nameplate capacity is 1.0 MW AC/1.382MW DC. The net metering limits by the state relate to nameplate AC capacity, he added, so Jaffrey at 1.0 MW AC is within the limit for residential and commercial off-takers.

This Revision Energy-supplied photo shows the community solar farm currently in use in Portland, Maine, one of 20 CSFs the company has in that state. (Courtesy photo)

Net metering also places certain limits on homeowners with solar panels.

According to Zankel, current net metering rules don’t allow residents to receive the full value of their generated energy. On-site net metered projects (such as rooftop) are credited 100% of energy supply and transmission charges, but only 25% of distribution charges (down from 100% in 2017).

“In short,” said Zankel, “energy exported to the grid from an on-site solar array is compensated at a slightly lower rate than energy received from the grid. Since 100% of the energy produced at the Jaffrey CSF will be exported to the grid, CSF members will receive the reduced compensation for that energy.”

Additionally, unlike neighboring states, according to Zankel, the state’s current net metering policy does not allow homeowners or businesses who have solar power on their property to also participate in a CSF.

“This is unfortunate, because a homeowner may not be able to fully offset their electricity use with on-site solar due to roof or property constraints, or simply that their consumption grows over time as a result of transitioning away from fossil fuels — buying an electric vehicle and adding heat pumps, for example,” said Zankel.

“At ReVision, we regularly hear from homeowners and businesses seeking more flexibility in meeting their electricity needs, saving money, and supporting locally generated clean energy, and we are hopeful that future net metering policy improvements will allow for this.”

ReVision Energy has done extensive work in the Monadnock region already, including for the city of Keene, the Peterborough Town Library, Camp Glen Brook in Marlborough, the Monadnock Food Co-Op in Keene, and the Solarize Monadnock program.

SaveOnEnergy’s February 2024 Electricity Bill Report shows New Hampshire ranks 40th when it comes to how much, on average, consumers paid for their electricity.

Based on data from November, SaveOnEnergy said the average electric bill in the United States is $145.55. The average is based on the typical monthly energy usage in the country, 899 kilowatt hours, and an average electricity rate of 16.19 cents per kWh.

In New Hampshire, according to the report, consumers paid $160.98 based on 25.84 cents per kWh for 623 kilowatt hours.

The state has announced a plan to use $1.4 million from the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to help pay for the installation of solar projects of up to 60 kilowatts on municipal buildings or land. For lower-income communities, the grant will cover up to 95% of the costs and 60% for other municipalities.