Solar Commons: Designing Community Trust Solar Ownership for Social Equity
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Solar Commons: Designing Community Trust Solar Ownership for Social Equity
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2017
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In the United States, the sun shines for everyone, but many are left out from the economic benefits of the renewable energy transition. Community solar, meant to provide ownership and subscription options to those without the means, often stretch the imagination in how they use the word “community.” Is an investor-owned utility that offers its customers the opportunity to subsidize the utility’s solar-generated electricity with a higher price on their electricity bill really an example of “community solar”? What do we mean when we say “community solar” in the United States today? And how can we build a model of community solar that serves low-income communities and “the common good”? This study introduces a new model of community solar called “Solar Commons.” Solar Commons are solar energy systems that use community trust-ownership to deliver commonwealth benefits to low-income communities. Using the cultural history of community land trusts and the creative potential of trust law as a backdrop, this study demonstrates the particular progress of a Solar Commons demonstration project which the Solar Commons nonprofit proposes for the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
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Prepared in partnership with the The Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) by the Community Assistantship Program (CAP), which is administered by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota.
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Grimley, Matthew; Milun, Kathryn. (2017). Solar Commons: Designing Community Trust Solar Ownership for Social Equity. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/190208.
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