The U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office recently announced the seven finalists for the 2023 Sunny Awards. Each finalist team will receive a $2,500 cash prize and will advance in the competition to compete for Grand Prize, Meaningful Benefit, and Engagement Awards.
This year’s program challenged teams to meet ambitious requirements that showcased the ability of their community solar projects and programs to deliver multiple meaningful benefits. These seven teams nominated community solar projects and programs that met eligibility criteria and successfully demonstrated the delivery of meaningful benefits to subscribers and their communities.
Read more about the seven finalists and their commitment to expanding community solar.
The following teams are recognized as Finalists for the 2023 Sunny Awards:
Overcoming Solar Barriers for Multifamily Housing (Led by Olympia Community Solar, Washington): This team partnered with a low-income apartment building in 2020 to develop a solution for installing community solar on an individually metered multifamily housing project. The resulting project serves 100% low- to moderate-income households and saves residents over 30% on their household electricity bills.
Brownfield to Brightfield (Led by City of Urbana, Illinois): This team developed a community solar project on a closed, city-owned landfill that was otherwise undevelopable. These projects occupy approximately 20 acres on the capped landfill, contain nearly 14,000 solar panels, and generate a combined 5.3 MW of clean energy. Ten percent of the project capacity is subscribed by the City of Urbana and the remaining 90% provides bill savings to exclusively low- to moderate-income households in the utility territory.
Staying Sunny in Colorado (Led by Xcel Energy Colorado, Colorado): This team developed 6 MW of utility-owned community solar gardens that serve exclusively income-qualified customers. These community solar projects provide an average 30% bill savings to over 900 households and leverages the support of a statewide nonprofit to find, educate, and enroll eligible subscribers.
Illinois Solar for All (Led by Illinois Power Agency, Illinois): The Illinois Solar for All program is an income-eligible solar incentive program that delivers benefits to more than 1,100 residential households in Illinois with incomes 80% or less of area median income. The program provides bill savings equal to at least 50% of the value produced by each subscriber’s share of the project.
Co-op Solar: Owned by the People (Led by Oregon Clean Power Cooperative, Oregon): This cooperatively-owned project portfolio of two community solar projects prioritize community resilience and collective ownership at a fire station and school district buildings in the cities of Garibaldi, Nehalem, and Phoenix, Oregon. These projects include batteries that can provide emergency power for lighting and wall outlet circuits in the event of a grid outage.
Solar at CBE (Led by Sunwealth Power Inc., Massachusetts): This portfolio of three solar canopies built on a synagogue in Acton, Massachusetts, provides subscriptions and bill savings to both the synagogue’s building and low- to moderate-income households in the local community.
Prologis Community Solar Transforms Brownfield (Led by Solar Landscape LLC, New Jersey): This 2.67 MW community solar project installed on top of a warehouse in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, that provides energy bill savings to over 400 nearby low- to moderate-income households and workforce development opportunities for the community.
