El Paso solar cooperative helps homeowners save thousands on rooftop solar. It may be back next year.

A 9.1-megawatt community solar farm built on a contaminated Superfund site in Waukegan, Illinois, is now providing guaranteed energy bill savings to about 1,000 low-income households. The project successfully transformed polluted land into a productive asset that also generates lease payments for the local school district.

Moldova used government regulations and local installations of solar panels and biomass systems to respond to the Russia energy crisis, empowering local communities to create their own renewable energy cooperatives. These have helped increase the nation's renewable energy from 3% to 25% and reduce heating electricity costs in participating towns.

Nuestra Señora del Carmen Parish in Cataño, Puerto Rico, received funding from a nonprofit to install solar panels to provide a stable source of power for the community during outages and extreme storms. It’s a key part of a budding community-led climate resilience hub.

Facing sky-high utility costs and accessibility challenges, the community of Molokaʻi, Hawaii, took their energy security into their own hands and developed an energy-resilience-focused action plan. Backed by the primary state utility, the community is installing solar arrays and batteries, some of which are collectively owned and subscription-based. At the same time, the solar cooperative is cultivating a local workforce specialized in solar infrastructure.

A community solar project in a rural Michigan town is making energy more affordable for low-to-moderate-income households. Fifty community members and organizations subscribed to receive energy from and support the construction of a solar array. As a result, their electricity bills are about $300 cheaper each year, and the local utility reported fewer late payments.

A collaborative partnership among local and national organizations made it possible to install solar panels on 10 Greensboro homes for free. Because of this effort, many low-income families have seen a significant decrease in their energy bills and an increase in value of their homes. Although convincing people to install the panels was a challenge, organizers are now figuring out how to scale the initiative and make it sustainable in the longterm.

The Perinjanam Solar Initiative successfully combined government subsidies, cooperative bank financing, and a community-governed consumer committee to bring rooftop solar to over 1,000 households. Altogether, this cut monthly electricity bills by up to 80% and reduced carbon emissions by 192,000 kilograms, however such initiatives have failed elsewhere in Kerala due to the absence of government mandates, standardized financing frameworks, and the political will needed to scale the model statewide.

Spurred by federal and state incentives, farmers in Massachusetts are adopting agrivoltaics, the practice of installing a solar array on the same land they use for crops and livestock.

States across the United States are passing legislation that supports the development of community solar programs. These projects allow community members who can’t install their own solar panels to subscribe to other solar projects nearby, often on farms, schools, or stores. Alongside the property owner, subscribers help fund the project and save money on future electricity bills based on the power generated.

In the Indian state of Bihar, women-led self-help groups are challenging traditional gender norms and saving money to buy and install solar irrigation pumps. The pumps increase the local agricultural capacity by providing a cleaner, more affordable alternative to the diesel pumps typically used to combat water scarcity in the region.