Micro Solar Leases: A New Income Stream for Black Farmers in the South?

The Denver-based Triple Bottom Line Foundation funds projects to retrofit low-income, multi-family properties that house underserved groups. The projects include energy-efficiency upgrades, solar power installations, and weatherization upgrades among others.

Community solar projects like the Oxon Run Community Solar Farm in Washington D.C. give lower-income communities a chance to reduce energy bills while helping the city meet climate goals. These solar farms are typically set up on vacant lots and the electricity is directed to specific users through the grid instead of used onsite.

Brick-making businesses in Uttar Pradesh, India, are switching from coal to solar panels to power their kilns. The swap allows them to meet more than their electricity needs, also supplying energy to their employees’ huts, while reducing emissions.

Artificial intelligence tools are helping the solar energy company Solstice better serve community solar subscribers and make projects more inclusive for low-income households. The tools use data to predict when subscribers might be facing problems that will likely lead to them leaving the project, such as delays or billing confusion, and vet subscribers based on whether they are likely to pay their bills instead of using their credit scores.

Thanks to a government-funded electrification project, Modhera is the first solar-powered village in India, and as a result, nearly all of the residents pay nothing for electricity. Instead, they earn money from selling unused power back to the grid.

A solar panel array at the Steelton-Highspire School District generates enough energy to meet the schools’ needs, and the switch to solar is estimated to save the district $1.6 million over the next 20 years, which it can use to improve programming for students.

On the White Earth Nation Reservation, the nonprofit 8th Fire Solar is building and installing solar thermal panels to heat buildings with the sun’s energy while lowering emissions and energy bills.

Communities in the Sundarbans have adopted shrimp farming as a sustainable livelihood strategy; the approach has proven successful, with environmental benefits and many farmers earning a good income.

Native Renewables, a Native- and women-led nonprofit, is bringing free, off-grid solar energy systems to homes in the Navajo and Hopi reservations that don’t have access to power. And it’s doing so by training local Indigenous peoples to work in the industry so they can reap the economic benefits of these careers instead of hiring out the work.

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.