On August 14, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed legislation enabling community solar programs in the state. SB 152 will allow Alaskans to subscribe to community-owned solar arrays not located on their home or property, opening up clean energy access for the first time to the more than 260,000 Alaskans who live in rental housing and 79,000 who are living below the Federal poverty level.

The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Senators Bill Wielechowski, Forrest Dunbar, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Scott Kawasaki and Representatives Ashley Carrick, Stanley Wright, Cliff Groh, Andy Josephson, Alyse Galvin, Donna Mears and Calvin Schragehas.

This legislative victory comes on the heels of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Earth Day announcement that lead applicant Alaska Energy Authority, along with the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, has been awarded $62.5 million to “span from urban, residential projects to community-scale, rural projects across Alaska,” and to deliver the benefits of solar to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

“This is common sense legislation that allows Alaskans to access the fastest-growing segment of the renewable energy industry. With billions of dollars available from private financing and federal incentives, the bipartisan SAVE Act will enable Alaskans to supercharge the deployment of low-cost, clean electrical generation, further diversifying generation sources and providing significant consumer bill savings. This is a bright day for Alaska!” said Phil Wight, policy analyst for the Alaska Public Interest Research Group.

This comes at a crucial moment for Alaska’s energy transition — with growing concerns around the Cook Inlet natural gas crisis, Alaskan utilities are looking to diversify their energy sources with renewables. Community solar also presents an opportunity to build a stronger and more resilient electric grid. The majority of Alaskans support solar energy development, but most have been unable to personally benefit from distributed renewable generation. Community solar stands to change that.

“The Alaska Center understands first hand the need for this Community Energy reform. We’ve heard so many times through our Solarize programs: What if I’m a renter? What if I can’t personally afford a solar installation? Finally, all Alaskans on the Railbelt will be able to subscribe to community energy installations and benefit from low-cost renewable power. Alaskans can decide to access or create Community Energy — and this gets us closer to a more equitable energy environment, where clean energy is available to all Alaskans,” said Chantal de Alcuaz, co-executive director at The Alaska Center.

Over the past decade, the number of states that have enacted policies to support third-party shared or community solar has expanded from just a few to 22 states, including Washington, D.C. A collective 6.6 GW of generation capacity has been installed to date, and Wood Mackenzie’s most recent US community solar market outlook predicts that there will be 14 GW_DC power installed across the country by the end of 2028.

News item from CCSA