Community Solar Still A Bright Spot Amid Trump Turmoil

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President Trump sailed into office with big ideas for tilting federal energy policy in favor of fossil fuels, but gaping holes are already beginning to appear in the plans. One of those holes is the community solar movement, which is still gathering steam with the nation’s #1 fast food chain among its growing legion of fans.

The Community Solar Movement Is Coming For Your Fossil Fuels

Community solar enables every ratepayer in a local distribution grid to claim solar power on their utility bills, without the need to install solar panels on their own property. They can simply subscribe to a designated community solar project in their area.

In the early 2000’s, solar costs were relatively high and community solar subscribers had to be willing to pay a premium. Subscriptions were typically offered on an opt-in, voluntary basis, and only a handful of states actively encouraged such plans (see more community solar background here).

Still, the opportunity was attractive to businesses and individuals seeking to untangle themselves from fossil power plants. More recently the movement has gained legs as solar costs have dropped, enabling subscribers to save money instead of incurring extra costs.

As of last year, the US Department of Energy counted community solar projects in 43 states plus Washington, DC. Almost half of US states have also enacted specific policies that support community solar projects.

Community solar accounted for a healthy 7.8 gigawatts of installed capacity as of 2024. Still, the movement remains highly concentrated.

“About 73% of the total market is concentrated in the top four states: Florida (2,085 MW-AC), New York (1,764 MW-AC), Massachusetts (1,014 MW-AC), and Minnesota (910 MW-AC),” notes the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Spreading The Benefits Of Community Solar

The concentration of activity is beginning to crack as high-dollar solar developers tap into the growing market. One example is the Georgia-based firm Dimension Energy, which closed a $284 million financing package for 122 megawatts worth of community projects in seven states late last year.

The portfolio includes the company’s first projects in Illinois and Pennsylvania, as well as projects in Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.

That’s peanuts compared to other plans hatched by Dimension last year. In July, the company described a five year, $3 billion scheme to add 800 megawatts to its roster in 2025, towards a goal of having 2.8 gigawatts under development in 13 markets.

Another example cropped up on January 23, when the community solar firm Perch Energy let word slip that 30 fast food restaurants in Illinois have all signed up for community solar subscriptions in Rockford and Pontiac, in the northern part of the state. The group consists of Wendy’s and McDonald’s locations owned by the firm All Star Management.

Perch estimates that the restaurants will save a combined total of $500,000 over a 20-year span through discounts on their utility bills, deploying electricity from almost 8 megawatts in existing solar capacity. The group can also up the ante if and when more capacity is available, leading to a potential total savings of $1 million over 20 years.

The Fast Food Connection

The Perch projects are particularly interesting because they paint a pair of familiar faces on solar power at a time when the solar industry is dealing with a torrent of misinformation. McDonald’s is still far and away the #1 fast food company in the US by sales volume, and Wendy’s clocked in at a respectable #5.

“This partnership shows how beneficial community solar can be for all customers. Any business, organization, municipality, family or individual—really the whole community—stands to benefit from energy savings with community solar,” explains Perch CEO and President Bruce Stewart.

“It’s the local McDonald’s and Wendy’s, but it’s also the school, the apartment building, the homeowner and all of Main Street that gets to access savings in a real way,” he emphasizes.

With the two high profile franchises under its belt, Perch is already aiming to grow its footprint in Illinois. “Perch Energy looks forward to supporting additional restaurant chains and businesses to access clean energy throughout Illinois in the years to come,” the company says of itself. The Perch portfolio also covers community solar projects in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, and Minnesota.

Private sector activity is ramping up at a crucial time as the incoming Trump administration goes about the business of pulling the rug out from under federal programs aimed at supporting community solar.

Still, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has hopes. At the end of last year the lab noted a 500% growth in community solar projects in a six-year span, arriving at the total of 7.8 gigawatts in 2024 by way of reminding everyone about two programs funded by the Energy Department, the National Community Solar Partnership+ and the Community Power Accelerator.

“NCSP+ extends beyond community solar, funding the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to provide technical assistance, resources, peer networking, and learning opportunities related to PV projects,” NREL emphasized, drawing attention to the program’s focus on expanding solar access to low- to moderate-income households.

Among other activities, the Accelerator program hosts a virtual community solar marketplace to connect vetted, credit-ready projects with lenders and investors as well as philanthropic organizations.

Beyond Community Solar

For the record, community solar is not the only driver of the fast food industry’s energy transition.

McDonald’s emerged as a leading corporate buyer of utility scale wind and solar power in the early 2000’s. Recent projects include a 2023 power purchase agreement for the 145-megawatt (AC) Prairie Ronde Solar project in St. Landry Parish Louisiana. The agreement committed McDonald’s to purchase the full output of the solar power plant, which the company describes as equal to the electricity consumed by about 630 of its restaurants.

The developer behind the project is Lightsource bp, which is notable considering that Louisiana was not particularly known to be solar-friendly state until the past couple of years, when it did a quick u-turn due in part to Lightsource’s interest.