Credit: Ampion
Ampion Renewable Energy has announced the launch of a new interstate community solar setup it’s calling “Synthetic Community Solar.” This initiative enables solar developers to optimize project economics by expanding access to solar credits for subscribers across state lines, while providing additional savings for low-income households. With the IRA’s major incentives for solar developers expiring, Synthetic Community Solar offers developers an opportunity to meet the Low-Income Bonus Credit ITC requirements more quickly.
“Our new product expands the reach of community solar by deploying it across state programs, and solves a geographic problem that has historically limited developers’ ability to finance community solar assets in communities where low-income acquisition is challenging,” said Nate Owen, CEO and founder of Ampion. “We’re grateful to offer a solution that helps developers navigate the complexities of community solar across different state programs while providing additional savings to low-income subscribers. This initiative directly supports our mission of making renewable energy accessible everywhere, for everyone.”
Traditionally, the community solar subscriber’s utility account needs to be located within the same utility territory and state as the solar farm. With Synthetic Community Solar, Ampion’s cross-state flexibility helps low-income households get the financial benefits of a project located in a different state or utility territory.
The product is especially useful when a solar farm is located in an area where low-income subscriber acquisition is prohibitively expensive or difficult. Developers can leverage Synthetic Community Solar to easily earn the ITC’s Low-Income Bonus Credit. Ampion works with the utility to transfer funds, in the form of utility credits, to eligible, low-income subscribers in another region.
The program is already in effect — a 2.5-MWDC installation in Maine is providing Ampion subscribers in Illinois with solar credits on their electricity bills. For this particular Maine project, Ampion transfers funds from the developer to income-qualified households in Illinois, providing them with savings on their electricity bills. Through Synthetic Community Solar, these subscribers receive a discount of up to 20% off the solar credits produced by the site.
News item from Ampion
