Community of homes

Installation Services

Community Solar

two people holding solar panels on roof

What is community solar?

Community solar offers the benefits of solar power without putting panels on your own roof. Instead, you subscribe to a shared array of solar panels, called a community solar garden, built in a location that gets strong sun exposure. The community solar garden sends electricity into the local utility grid, and your utility credits your bill for your share of the power it produces. That means you can save money and use clean energy, even if solar panels aren’t on your own home.

One third of all U.S. households are renters and about half of renters are considered cost-burdened. Community solar is a way for anyone to go solar – regardless of whether they own their home or not – while also providing households with an opportunity to reduce their monthly electricity costs.

GRID's Role

A national leader in community solar for underserved communities.

GRID Alternatives is a national leader in community solar; serving as a developer, installation contractor, project and program planner, workforce development partner, and policy leader.

What We Do

GRID’s work in community solar.

GRID builds community solar programs that expand clean energy access for income-qualified households nationwide.

  • Project development & installation

    Development, installation, and management of community solar projects that benefit income-qualified households, affordable housing providers, environmental justice partners, and underserved communities.

  • Partnerships with industry

    Direct partnerships with solar industry contractors to develop community solar programs for income-qualified households, including engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services that integrate workforce development and drive community benefits.

  • Utility program design

    Program design and project implementation services for utilities across the nation, spanning cooperatives, municipal power, and investor-owned utilities.

  • Workforce development

    Community solar workforce development and training programs focused on underserved and underrepresented communities.

  • Policy leadership

    National and state regulatory and policy leadership and program development. In partnership with Vote Solar, GRID maintains best practices in community solar policy through the Low-Income Solar Policy Guide.

Aerial footage of residential homes with solar

Featured Project

  • A group of people wearing yellow safety vests listens to a GRID construction staff person as she shows them the back of a solar panel

    Coyote Ridge Community Solar Garden

    Fort Collins, CO

    The Coyote Ridge Community Solar Garden is a partnership between GRID Alternatives and Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association (PVREA),...

We install solar in difficult places

Ballasted Racking 

Ballasted solar racking uses heavy weights, such as concrete blocks or sand, to hold panels in place without drilling or ground anchors. Ballasted racking provides a significant advantage for solar installations at sites where ground penetration is not feasible or desirable. This can include brownfields and landfills with hazardous or corrosive soils, as well as environmentally or culturally sensitive areas, such as sacred tribal lands, where subsurface disturbance may be restricted.

Solar Fences

Solar fences consist of vertically oriented solar modules similar to a conventional fence.  The solar generation from solar fences tends to dip at high-noon, but produce well during morning and afternoon hours.  These installations are well suited for difficult terrain such as agrivoltaic applications and sloped land.

Want to bring community solar to your community?

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name(Required)
A team of installers gathers on a hillside multifamily rooftop during a solar install.

Community Ownership

GRID Alternatives supports direct community ownership of large solar installations and the local wealth-building opportunities they can provide in disadvantaged communities. Some options for bringing community-owned solar to your area include:

  • Local non-profit ownership
  • Community solar cooperatives
  • Public private partnership
  • Community choice aggregators

GRID’s community solar project portfolio

Project Portfolio
Utility Size (DC) Project Location Partners
Black Hills Energy 1.5 MW Pueblo West, CO Black Hills Energy
Anza Electric Cooperative 994 kW Santa Rosa Reservation, CA Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians
Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) 2.65 MW Washington, DC Washington, DC
Black Hills Energy 2.0 MW Pueblo, CO Pueblo Housing Authority & Arevon
Xcel Energy 200 kW Boulder, CO Boulder County & Boulder Housing Partners
Xcel Energy 628 kW Boulder, CO Boulder Housing Partners
Empire Electric Association 1.0 MW Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, CO Towaoc / Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
Xcel Energy 2.0 MW Aurora, CO Denver Housing Authority & Namaste Solar
Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association 1.5 MW Fort Collins, CO Colorado Energy Office
Fort Collins Utilities 65 kW Fort Collins, CO Colorado Energy Office
San Miguel Power Association 200 kW Telluride, CO Colorado Energy Office
Yampa Valley Electric Association 148 kW Steamboat Springs, CO Colorado Energy Office
Holy Cross Energy 145 kW Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado Energy Office
Delta Montrose Electric Association 151 kW Montrose, CO Colorado Energy Office
Empire Electric Association 26 kW Cortez, CO Colorado Energy Office
Grand Valley Power 136 kW Grand Junction, CO Colorado Energy Office

We’re innovators in the Community Solar sector

Community Storage works much like a traditional Community Solar Garden, with one key difference: instead of receiving credit for solar output alone, you benefit from the output of a battery. This makes Community Storage a strong option for consumers and electric utilities facing high electricity costs, such as demand charges, during peak usage periods on the grid.

In 2026, GRID Alternatives published the Technical Guide to Community-Owned Agrivoltaic Solar Gardens in partnership with the Colorado Department of Agriculture. This guide provides step-by-step instructions for building community-owned agrivoltaic solar gardens in Colorado. “Agrivoltaics” means combining solar energy production with active farming, such as growing crops or grazing livestock. The guide shows how these dual-use projects can protect Colorado’s rural heritage while advancing clean energy goals. It also emphasizes local ownership and control, so the financial and environmental benefits stay within the community.

View the Guide(this link opens in new window)
Construction worker on ladder holding level against blue sky

Partnerships

This work happens together.

Community solar at scale takes a coalition: utilities, governments, Tribes, housing providers, capital partners, environmental justice organizations, and the for-profit solar industry. GRID partners with all of them.

  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • Vote Solar
  • Coalition for Community Solar Access
  • National Community Solar Partnership
  • Community Power Accelerator
  • National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)
  • Colorado Energy Office
  • Colorado Department of Agriculture
  • Colorado Solar & Storage Association
  • Denver Housing Authority
  • Pueblo Housing Authority
  • Boulder Housing Partners
  • Boulder County
  • Namaste Solar
  • Arevon
  • Tribal Energy Alternatives
  • Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco)
  • Black Hills Energy
  • Xcel Energy
  • Anza Electric Cooperative
  • Empire Electric Association
  • Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association