Ten Years of the Low-Income Solar Policy Guide, and a New Chapter Ahead

In 2016, GRID Alternatives partnered with Vote Solar and the Center for Social Inclusion to launch the Low-Income Solar Policy Guide, a free online resource built to help policymakers, community leaders, and advocates design solar and clean energy programs that actually reach income-qualified households. A decade later, GRID and Vote Solar remain the Guide’s contributing partners, and its influence has only grown.

The Guide lays out the barriers that keep income-qualified communities from accessing solar, the guiding principles behind energy equity programs that work, and a full toolbox of policy mechanisms, compensation structures, financing tools, and consumer protections that states and cities can put to use. It’s paired with real-world models pulled from states across the country, showing exactly what’s worked and where.

A resource built from the ground up, and used nationwide

Over the years, the Guide’s Best Practices library has tracked, shared, and informed income-qualified solar policies across single-family rooftop solar, multifamily housing, community solar, and workforce development, with examples from California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Washington, D.C., among others.

Those policies translate to meaningful benefits for real households and communities:

• Housing authorities gaining energy security. In Denver, a community solar project helped the Denver Housing Authority keep housing affordable for residents like April Valdez, a mother of four. The project was possible because of the local utility’s community solar program and an innovative financing structure that GRID helped develop, both of which offer replicable and scalable models for other communities.
• Tribal communities leading their own energy future. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota and the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians in Southern California both used the Guide’s models to shape solar projects on their own terms.
• Local advocates shaping policy. In Washington, D.C., a coalition of residents organized around what the Guide calls “energy democracy,” pushing for equity in the District’s clean energy rules.

The Guide’s development was supported by the Energy Foundation and the 11th Hour Project, and researched and written with input from policy experts, utility staff, and advocates across more than a dozen organizations.

A new chapter is coming

Solar and storage policy has changed a lot since 2016, and GRID Alternatives and Vote Solar are working on an update to the Low-Income Solar Policy Guide to reflect the changing landscape and new opportunities. We’ll be updating pages and adding a 50-state map with overviews of state low-income solar policies, for an estimated release in early 2027. Stay tuned for more on what’s ahead.