2017-07-05 ClimateAwards2017Winners

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First Place Award Winners - SMALL CITY Newton Mayor Setti Warren "Community Share" Solar Initiative The City of Newton is developing a total of 4.5 MWs of solar power on 13 municipal sites, including rooftops, carports and a capped city landfill. The city has assigned net metering credits — generated from a solar carport above a Department of Public Works parking lot — to a pilot community share solar initiative enabling low-income residents to share in the benefits of solar power. Concerned about income inequality and inclusion and wanting to keep Newton as affordable as possible, Mayor Warren and other city officials looked for a way to share the financial and environmental benefits from the city's solar development with low-income households. While many residents and businesses are following the city's lead by installing solar panels on their homes and commercial properties, low-income residents are stuck on the sidelines. If they rent, they have no place to install solar panels. If they are homeowners, solar installation costs — around $20,000 — are prohibitive. Newton's "Community Share" solar program addresses some of these inequities. Ironically, although solar power can be cheaper than basic electric service, low-income residents do not have access. At the same time, low-income residents, like other ratepayers, pay a percentage of their electric bills to a solar subsidy fund. As a result, when it comes to solar power, low-income residents are subsidizing more affluent ratepayers. The primary challenge before the city was how to define eligibility and identify eligible participants. The city partnered with Action for Boston Community Development, an anti -poverty and community development organization that administers Head Start and federal fuel assistance to more than 15,000 low-income families in the greater Boston area. ABCD identified approximately 1,200 eligible Newton households — those already on low-income energy assistance — and the city is now providing solar net metering credits (generated from the city's DPW solar array) to 903 participating households. The second significant challenge was how to administer the transfer of the solar credits to these 903 households. With the understanding and cooperation of ABCD and Eversource, the region's largest electric company, the city used existing solar regulations that allow "virtual net metering." These regulations permit anyone hosting solar panels to share their net metering credits with other ratepayers in the same territory. Although designed to accommodate a small number of transferees, with no express limit in place, the city was able to list 903 low-income accounts on its "Schedule Z," allowing those households to share in the credits. Newton's solar program, with 4-5 megawatts, will significantly reduce the city's carbon footprint. The "Community Share" program is a way to extend the many benefits of the city's commitment to renewable energy to all city residents, including low-income families. The program accomplishes several important objectives. Most notably, it provides access to residents who would otherwise be unable to enjoy the environmental and financial benefits of solar power. It addresses inequities faced by low-income residents in Newton (as well as other cities) who pay surcharges on their electric bills to subsidize solar power but are unable to take advantage of such subsidies. The program is relatively easy to implement and the city has received many inquiries from other cities, inside and outside of Massachusetts, about how to start similar programs. This is also an innovative and more equitable way for the city to reduce its carbon footprint, as it works to reach its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals.The city believes (as does Eversource) that this is the first program of its kind in the United States. The program is self-financing. The city leases the carport to a developer who pays for the solar installation. The city pays nothing, and gets significant financial benefits in the form of net metering credits, which provide a discount on every kWh of solar power generated.The city shares a percentage of those net metering credits with eligible low-income residents, while retaining enough credits for itself to equal, in savings, the cost of the shared credits provided. The "Community Share" solar program provides the city with many environmental, social, and economic benefits, including a more inclusive form of solar development.