Community Solar Deployment and Subscriptions
Introduction
• The community solar market analysis presented here is based primarily on data collected
through Sharing the Sun, an initiative of the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP).
Sharing the Sun data collection and analysis is conducted by the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) as part of its support for implementation of the NCSP.
NREL first released a data set of community solar projects in 2018 and updates it annually (at minimum).
The July 2023 release and the data collection methodology is available from NREL's Data Catalog at
https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/220.
The dataset presents project level information such as location, capacity, operating utility, and year of
interconnection. The dataset is created from multiple data sources like utility data, public utility
commissions, project developer websites, media releases, primary data collection by NREL, and data
provided by developers under nondisclosure agreements.
This presentation builds on a previous analysis of the community solar project dataset, Community Solar
Deployment, Subscription Savings, and Energy Burden Reduction (2021).
- The University of Minnesota contributes to this effort.
• NCSP is led and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office.
NREL 3View entire presentation