First Solar aims U.S. residential customers with Community Solar Program

Clean Energy Collective's 1.12 MW San Miguel Power Association Community Solar Array, Paradox Valley, Colo. Currently the largest community-owned solar array in the country.

First Solar has entered the U.S. residential solar market by becoming the largest single investor in Clean Energy Collective’s community solar business.

Clean Energy Collective (CEC) builds and sells community solar projects to residential business customers on behalf of utilities.

For First Solar, the deal symbols its first major venture into the residential solar market.

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First Solar has acquired an equity stake in CEC. In addition, Jim Hughes, CEO of First Solar and Marc van Gerven, VP of strategic marketing will be joining the CEC board.

The two companies plan to build projects and market electricity to customers, allowing them to use solar without putting panels on their roofs.

First Solar’s thin-film modules will be used for majority of the project purpose.

Clean Energy Collective's 1.12 MW San Miguel Power Association Community Solar Array, Paradox Valley, Colo. Currently the largest community-owned solar array in the country.
Clean Energy Collective’s 1.12 MW San Miguel Power Association Community Solar Array, Paradox Valley, Colo. Currently the largest community-owned solar array in the country.

Community solar uses large sized ground-mounted installations that provide clean energy to a utility’s grid.

They allow customers to purchase blocks of the electricity produced, taking advantage of the cheaper cost of building large plants compared with rooftop-solar arrays.

Community solar can access financing on a less complex basis. There is no interaction of the homeowner’s mortgage, or maintenance issues like with residential rooftop solar, said, Hughes.

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First Solar estimates that only about 20 to 25 percent of U.S. homes are eligible for rooftop solar due to the direction they face, shade trees or the financial position of the customers.

Clean Energy Collective had developed the first community solar project in the country in 2010 in Colorado, working on 40 community solar projects with 18 utilities across 8 states.

A 2008 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that only 22 to 27 percent of residential rooftop area is suitable for hosting an on-site photovoltaic (PV) system.

Sabeena Wahid
[email protected]