In 2018, the District of Columbia set the ambitious renewable energy goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2032, with 5% coming from solar generated within the District. Later, the Renewable Portfolio Standard updated the parameter to require 10% of its energy to be generated from solar within the District by 2041. Community solar is a key component in the city’s strategy for meeting these goals. As of 2021, there were 219 community solar facilities in D.C. and, as of late 2024, D.C. generated almost 200 MW from solar, of which approximately 30 MW are from community solar projects.

There have been a number of initiatives in D.C. to deploy community solar, referred to as Community Renewable Energy Facilities (CREF) in the District. The Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), which manages D.C.’s environmental protection and energy policies, has developed strategic partnerships with libraries, housing authorities, utilities and several government branches to promote CREF systems on public land and buildings. A host of CREF projects are also currently connected to the electric utility Potomac Electric Power Company and the District currently has CREF projects on apartment complexes and churches.

The DOEE and DC Sustainable Energy Utility launched a CREF pilot program aimed at serving low-income residents. The pilot program supports the District’s Solar for All initiative, which aims to bring the benefits of solar to 100,000 low- to moderate-income families in the area by 2032. Between 2019 and 2021, the initiative worked with developers to install 160 CREF projects that provide energy bill credit to 6,000 income-qualified families, bringing projected savings to $40 million over the 15-year course of the credit program.

The program and the overall District have become pilots for the Department of Energy’s National Community Solar Partnership’s Low-Income Clean Energy Connector, which works with the Department of Health and Human Services to make a community solar subscription digital tool available to all Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program administrators.

Standard Solar’s Commitment to Sustainable Energy Solutions in the District

Standard Solar has built a significant portfolio in D.C. that advances clean energy and sustainability for the District’s municipal government, educational institutions, NGOs, businesses and thousands of residents. Our work began by supporting the D.C. Department of General Services (DGS) in the installation of rooftop arrays at over 30 public schools, other educational buildings, and police and fire facilities. Those projects now produce clean energy totaling more than 7MW, about 20% of the buildings’ electricity consumption. We also financed and developed 15 additional solar sites, created in partnership with the DGS, bringing the department’s on-site annual solar generation across 50+ buildings to more than 11MW.

Most recently, Standard Solar partnered with Catholic University of America to develop, fund and ultimately own and operate the D.C. area’s largest urban community solar array. Installed on an undeveloped portion of the 173.4-acre West Campus, the array is 7.5 MW and generates about 10,000 MWh of solar energy each year.