Photo: Tiny hands or giant scissors? Celebrating the American Canyon Solar project ribbon cutting in Napa County.
Calling All Community Organizations and Municipalities
The Community Solar Connection program is a ratepayer-funded program offered by the State of California that provides eligible customers with 100% solar energy and a 20% discount on their electricity.
The new solar projects that will service the Community Solar Connection program must be built within a top 25% designated Disadvantaged Community (DAC) in MCE’s service area.
The Sponsor Role
Sponsor organizations and municipalities partner with project developers to develop new solar projects that will serve Community Solar Connection customers. There is no financial commitment required by the sponsor. The sponsors enhance the program by doing the following:
Bringing a local, low-cost renewable energy service option to residents
Helping to lead the community toward achieving climate action goals and reducing its energy-related carbon footprint
- Working with the solar project developer to support program participation and involvement from the community
- Soliciting feedback from the community on overall program interest
- Consulting on locations to build the solar project
- Helping to develop a community outreach plan with the potential to receive funds for education and outreach efforts to enroll residents from your community in the program
- Recruiting community members to sign up for service
- Supporting local job training and green-collar workforce development in their efforts to benefit the local communities involved in the community solar project
Bill Discount for Qualifying Sponsor Organizations
Sponsors can qualify to receive the Community Solar Connection 20% discount on their energy bill for up to 20 years by meeting the following requirements:
- At least half of the project’s capacity is subscribed by CARE or FERA eligible customers
- Your MCE service account is located in an eligible DAC census tract and within 5 miles of the community solar project.
Note: A project can be supported by multiple sponsors, in which case the eligible sponsors can share the 20% discount for up to 25% of the project’s output.
How to Become a Sponsor
If your organization or municipality is interested in being a sponsor, please complete the form below. MCE will be helping to match sponsor organizations with project developers as part of the Community Solar Connection program’s Request For Proposals (RFP) and will follow up with all interested parties on the next steps.