OpEd: Leveling the playing field through community solar

As activists in New Jersey and the rest of the country seek to address systematic racism and inequality, there’s one area that is due for an overhaul – the energy sector. Environmental racism and unequal power dynamics have caused communities of color and lower income residents to shoulder the brunt of the pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. Polluting power plants and toxic waste sites have typically been built near communities that don’t have the resources or political power to stop them. Besides facing air pollution from the energy sector, lower income families also face higher energy bills as a proportion of their family budget. They also are often the target of unscrupulous energy companies who sign them up for programs that cost them more than the basic utility service. All of this has to end. Energy equity means addressing these historic wrongs and bringing clean energy to the communities that need it the most.

Pollution from fossil fuel plants and toxic waste sites is making people in New Jersey sick. Asthma and other respiratory illnesses make people more susceptible to harm, including premature death from air pollution. In New Jersey, there are about 620,000 residents with asthma. In the city of Camden, the rate of hospitalizations from asthma is almost double the statewide average. And the impacts of air pollution are not the same for everyone. A 2016 study of New Jersey residents found that the risk of dying early from long-term exposure to particle pollution was higher in communities with larger African-American populations, lower home values and lower median income.

Many counties in New Jersey, including Camden, Mercer, and Middlesex have a failing grade for ozone pollution in this year’s American Lung Association State of the Air report. With our summers getting hotter thanks to climate change, it will be increasingly dangerous for people to breath unhealthy air. Air conditioning costs will continue to rise and lower income residents who don’t have air conditioning will be even more vulnerable to heat-related health emergencies.

The solution we need is a rapid transition to a 100% clean energy economy, but unfortunately clean energy is not accessible to most low- and moderate-income residents of the state. Low-income residents only comprise about 15% of rooftop solar adoptions according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report, though they make up about 44% of all households. To compound the problem, lower income residents and communities of color are often targeted by energy companies looking to make a quick buck. Studies in New York and Maryland have shown that low income residents typically pay electric rates higher than the standard utility offer. Some rooftop solar companies use ridiculously high price escalators on long-term deals.

The solution to these issues is community solar, which is available to everyone and provides guaranteed savings on electricity costs. New Jersey has taken a huge stride in the right direction with its community solar program. Community solar offers residents a chance to get the benefits of solar power from a local solar farm without having to install any equipment or make large investments. The New Jersey program highly incentivizes developers to offer a large chunk of their output to low- or moderate-income residents. To make the program really shine, the state needs to make the enrollment process much easier for low- or moderate-income residents and provide financial support to developers who serve them. Creating local solar farms cleans up the air right where people live and work, helps reduce greenhouse gases, and saves residents money. A robust program that offers greater savings to low- and moderate-income residents than to others is also a step in the direction of addressing structural environmental racism. The convergence of environmental and social justice benefits makes community solar the most important new development in the energy sector in many years.

Gary Skulnik

CEO and Founder of Neighborhood Sun

https://neighborhoodsun.solar/...