It's the Dawn of the Community Solar Farm

The Jefferson County Community Solar
 Garden, a 13 acre, 1.5 megawatt solar garden.

It’s like rooftop solar, without the rooftops.

A growing number of consumers are buying into community solar farms that allow renters and apartment dwellers to access renewable energy produced on neighbourhood plots that can be small enough to host a little league baseball game. Some are so modest they’re referred to as “solar gardens.”

Conventional solar farms such as Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s 550-megawatt Topaz plant in California can spread over hundreds or thousands of acres. They sell their electricity mainly to utilities through long-term contracts. Rooftop panels, meanwhile, are mainly available for private homes, and can only work on about 30 percent of U.S. houses. Community farms offer a middle road.

“Everyone with an interest in solar can now participate,” said Eran Mahrer, director of utilities for Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar Inc., the biggest U.S. panel maker. “That’s particularly true in high urban densities. The market’s clearly accelerating.”

Read the Bloomberg story - “It's the Dawn of the Community Solar Farm.”