Alaska’s Community Solar Program

The best community solar programs maximize benefits for participants and prioritize accessibility by reducing the participant’s electric bill with a credit equal to the amount of electricity produced by the community solar array. They also secure long-term contracts with utility companies (at least 20-year). They also don’t limit how much of the solar project someone can subscribe to. To give subscribers more control, the best programs allow participants to own the renewable energy credits they earn from being part of the community solar project. If there is any extra electricity produced beyond the amount that is allocated to subscribers, the best programs allow the subscriber organization to give credits to its community solar customers as they best see fit.

• As of April 2025, the Alaska Energy Authority was still fleshing out many details of its community solar program compensation approach. The enabling legislation did spell out that compensation rates should reflect the full economic value of the community solar facility. It placed very low maximum caps on some subscribers: subscriptions are limited to residential customers and commercial customers with electricity demands below 50 kilowatts per month. The average US household uses around 1.2 kW at any given time.

The best community solar policies allow any non-utility entity to own a community solar project. To maximize ownership flexibility and accessibility, the best policies do not restrict community solar project size. But community solar projects should be small enough to connect to the low-voltage side of a substation so that they primarily serve local energy needs. 

• As of April 2025, Alaska’s community solar policy took an inclusive approach to ownership, allowing commercial and nonprofit entities, in addition to the utility, to own community solar projects. However, it took power away from local communities by allowing the utility to determine the maximum community solar project size.

To maximize accessibility, community solar policies should encourage a wide range of subscribers – e.g. residential, small businesses, large businesses, etc. They also shouldn’t put restrictions on subscriber type, the minimum number of subscribers, the maximum number of subscribers, or limit subscribers to a certain geography. They should, however, encourage accessibility by making sure that no individual subscriber owns more than 40% of the facility generation capacity.

• As of April 2025, Alaska’s community future solar subscribers would be limited to those with a demand of less than 50 kWh per month. The enabling legislation also placed geographic limitations on community energy facilities, requiring them to be within the service area of a regulated electric utility. The enabling legislation did not say whether there would be a minimum or maximum number of subscribers.

To encourage synergy with other renewable energy initiatives, the best community energy programs include renewable energy sources in addition to solar, and also incentivize battery storage. 

• Alaska’s 2024 community solar enabling legislation did not state whether other forms of renewable energy would be eligible under the program. It did, however, authorize the commission to “adopt a separate rate for capacity provided by a community energy facility through energy storage.”

Community solar policies should prioritize tangible benefits and accessibility for participants by focusing on consumer protection. The best programs require utilities to combine community solar credits into the subscribers usual utility bill. They also require utilities to allow extra bill credits to roll over, and prevent utilities from putting expiration dates on bill credits or requiring minimum bills. They also allow subscribers to transfer their bill credits for free and do not allow subscription termination fees.

• As of April 2025, Alaska’s community solar program had not yet addressed most elements of consumer protection policies. However, the enabling legislation did incorporate a community solar best practice by mandating that community energy facility credits were to be applied directly to the subscriber’s existing utility bill, ensuring consolidated billing.

Community solar increases access to clean, local energy. The most equitable and impactful programs do so with a carve-out for Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) participants of at least 30%, by capacity, for each community solar project; a higher carveout is better. An effective definition of LMI is 80% of area median income, and participants should be permitted to self-attest their LMI status without having to provide additional documentation.

• While as of April 2025, the Alaska Energy Authority’s community solar program page emphasized making solar energy accessible for LMI households, the enabling legislation did not mandate an LMI carve-out.

Equitable community solar programs also prevent utilities from running credit checks in order to qualify subscribers. They should also guarantee that subscribers will save money on their utility bills by participating. Rules for community solar projects 1 MW and larger should include strong local/minority workforce requirements in combination with prevailing wage requirements.

• As of April 2025, information was not yet available about whether subscriber credit checks would be permitted under Alaska’s community solar program. The enabling legislation also did not address whether subscribers would be guaranteed energy bill savings, or address any equity-oriented carve-outs or incentives. However, it did mandate that community energy facility construction workers must receive prevailing wage.