Community Power Accelerator Round 1 Recipient
January 10, 2024- The American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize: Accessing Capital to Deploy Equitable Community Solar is a $10 million prize designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects. The goal of this prize is to expand a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States.
The prize is part of the Community Power AcceleratorTM, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) that connects developers, investors, philanthropists, and community-based organizations to get more equitable community solar projects financed and deployed. The Accelerator provides training, technical assistance, and an online platform to support the critical connections necessary to finance and expand access to affordable community solar.
The Community Power Accelerator Prize aims to help achieve NCSP’s goal to enable enough community solar to power the equivalent of 5 million households and create $1 billion in household savings by 2025, by addressing the lack of expertise, capacity, and pre-development funds for community solar developers, and accelerating a pipeline of projects with meaningful benefits.
Phase 1 Winners
Brightening Every Community with Solar
Powerhouse 360, Georgia
Central Valley Clean Energy
Sien, Inc., California
Community Benefits Through Community Solar
Reactivate DevCo, LLC, Illinois
Community Solar EmPOWERing our City and People
Minneapolis Climate Action, Minnesota
Cowboy Community Solar
Energy Conversation Works, Wyoming
Empowering Communities: Solar Equity for All
Aardex Corporation, Colorado and Arkansas
Energy Sovereignty on Molokai
Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative Molokai, Hawaii
Enterprise Community Solar
Enterprise Community Development, Maryland
Equitable CommUnity Solar Alliance
Clean Slate Solar and Housing Initiative, Maryland
Equitable Community Solar for Tribal Nations
ICAST, Virginia and New York
Equitable Community Solar—The Cooperative Model
Cooperative Energy Futures, Minnesota
Expand Access to Low-Income New Mexicans
Prosperity Works, New Mexico
Feather Light Energy Project
Tribuquent, Minnesota and Oklahoma
High Plains Community Microgrids
Premier Energy, Nebraska and Colorado
Hunts Point Community Solar
The Point, New York
Mississippi Community Solar for Rural Areas
Mississippi Energy Developers, Mississippi
Motor City to Solar City
Green Door Initiative, Michigan
Piedmont Solar
Piedmont Housing Alliance, Virginia
RAMP Solar: Creating Energy, Food and Jobs in Los Angeles
RAMP Solar, LLC., California
Scaling Community Solar for LMI in New Hampshire
Monadnock Energy, New Hampshire
Silver Buckshot
OneEnergy Renewables, Maryland and Ohio
Solar for Social Good – Hudson Valley
Ecological Citizen’s Project, New York
Solar Savings for LMI Customers in Westcheter
Rivertown Solar, New York
SolaRay Farms
SolaRay Farms, Inc., Oregon
Solarize Low-Income Multifamily Latino Communities
Citizen Energy (Avanza Sun), Maryland