To implement community projects of the community, they require a basis of subscribers who pay for the project and receive credits for renewable energy for their contributions. Although this subscription usually costs customers less than their usual electricity bill, Community Solar is not a generally adopted energy option nationwide.
“It has always been a big challenge to find out, how do you learn, how do you acquire and how do you keep customers?” Said Clarke, please marketing for community Solar developer Nexamp. “It is not a challenging product, but a product that does not have much awareness in space. It is not like buying a soft drink, where people know it is like cola and pepsi and a few others. “
Students visit a community -zonne -Array on an excursion organized by Nexamp. Nexamp
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported Those community projects for the community are present in 44 states, with 23 States Plus DC that make this type of solar energy explicit through legislation from June 2024. In contrast to independent projects, a community results requires financial involvement of residents who live and companies active in that community, making Outreach a crucial maintenance.
The style of Outreach for a new community project for the community depends on the level of consciousness of a community. Then it depends on how involved a city or municipality is with that project.
Traditional outreach methods include personal meetings for the basic principles of community zoning; Mailers sent to residents – sometimes printed on the official municipal letterhead – to inform them about a new project in their community; Or digital marketing campaigns and informative videos.
“It’s always education first,” said Clarke. “We are going on many details that help the customer understand what it is; The benefits, [how] We are not an energy supplier of third parties, why we are different, how it works. We spend a lot of time and effort and resources to create educational content to really help explain a program that can be somewhat challenging to understand. I mean, energy in itself is complex. “
Nexamp develops, builds and maintains both the Community -Sonne -Arrays and the subscriptions, of which Clarke said it helps to start one in a new city. If it is successful, that Array will be 30 years old and it will need subscribers for the duration.
“With new markets, new locations, you start from Ground Zero, because Community Solar is not on the national radar,” says Keith Hevenor, communication manager at Nexamp. “It’s really only on a radar of the state.”
The company helps interest groups such as the Solar Energy Industries Association and Coalition for Community Solar Access to increase awareness about the concept of community zoning and how the programs work.
New York Solar Developer Uge Do not manage a community zonne subscriptions, but still found Outreach a necessary element for the creation of project. UGE rental contracts country for community projects for the community, and landowners often require a similar education about the concept as potential subscribers.
Cece Carey-Snow, Consultant for Marketing and Strategic projects at UGE, said that people are aware of residential solar energy on the roof and a large-scale utility-Sonne-Zonne energy, but Community-Sonne-Zonne takes a lesser space between the two.
Nexamp conducts a public meeting on the subject of community kisses. Marketing and educational initiatives such as these are necessary elements of community development of the community. Nexamp
“Explaining this medium -sized project that exists, but also the shared subscription model and the leasing of real estate to organize a solar project is new to most people we reach,” she said. “Even in more adult markets such as New York City and New Jersey, where we do a lot of work, there is still not much awareness.”
For potential owners of project site, UGE educational sessions has organized in the States that allow community zoning, including a public series with the University of Maryland extension that was a collaboration with other solar developers. UGE also publishes blog posts and builds paid marketing campaigns on the subject of Community Solar the benefits for landowners.
“The marketed marketing is largely education, and especially because most people who see our messages, whether it is paid or organic, will not have a site that will eventually work for us,” said Carey-Snow. “The funnel becomes so small … But at least these people know that this exists.”
As soon as the country is protected for a community zone project, the UGE development team continues to train the landowner, neighbors, city and community to expel any persistent misconceptions of solar energy.
Although the outreach of the community can be cumbersome, Uge has discovered that education in combination with a successful first project in a new city has led to more projects in those regions, Carey-Snow said. Achieving a position somewhere establishes the concept of Community -Zonne -Zonne energy for these markets, which opens the door for possible developments in neighboring cities.
“It’s funny. Many people say:” Well, this seems a bit too good to be true. So you’re going to pay for me for leasing my country, and I save on energy, and my neighbors too? “” She said. “It is convinced that it is real and builds confidence and credibility.”