Solar Farms

Community Solar: A New Kind of Garden Creates Clean Energy for Nebraskans

What kind of “garden” is a community solar garden?

Community solar (also called “community solar farms”) is essentially a solar power plant in a community whose electricity is shared by more than one household. This type of project allows individuals who either can’t or don’t want to have solar panels on their own homes to still reap all the benefits of obtaining renewable energy through the sun. A community solar garden or “farm” can create clean, renewable energy that comes directly from the sun’s rays, resulting in savings for the projects’ participants. And because it’s solar, it’s clean and good for the environment.

In some systems, participants buy individual solar panels and the community “garden” springs up from the group’s purchases. In other systems, the participants buy units of energy production, measured in kilowatt hours. Subscribers to these types of projects can purchase an amount of energy produced in their community solar garden, based on their annual electricity usage.

Could Nebraska residents benefit from this new crop of “gardens” that produces clean, renewable, and affordable energy right here in our state? The answer is: We already do. The city of Fremont currently has two community solar farms and presents a helpful case study on how solar energy can meet the commercial and industrial needs of a small Nebraska town. After the first solar farm in Fremont sold out in seven weeks, it launched a second one to respond to the overflowing demand from residents. Both solar farms in Fremont were operational by 2018. 

In Kearney, a 5.7-megawatt solar farm became operational in December 2017. In Lincoln, a 3.6-megawatt community solar project was built at Northwest 75^th and Holdrege Streets in the summer of 2016. At this Lincoln site, Conservation Nebraska’s Common Ground program recently presented an educational event that allowed local residents to tour the project and learn more about this unique emerging energy resource. At the “Solar Showcase: Lincoln Solar Project” June event, residents were able to tour the facility, which includes 15,333 solar panels that produce enough energy to power about 900 homes in Lincoln. 

There are also community solar projects in Grand Island, Ft. Calhoun, Superior, Lexington, Custer County, and South Sioux City, and future projects planned for Scottsbluff, Gothenburg, Schuyler, and Ft. Calhoun. The City of Norfolk is planning a community solar project that is expected to be operational in late 2019.

Nebraska ranks thirteenth in the nation for greatest energy potential from solar power, based on its “sun index,” which is defined as an index of the amount of direct sunlight received in each state and which accounts for latitude and cloud cover. The sun index was calculated as the average number of hours of peak direct sunlight hours per year over a 30-year period. Community solar is still a relatively new concept, but it’s one kind of “garden” that yields an impressive crop—clean, efficient energy—giving Nebraskans and the environment a big boost.