"Your neighbors’ solar panels save you money,” said Anya Schoolman, Executive Director of Solar United Neighbors. “This report shows that local solar reduces electricity costs for everyone. It's why rooftop and community solar need to be the cornerstone of our energy system."

“Distributed solar not only saves all ratepayers money; when paired with batteries, systems provide a plethora of additional services that create huge savings and benefits for all: from demand response to blackout prevention, solar plus storage keep our homes continuously powered and our businesses creating wealth and jobs, without interruptions,” said Javier Rúa-Jovet, Chief Policy Officer, Solar & Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico. 

“Low-income households have average energy burdens that are three times higher than their counterparts.  These economic costs add to the disproportionate health and safety impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on low-income families, communities of color, rural, and indigenous communities.  As these data show, distributed energy and storage, coupled with targeted equity policies like the ones in the Building Back Better: A Roadmap to Expand Solar Access for All, can make the difference to unlock the benefits of the clean energy economy for underserved communities,” said Luis Nasvytis Torres, Senior Legislative Representative, Earthjustice.

“We can lower electricity costs for everyone and distribute the financial benefits of clean energy more broadly with rooftop solar. But the best part is that we don’t have to rely on utility corporations to take action. We can do it ourselves,” said John Farrell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance [and director of its Energy Democracy Initiative].

“This cutting-edge analysis underscores what economic and environmental justice communities have long known: equitable deployment of local distributed energy resources is not just feasible, but essential to a clean and just energy future. When policies and investments center these communities, the entire energy system benefits,” said Stan Greschner, Chief Policy and Business Development Officer of GRID Alternatives. “Policymakers must act now to ensure that the career opportunities, energy bill savings, and resilience from distributed clean energy are not left on the table, but made accessible to everyone.”

"This model proves that utilities and regulatory agencies can more accurately and cost-effectively integrate rooftop and community solar into the grid, and should. Both utilities and regulatory agencies should be rushing to update their modeling capabilities so that they can plan for and approve the most modern, affordable, and clean grid we've ever seen," said Odette Mucha, Federal Liaison, Vote Solar.

“Putting solar on our roofs, and in our neighborhoods, is among the best and fastest ways to generate clean power,” said Bronte Payne, Go Solar campaign director with Environment America. “Panels are quick to install, they don't use up precious open space, they start working almost the minute they're on the roof and they benefit everyone, even those without solar. That's the kind of response to climate change that really makes sense.”

“Latino/a/x households experience a median energy burden that is 24% greater than white households. This modelling demonstrates that we indeed have the capacity to lower energy costs and equitize the energy market for vulnerable and disproportionately impacted households. The time is now for policymakers to act on making low-cost community solar accessible and ensuring a clean energy future for all,” said Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, Clean Transportation + Energy Lead at GreenLatinos. 

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