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Community-led solar in Buffalo

Lessons Learned

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The mission and vision

Mission

We revolutionize energy by ensuring the communities most impacted by climate change lead local clean energy solutions

Vision

We believe climate-impacted communities have the power and knowledge to lead our equitable clean energy transition.

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PUSH mission

The mission of PUSH Buffalo is to mobilize residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality, affordable housing; to expand local hiring opportunities; and to advance racial, economic, and environmental justice in Buffalo.

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Background

Community solar has potential to be more equitable and inclusive than rooftop
But as of November 2023, less than 3% of community solar projects in the US serve low-income residents
Projects are often imposed on communities after they’ve already been built and put profit first

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Community-led solar

Community Led Solar is a form of community solar that prioritizes the needs of community over profit
Decisions on the projects are made through a paid Community Advisory Board (CAB) from the beginning

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Participatory community-led solar process

6 months

12 - 24 months

3 months

3-6 months

3-9 months

3 months

Phase 1: Community Needs Assessment

Conduct surveys in the community
Conduct neighborhood analysis
Conduct environmental scan of potential partners

Phase 2: Community Outreach and CAB recruitment

Attend community meetings and events
Schedule meetings with potential partners
Finalize CAB members

Phase 3: CAB Community Building and Education

Phase 4: CAB Decision Making Process

Decide on voting norms and CAB governance
Decide on key components of the project: siting, contractors, finances
Signed LOI with site host

Phase 5: Project Implementation

Compile all decision made into Community Benefits Plan
Sign contracts with developers
Signed lease with site host
Subscribers/ owners identified

Phase 6: Community Solar Project Complete

Project is built
Project is connected to the grid
Project is live and producing energy

Host first set of CAB meetings
Build relationships between CAB members
Decide on community norms
Give background information on community solar

Diana

To create a baseline of understanding and trust between community members and facilitators, we recommend planning about 6-8 educational-based meetings at minimum to go over the basics of community solar and lay the groundwork for decision-making. It’s also important to build in multiple sessions for complex topics such as project finance. We recommend planning 3 - 6 months for those early sessions, and that each meeting runs for 90 minutes with ample time for questions and discussion. Once the basics are covered, we recommend polling the CAB on what topics they would like more information on using a circular agenda and/or polls/surveys conducted at the end of each session.

We built this timeline of the process to help others replicate it and set better expectations with CAB member and funders. Each community will look different and may take more or less time in each phase. But that time is important to build knowledge and trust.

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“Disadvantaged Communities” in Buffalo

45 indicators that represent the environmental burdens or climate change risks within a community, or population characteristics and health vulnerabilities that can contribute to more severe adverse effects of climate change such as income, race/ethnicity, and housing.

Clarke

https://climate.ny.gov/resources/disadvantaged-communities-criteria/

Most of Buffalo is designated as “disadvantaged community” as defined by NYState. This project focuses on Buffalo’s West Side, where PUSH Buffalo resides. Racist redlining practices and deindustrialization resulted in decades of disinvestment and neglect in the area. These histories continue to impact its populations today: aging and inefficient housing stock, high energy costs, low paying jobs, and urban heat islands and air pollution that cause negative health impacts for its residents. Existing renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in NY have failed to effectively include BIPOC and income-eligible communities and, as a result, these programs have not been deployed effectively in their neighborhoods. The West Side has a rich mixture of Asian, Latinx and African cultures as a result of the large influx of refugees that have found homes in the community over the last few decades. PUSH Buffalo was originally formed by West Side residents in 2005 to build power in their community by organizing residents, and creating quality affordable housing options.

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Community needs assessment and outreach

Developed a survey to understand energy knowledge
Did in person outreach - flyers at community centers, tabling at community events
Hosted events at PUSH

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Building the Community Advisory Board

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6 people
Ages <18 - 65+
72% BIPOC
83% low income households

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CAB Meeting Topics

Clarke

After about 6 months of outreach and CAB recruitment we were ready to start meetings in October 2023. We started with a series of workshops to level set and focus on topics that they will need to make decisions on such as siting, WFD, finance. Initially we designed 90 min bi-weekly sessions around these topics, leaving time for both disseminating information and discussion amongst the group. Early CAB meetings were structured to be interactive yet fairly content heavy, as it was essential for us to ensure they understood the basics of community solar. This structure was important, and ensured CAB members were on the same page and comfortable engaging with the content we were discussing. CAB members arrived with a range of knowledge on community solar, energy justice, and related topics. From our experience in Boston, we knew that some of these topics required multiple sessions and discussions. We often left space in the beginning of a meeting to refresh on the previous topic or continue the conversation from before. When we got to the decision making phase, the CAB used consensus voting to move forward on a decision.

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Understanding community solar

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Site analysis

Diana

Behind the scenes, Energy Allies used QGIS to identify large rooftops (greater than 10,000 sq ft) to site a 300-500 kW system in Buffalo to assess their capacity for solar. QGIS is a free platform available to everyone, but it has limitations, such as being unable to share maps between users. The CAB has indicated that siting the project proximally to the population that it will serve is of high importance. Among other things, doing so will increase the opportunity for educational events to be held post construction with members of the community. We used the Assessor Database to identify property owners so we could begin outreach. We quickly realized that community focused non-profits were our ideal property owners: most responses to our inquiries came from them. Along with this outreach, we also identified both private and public buildings that fit our criteria.

Energy Allies analyzed 1173 prospective siting locations in Erie county for community solar using GIS mapping tools. we narrowed it down with additional criteria including neighborhood demographics and areas designated environmental justice zones, all of which were readily available data layers we found online. We have done a desktop analysis on 536 of those sites of which 63% were in socially vulnerable areas. We did outreach to 192 site owners and had meetings with 5. With help from our partners at Working Power ran a helioscope analysis on 4 project sites. We discussed some of these sites and owners with the CAB in November 2023.

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Goodwill site

Large flat roof (>500kW DC)
Limited obstructions
Near 3 phase power
Roof stable, in good condition, and property owner willing to make upgrades
*Nonprofit property owner interested and invested in the mission*

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Project Finance and Ownership

Diana

To discuss project finance and ownership, we brought in our partners Working Power to present to the CAB. We broke down the basics of project finance, comparing financing a solar project to financing a car or other large purchase that CAB members have experienced before. We also talked about how projects actually work, through state and federal policy incentives and the different types of financing. Finally we compared 3 different models of ownership for this project and discussed the pros and cons of each. We did this over multiple sessions to really make sure all questions were answered. The CAB also had guest speakers from the Boston Community Solar Cooperative come discuss their community-led story. In the end the Buffalo CAB decided they did not want to create their own co-op but could still create a community owned project by PUSH owning the project and exploring opportunities for community members to buy into it as well.

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Workforce Development Priorities

Table: Workforce Development Priorities
Priority	How we measure
Diversity in the clean energy sector	MWBE owned businesses, workforce diversity
Wealth building opportunities for disadvantaged communities	Workforce opportunities/apprenticeship programs and prevailing wages
Commitment to community participation	Experience in environmental justice communities, open to community feedback
Project Management history	Good relationship with utilities, communities and projects on time/on budget
Pricing value	Cost reflect high quality and are reasonably priced
Environmental Harm Reduction	Ethical material procurement, waste disposal and safety protocols

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Contractor selection process

Step : RFI

Issued an Request for Information (RFI) to find an eligible pool of applicants

Step 2: Interview

Interviewed all RFI respondents to asses mission alignment

Step 3: RFP

Invited selected contractors to submit a full Proposal through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process

Step 4: Decision

Reviewed proposals using the contractor selection criteria to make decisions

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Contractor selection - Scorecard

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Participant Criteria Prioritization

The CAB has identified the following as top priorities for subscribers to the solar project. All subscribers should meet at least one of theses criteria:

Households located in disadvantaged communities (DACs)
Low-income households
Prioritize specific zip codes within DACs
Households with limited English proficiency
Households experiencing high energy burden rates

Clarke

The CAB has worked to identify what groups will be prioritized in receiving energy credits from this project. While the goal of the project is specific in seeking to provide economic savings to disadvantaged and low-income communities, the CAB narrowed down this goal into more specific priorities. The group also recognizes that qualification metrics should not be so prescriptive or burdensome that they dissuade households from wanting to participate in the program. The New York SUN program provides a starting point for identifying target populations for low-income community solar projects (at minimum 50% of the project should be allocated to “eligible subscribers”). However, our CAB sees this project as an opportunity to be more intentional with who is prioritized for participation.

The CAB discussed different levels of savings rates to provide to participants compared with a larger revenue that could be reinvested back into the community. They decided on a 20% savings rate for households to receive on their energy bills for their participation in the community solar project. This also aligns with state and federal minimum requirements to help make the project more financially viable. Instead of giving participants a higher savings rate, the CAB voted to use revenue generated from the project for a Community Benefit Fund so that wider community benefits could be distributed. The specific uses for this fund will be voted on at a future community and/or advisory board meeting.

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Values of the CAB

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Equity - This project will equitably expand economic and environmental benefits to subscribers from disadvantaged communities, low income and high energy burden communities.
Access - This project will prioritize creating access to clean energy training and fair paid jobs for a diverse cross section of disadvantaged members of the community including participants in PUSH training programs and by selecting values aligned contractors.
Community Engagement - This project will solicit community input through surveys, workshops, community meetings, subscriber recruitment and serve as an inspiration for other communities.

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CAB Workshop impact

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Challenges

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Balancing the needs of funders with the speed of the CAB process
Misalignment of community values and industry representation

Diana

Our main funding was tied to milestones centered on hitting certain milestone at certain points in the project. The timeline was not always linear and set backs came up during the process. We werent always able to meet bi-weekly for example. And even when we did sometimes our planned time for a topic was expanded causing delays in the next topic. However it was essential we moved at the CAB’s pace.

Through this process, the community values did not often align with the reality on the ground. A great example of this was in contractor representation. The CAB initially wanted to support a minority or women owned business but we only received one response to our RFI from an MWBE. Even when we did targeted outreach to a list of MWBE contractors we did not hear back. When speaking to the one WMBE contractor that did apply she noted challenges with even getting certified by the state and how onerous it was for a small company to comply with.

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Successes

Partners with different expertise
Finding a mission-aligned property owner
CAB interaction and engagement
Creating an environment for Energy Justice champions to emerge

Diana

Despite some challenges the overall project was a success:

Bringing together, Energy Allies with experience in this community-led model and their project management skills together with PUSH’s community organizing skills and Working Power’s technical expertise created a great team that was able to support each other and the CAB in various ways

Finding Goodwill as a mission-aligned property owner such as Goodwill, helped the project achieve early success and move us along with a concrete roof to create financial models for and find contractors for. They have been very patient with us in this process and by not requiring a lease payment are further contributing to the community benefits this project will have. But did we get lucky? In Boston we struggled to find a site and property owner like this! It will be interesting to see what other communities and cities are like.

The CAB itself was a highlight of this whole project. They were very engaged from the start, asking lots of questions, and we had a great attendance rate for meetings. They also got a long well, even when they disagreed, had a lot of mutual respect for each other.

And finally, one of the main goals of our CAB process was to empower community members with the tools and knowledge they need to make informed decisions about the development of a community solar project and become clean energy ambassadors for their communities. We believe we achieved this with many members of the CAB.

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CAB Member Highlights

“I joined CAB to help shape solar energy policies, advocate for clean energy, and ensure equitable access to solar power in my community.” - Hayley Carter

“I have greatly enjoyed the experience of getting together with my fellow CAB members to put our shared values in action towards developing our inclusive community solar vision” - Brian VanDeBogart

“Helping others and bringing people together has always been important to me. That was also my inspiration for joining the Community Advisory Board. An opportunity for me to help make a difference in my community. It also helped me connect with different people and learn about solar energy and other essential elements to life. Through our efforts, we will be able to provide essential resources to those in need and foster a sense of unity in our community.” - Halima Noor

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Recommendations:

CAB process

Meeting CAB members where they were

Providing food
Providing rides
Providing stipends

Plan for extra time and multiple sessions on same topic

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Recommendations:

Contractor selection process

Use an RFI process to lay groundwork for interviews
Conduct interviews with the top contractors to ensure values alignment
Ask contractors to provide high level overview materials/summary slides for their proposals
Use a scorecard to vet contractors to guide the discussion
Ask contractors to add budget breakdown for easy comparison

Clarke

Our contractor selection process although unconventional worked very well. I think the three stages of vetting helped the CAB really get a sense of who the companies were, especially the interview stage. The scorecard was useful in helping the CAB compare each proposal in an equitable way to the standards they set out from the beginning. Although we liked the flow of our process, we did learn some things that would have made it even better. We realized the proposals we received were very long and complicated and it made it difficult for the CAB to have time to read through them all. In hindsight we should have asked the contractors to provide a high level summary of their proposal in slide format so it could have been more easily digestible by some from the community. We also should have provided a standard template to compare the budgets each contractor provided more evenly. We did this as an extra step in the end to make our decision.

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Recommendations:

Siting

Prioritize mission-aligned property owners
Use GIS to identify roofs in Disadvantaged Communities
Invest in higher quality analysis tools or work with external partners

Energy burdens in Buffalo

Diana

We recommend prioritizing outreach to mission-aligned organizations, who will more easily understand the value community solar can bring to their communities. Using GIS to identify roofs in disadvantaged communities worked well it would have been even better with better software. While QGIS was free and worked well, it still could have been easier with better software. QGIS, while free and accessible, does not allow for multiple staffers to easily view mapping projects. Maps are saved on individual computers, and must be downloaded and re-uploaded to another person’s computer, which is inefficient. It meant only one person could work on a given map, and the mapping work was frequently very tedious. Investing in a full ArcGIS platform that allowed multiple staff (including interns) to support the siting process would have enhanced siting speed and efficiency immensely. However, ArcGIS is expensive, so building this platform into grant budgets is a key part of accessing it. In the future, we also plan to invest in the solar specific platform Heliscope to do deeper analysis on the solar potential of individual buildings. This is a trainable task, and we are planning to teach our staff how to use it in the future so we are less reliant on external technical support but in lieu of that, for a community based organization who may only develop a few solar projects, it might be better to partner with an organization to do that detailed analysis work.

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Next steps

Finalize financing to secure contractors and begin construction
More community-led solar projects
Energy Allies is merging with SUN!

info@solarunitedneighbors.org

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Acknowledgements

Community members
Staff, fellows and board members
Partners
Funders

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The Clean Energy Transition is inevitable, whether it’s just and equitable is dependent on who is leading it.