The United States  has nearly two million solar powered systems. This infrastructure comprises  nearly 65 gigawatts of total capacity. The National Renewable Energy  Laboratory (NREL) suggests that nearly 40 percent of our electricity from our  nation’s rooftops, representing a total of nearly 1,000 gigawatts of solar capacity. However, nearly 75 percent of households that are prime candidates for rooftop solar have yet to adopt the technology.

Rooftop solar implementation has yet to reach full potential due to a lack  of promoting legislation, limiting growth to those jurisdictions that have  enabling legislation. Minnesota and Massachusetts have been at the forefront  of promoting these systems through legislative action, allowing for more than  a 100 megawatts of new systems to come online each year. An additional source  of boosting the numbers of installed systems would be the expansion of  community solar efforts. Simply, this puts the onus of the high-level of  capital requirements onto several individuals instead of just one homeowner.

A key aspect identified for developing community solar into an effective  public policy venture includes the promotion of the systems for low/moderate  income households, and affordable housing. It is estimated that these targets represent nearly half of the housing market in the United States. Community solar programs would also provide access to the benefits of solar programs for those whose homes do not have roofs, such as apartment complexes. Estimates say that these efforts could produce a nearly 150-percent increase in rooftop  solar capacity.