Community Solar: Expanding Access and Safeguarding Low-Income Families

The ongoing transition to a green economy requires advocates and policymakers to consider how to ensure equitable access to clean energy especially at a time when many families are experiencing rising energy bills and when the need to address climate change is overwhelmingly clear. With the continued decline of the cost of solar energy, advocates and state leaders have an opportunity to leverage this technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce energy bills for low-income families. This webinar will focus on community solar, which provides an opportunity to bring clean energy within reach of those for whom rooftop solar is not a feasible or economic option. Through our collaboration with the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the National Consumer Law Center recently produced a report examining community solar programs and recommending important consumer protections for low-income customers. Building upon that report, this webinar will:

• discuss the urgent need for low-income community solar programs; 
• highlight existing community solar models, best practices, and state policies; 
• discuss the Department of Energy’s effort to advance equitable access to community solar through a subscription tool and technical assistance resources; 
• examine the role of community action in advancing community solar;
• recommend guardrails to protect low-income subscribers or participants and ensure substantial bill savings and a positive customer experience.  

Audience:

• Utility affordability advocates
• Community action representatives
• State LIHEAP program managers
• Clean/renewable energy advocates
• Community Solar program managers

Speakers:

• Berneta Haynes, National Consumer Law Center. Berneta is a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) focusing on consumer energy policy and medical debt. At NCLC, she has written: Tariff-based On-Bill Financing: Assessing the Risks for Low-Income Consumers; Community Solar: Expanding Access and Safeguarding Low-Income Families; and Air-Source Heat Pumps: Protecting the Financial Well-being of Low-Income Families While Addressing Climate Change. She is also a contributing author to NCLC’s Access to Utility Service treatise. Before joining NCLC, she served as a director at Georgia Watch, a state-based consumer advocacy organization in Atlanta, where she worked to make energy programs, quality healthcare, financial protection, and civil justice more equitable and accessible for all. At Georgia Watch, she authored policy guides on energy equity (including Keeping the Lights On and EMCs and Energy Equity: Harnessing Your Power). Previously, she practiced law at Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago and Southern Environmental Law Center, where she authored Solar for All and other policy papers.
• Aimee Gendusa-English, National Community Action Partnership. Aimee is the Project Director of Energy Partnerships at National Community Action Partnership (NCAP). She began as a LIHEAP intake worker and community organizer with a group called Affordable Power to the People in Chicago back in 2000. From there she worked at Community Economic Development Association of Cook County (CEDA), and then at the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) of Illinois where she participated in the development, launch and oversight of the IL LIHEAP Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP). She also served on the state’s LIHEAP/WAP Policy Advisory Council as well as the Illinois Income Qualified Energy Efficiency Stakeholder Advisory Group, which oversaw the process of braiding utility EE funds into the IL WAP program. She has extensive experience speaking to and training various audiences. She is passionate about weatherization, community action, and energy justice. 
• Emily Stiever, Contractor, U.S. Dept. of Energy. Emily Stiever joined the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) in May 2024 as a technical advisor on the Workforce & Equitable Access (WEA) team. Emily is a solar professional with 15 years of experience scaling equitable, distributed solar across the country. Prior to joining SETO, Emily served in a number of senior roles at Solar United Neighbors, a national nonprofit that is a leading implementer for residential solar deployment. Before joining Solar United Neighbors, Emily worked as a renewable energy consultant specializing in solar electric and solar water heating initiatives and incentive programs.
• Sarah Duffy, Illinois Power Agency. Sarah Duffy is the Deputy Legal Counsel of the Illinois Power Agency (IPA), an independent state agency tasked with developing clean energy incentive programs.  In this role, she represents the IPA before the Illinois Commerce Commission and contributes to policy development related to the Illinois Solar for All program, DEI initiatives, and labor and prevailing wage issues.  Prior to joining the IPA, Sarah worked in the state energy and climate policy space for over five years, most recently with the Under2 Coalition, a global network of state and regional governments leading on climate action. Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree and JD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.