Employees at companies such as 3M, Cisco Systems, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Johnson and Johnson, National Geographic Society, and Principal Financial Group, can now go solar at a significant discount as part of their employee benefits package. This “Solar Community” initiative began in 2014 and is facilitated by the World Wildlife Fund and managed by Geostellar. It is considered a first-of-its-kind nationwide bulk solar purchase program that expands access to solar energy for participating employees, their families, and communities.

Geostellar, an online solar marketplace, uses software to streamline the solar purchasing process and determine the most cost-effective approach for the system, including design, equipment orders, permitting, and installation. Geostellar’s technology – developed with support from a 2013 SunShot Incubator competitive award– reduces the non-hardware soft costs associated with going solar, saving consumers money.

Employees who participate in the initiative through their companies can acquire solar panels that will reduce electric bills by an average of 30%with zero money down. This unique program also led to  a national base price-point for solar energy that is 35 percent lower than the national average, and about 50% lower than the average electric utility rates.

Since the program launched in October 2014, the “Solar Community” initiative has engaged 1,415 employees, with 174 installations completed or currently in progress. The result, thus far, is 1.4 megawatts of solar energy added to the grid. Learn more about SunShot Incubator awardees and their work.

The Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) focuses on achieving the goals of the SunShot Initiative, which seeks to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of electricity by the end of the decade.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) success stories highlight the positive impact of its work with businesses, industry partners, universities, research labs, and other entities.