The Community Solar at BXP’s CityPoint project was selected as a Meaningful Benefit Category Special Recognition winner for Greater Bill Savings for the Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar, an initiative of the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP).
The NCSP, a program of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), supports a coalition of stakeholders working to expand access to affordable community solar to every U.S. household and enable communities to realize meaningful benefits, such as greater household savings, low- to moderate-income (LMI) household access, increased resilience, community ownership, and equitable workforce development. NCSP is working toward a 2025 target to enable community solar to power the equivalent of 5 million households and generate a cumulative $1 billion in energy bill savings.
The Sunny Awards were launched in 2022 to recognize community solar projects and programs that employ best practices to increase equitable access to the meaningful benefits of community solar for subscribers and their communities. Meaningful benefits are key outcomes of community solar development identified by the NCSP. These community solar benefits bring positive impacts to the households, organizations, and the surrounding communities where the projects are developed and operate.
Project Overview
- Project Name: Community Solar at BXP’s CityPoint
- Location: Waltham, Massachusetts
- Project Size: 615 kW
- Project Subscribers: 40 LMI households, nonprofits and other local organizations
- Year Energized: 2021
- Lead Organization: Sunwealth Power Inc.
- Partner Organizations: Boston Properties (BXP), KW Management, Heading Home, Caritas Communities
- Business Model: financed, owned, and operated by a third-party developer
- State or Utility Program Leveraged: Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program
- Bill savings: 25% monthly
- LMI access: 50% of the project capacity is dedicated to LMI subscribers
Meaningful Benefits Best Practices
Community Solar at BXP’s CityPoint is a 615kW, low-income community solar project developed and owned by Sunwealth. The project, located on the top deck of a parking garage in Waltham, Massachusetts, provides energy savings for Boston Properties and delivers clean energy and energy savings to 40 low- to moderate-income households who receive a 25% savings on their energy bills. The project subscribers also include several local nonprofits, such as Caritas Communities and Heading Home, which both work to support individuals experiencing homelessness find temporary and permanent housing.
The project leverages incentives provided through the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program, including the Low-Income Community Solar Adder that provides additional compensation per kWh generated for projects that dedicate at least 50% of their capacity to low-income customers. This additional compensation allows Sunwealth to provide low-income subscribers a 25% discount on the clean energy credits generated by their subscription, which typically cover about 80-85% of their energy consumption.
Low-income households that enroll in this program are either income-verified by location (by living in an identified LMI Zone) or through their participation in an existing discounted rate program through their utility, which helps reduce the burden placed on low-income households. The program has no upfront cost to subscribe, no penalty for early termination, and does not use credit checks/scores as a requirement to subscribe in an effort to increase the accessibility to clean, reliable, and affordable energy.
For more information on the Community Solar at BXP’s CityPoint project, visit www.sunwealth.com or contact Christian Morris at christian@sunwealth.com.