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Community solar is emerging as a promising new source of demand in the US, opening up access to solar among previously excluded groups. John Parnell reports on the prospects for a new market segment whose time seems to have come.

Energy storage in the US is being propelled forward by falling costs and increasingly favourable markets and policy. But for the full value of storage to be realised, numerous regulatory and fiscal barriers must still be surmounted, writes Matt Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Association.

Growing 43% year over year in 2016, the US solar industry is taking off at a pace no one could have foreseen. Naysayers may cite the industry’s slow start, hampered by high upfront costs and initial niche appeal as reasons why solar still will not experience a consumer boom. But panellists at the opening session of the 13th annual Solar Power International convention made it clear just how solar energy could exceed expectations and is poised for not only growth, but mainstream acceptance.

A member of the Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC) has sought a lease for a community solar plant on his land, that would pay US$5.6 million over a 25-year lease, despite previously voting against net metering for the state, said reports.

The Arizona Corporation Commission has said that the rate structuring process for net metering in the state is subject to “undue influences”, and has hired out an attorney to investigate the issue, according to reports.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has dismissed Fitch warnings that proposed net metering could damage the creditworthiness of utilities as “old news and bad analysis”.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) will likely surpass its cap on the number of rooftop solar systems that can sell electricity back to the utility under the net metering scheme – and will be the first utility in the state to do so.

SolarCity, best known for its services in the US for providing residential and commercial rooftop solar, announced a new set of services targeted at utility and grid operators on Thursday.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has made US$25 million of funding available to help accelerate integration of solar energy into the grid.