Caucus Director of Environmental Initiatives Edith Makra and Sustainability Specialist Cheryl Scott (both in the center of award winners) accept two awards for the Caucus’ community solar program at the National Community Solar Partnership Summit in San Diego, California. | Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy
The Caucus recently won three Sunny Awards for its residential community solar program, the Community Solar Clearinghouse Solutions Program (CS² Program). In November of 2022, the Caucus received a finalist award in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar. The Sunny Awards is a prize competition that recognizes community solar projects and programs that employ or develop best practices to increase equitable access to the meaningful benefits of community solar for subscribers and their communities. As a finalist, the Caucus moved on to the next round to compete for special recognition awards and five Grand Prize awards, which would be announced at the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) Annual Summit in January.
Caucus staff attended the NCSP Annual Summit and won two special recognition awards for the CS² Program in the categories Innovation in Community Engagement and Innovation in Impact.
The Caucus’ CS2 Residential Program allows municipalities to extend fair and transparent community solar subscription terms to their residents and small businesses. The program can provide subscribers with a guaranteed 20% savings of the community solar credits they receive on their bill. The program also promotes equitable access to community solar by seeking projects that do not require credit checks, enrollment fees or termination fees. Local governments provide a trusted voice to citizens to let them know that the community solar offer is credible. Twenty-two communities participate in the Caucus’ program and offer their residents the opportunity to subscribe to community solar projects in northern Illinois.
The Caucus won the special recognition award for Innovation in Community Engagement because of the community engagement that occurs at many levels. First, the participating municipalities agreed to work toward Greenest Region Compact (GRC) goals, such as “Collaborate to provide access to community solar” and “Advance renewable energy.” Communities pass a resolution at a public meeting to support the GRC and then later pass another resolution to approve of their participation in the CS2 Program. Municipalities agree to consider and vet community solar subscription offers on behalf of their residents and comply with marketing regulations prescribed by the Illinois Power Agency. The CS2 program team created a 10-step process and assembled resources, such as a website template, to assist municipal leaders and support community engagement at the local level. Most municipalities further involve their volunteer citizen sustainability commissions to evaluate and promote CS2. The Caucus and The Power Bureau engage with these commissions to help bring the benefits of CS2 to interested communities. Municipalities use their constituent engagement tools including public meetings, mailings, municipal websites, and social media to educate residents about the community solar program.
The Caucus also won a special recognition award for Innovation in Impact because of how the CS2 Program works to reduce energy burden for low- and moderate-income households and assure equitable access to community solar. Low-income families in Illinois face a severe energy burden because they spend an average of 13% of their income on energy costs. The Caucus represents every environmental justice community in the seven-county metropolitan region and invites all municipalities to participate in the CS2 Program. The twenty-two participating municipalities have helped 1,400 households subscribe to Illinois community solar projects. These customers are guaranteed to receive 20% net savings. Five of the participating communities serve residents of a census tract identified as a Disadvantaged Community by the Justice40 Disadvantaged Communities Reporter. Two communities have done outreach for the CS2 Program in both English and Spanish, which included bilingual direct mailings, social media posts, and newsletters.
Mark Pruitt, Principal at The Power Bureau, helped to formulate the initial idea for the CS² Program with the Caucus and assists in managing the CS² Program. MC Squared Energy Services, LLC distributes direct mail to CS² Program customers and manages subscriptions as the CS² Program Billing Administrator.
