Oregon Community Solar program

• The Oregon Community Solar program is another option for benefiting from solar energy. 
• You can subscribe to a portion of a community solar project and receive a credit on your monthly utility bill for the electricity generated from your portion. 
• Community solar projects are large solar systems and can be located on buildings – like businesses, government buildings, schools or churches – or they can be free-standing solar arrays in an undeveloped area. 
• Community solar is a great option for renters, people who live in multifamily buildings and other customers who want to use clean energy but may not have a sunny roof of their own, or the means to invest in a rooftop system. 
• Customers work with a project manager to subscribe to, or purchase, part of a community solar project.  

The Oregon Community Solar program aims to expand access to solar energy for customers who are not able to or are not interested in investing in a rooftop system, including renters, residents of multifamily buildings, low-income customers and small businesses in rented or leased space.

Installing a rooftop solar system is a great option for some home and business owners, but it’s not an option for everyone. Community solar is a great option for renters, people who live in multifamily buildings and other customers who want to use clean energy but may not have a sunny roof of their own, or the means to invest in a rooftop system. Customers can subscribe to a portion of a community solar project and receive a credit on their monthly utility bill for the electricity generated from their portion.  

Pacific Power customers are eligible to participate in the Oregon Community Solar program. You can participate if you are a resident, business, nonprofit or government entity. It doesn’t matter whether you own or rent your home or building. It doesn’t matter what kind of home you live in. As long as you have a utility account with Pacific Power, PGE or Idaho Power, you can subscribe to a community solar project.  

• Costs vary by project and type of subscription. Many projects will offer the option to pay for your subscription over time on your utility bill. Your monthly payment will depend on the size of your subscription and whether you’re on a fixed or variable subscription plan.  
• With variable subscription plans, you sign up for a portion of a solar project and pay monthly for the actual energy produced by your portion. These are sometimes referred to as “pay-as-you-go” plans. 
• With fixed subscription plans, you sign up for a portion of a solar project and pay a fixed monthly amount based on the size of your subscription.  
• Some projects may also offer the option to pay for your subscription upfront or through a combination of upfront and ongoing payments.  
• Costs will also vary for subscriptions designed specifically for income-qualified participants. 
• You can compare subscription prices to other projects using the Project Finder tool on the program website. 

1. Reach out to the Low-Income Facilitator (call 971-544-8717 or email solar@communityenergyproject.org.) who handles all recruitment. This process will include a scheduled phone appointment. Two recent utility bills are required. 
2. The Low-income Facilitator will verify that the participant meets all requirements of the program, including income verification and utility verification.
3. Once the participant has been verified, they will enter the waitlist.
4. The participant will then be assigned to a community solar project as well as enrolled in consumer protection.

Yes, there are additional protections built into the program for low-income participants. Low-income customers pay a monthly subscription fee, but for income-qualified participants, it will always be smaller than the credit. There are also no termination fees, no up-front costs, and no late fees allowed for low-income customers. For additional information on this, contact the Low Income Facilitator of the program at 971-544-8717 or email solar@communityenergyproject.org. 

On your bill your agreement number is called “item” on the first page in the summary of accounts.

Sign in to "My Account", select "Usage Details" and then select "Download Usage History".  This will get your 12 months of history for the program manager to appropriately size your subscription.

The first step in obtaining a Community Solar Program Purchase Agreement is to fill out the request form with general project information and return it via email at ORCommunitySolar@PacifiCorp.com. 

Upon confirmation that the information included in the CSP Purchase Agreement Request Form is complete, we will provide a draft CSP Purchase Agreement. When both Pacific Power (a division of PacifiCorp) and the project manager are in full agreement as to all terms and conditions of the draft CSP Purchase Agreement, we will provide a final executable version of the agreement within fifteen (15) business days. A fully executed copy of the CSP Purchase Agreement will be returned to the project manager.

Interconnection information for the Oregon Community Solar program is available at http://www.oasis.oati.com/ppw/index.html, by opening the “Generation Interconnection and TSR Queues” folder. Within that folder, you will find a link to Pacific Power’s Oregon CSP Interconnection queue, the Oregon CSP Interconnection Application, and the Oregon CSP Pre-Application request form.