Here Comes the Sun: Solar Justice Projects Across the Midwest
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In 2023, the median household income of homes with solar panels was $117,000. While solar panels may be becoming more accessible than they were a decade ago, solar panel cost and other barriers persist for many communities of color in low- to moderate-income households.
But MWEJN partner organizations throughout the region are working to remove these barriers. Their efforts are wide-ranging, from interfaith education conversations and direct outreach, to communal solar ownership models and subsidies to cover the cost of household installation. Enter solar justice–community energy programs focused on racial and economic justice in solar power across the Midwest.
Wisconsin Faith Communities For Equitable Solar
Wisconsin Faith Communities for Equitable Solar Initiative, led by MWEJN partner Wisconsin Green Muslims, educates faith communities across Wisconsin about solar power’s benefits, while also assisting with solar consultations and installation projects within congregational communities and increasing access to solar job training in the state.
“We are coordinating the Wisconsin faith communities for an equitable solar initiative,” says Huda Alkaff, Wisconsin Green Muslims founder and director, in a recent Waves of Change interview. “We are really looking at solar not just as technology but as light-giving and how we need to really appreciate it and welcome it into our lives and congregations and homes.”
After hundreds of conversations, and engagement with thousands of diverse constituents across the state, Wisconsin Green Muslims developed their own Just Solar guiding principles. Their work on this mission has included Solar Trainings for Living Wage Jobs, offering full tuition scholarships, stipends, for solar job training programs for women, people of color and disadvantaged communities. Their interfaith consultations and outreach have helped nineteen faith-based organizations in Wisconsin go solar. Together with their partners, 40 organizations installed solar energy systems through the Faith and Solar campaign since 2016. Over 700kW of solar power will be added to Wisconsin distribution grid when these projects are completed and interconnected.
Solstar Rooftop Solar Project
As tax incentives for solar panel installations in the public and private sector have expanded under the IRA, MN Renewable Now has partnered with industry experts to create the Solstar Rooftop Solar Project, to help qualifying BIPOC homeowners in North Minneapolis install solar panels on their rooftops. In the past two years, they were able to install solar panels on eighteen properties and are scheduled to install panels on twelve additional homes this coming year.
MN Renewable Now Executive Director Kristel Porter is able to recruit interested homeowners through community outreach and education. To ensure that the process is as smooth and accessible as possible, Solstar takes care of applications for available local and federal tax incentives for homeowners, and foots the bill for most of the construction costs. To boost on-site job training and the presence of BIPOC clean energy businesses in the city, they are partnered with Black-owned construction company, Go Solar Construction, to train and supervise students while the solar projects are being completed.
In addition to tax incentives and low- or no-cost installation, qualifying applicants are able to benefit immediately from lower energy costs once the solar panels are installed. One North Minneapolis homeowner and recent Solstar solar panel recipient, Jacques Beech, told Energy News Network that since the solar panel installations, his electricity bill had dropped by roughly $100 per month.
Green Energy Justice Cooperative
Last month, the Green Energy Justice Cooperative (GEJC) was selected for an award from the Illinois Power Agency to develop three industry scale solar projects in low- to moderate income Black and Brown communities in the state. GEJC was founded by Chicago-based partner organization, Blacks in Green.Upon project completion, GEJC will have built three industry-scale solar developments, each generating 3 megawatts of solar power in Aurora, Naperville, Romeroville, and surrounding areas.
When the grids launch, GEJC community solar subscribers will be able to save money on electric bills regardless of rooftop access or control. This model means that renters, condo owners, and homeowners with roofs that cannot accommodate solar panels will all have access to lower electricity costs. Subscribers also act as cooperative owners in GEJC and are able to share in profits, co-op leadership and management.
In a city and state where advocacy groups have repeatedly fought rising utility costs that disproportionately affect Black, Brown and Indigenous residents, the need for community-led, affordable clean energy solutions is urgent. GEJC offers local solutions to environmental racism and economic injustices.
“Seeding” the Solar Movement
As solar panel energy has gained major public support in the last decade, installation access has been relegated to higher income, predominantly white, home-owning households. But studies have shown that “seed” customers are often one of the major ways communities get buy-in on solar panels; as a few residents in a community get solar panels—community deployment of solar energy increases significantly, especially in communities who have had limited access to solar technology. These community-led solar justice projects address some of the persistent racial and economic gaps in solar energy through the deliberate, careful work of relationship-building across their neighborhoods, networks, and states.