ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses efforts to build renewable, equitable, accountable, and local, community-shared solar projects on Long Island, in New York City, and in western New York. These diverse locales – from the densely populated to de-industrialized and urban to suburban – are representative of many underserved communities throughout the northeastern United States, and merit close study to extrapolate trends and lessons learned. On Long Island, nonprofit organizations and houses of worship are the center of gravity for an effort to pilot community-owned solar. In the Harlem neighborhood of northern Manhattan, community solar on shareholder-owned Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) cooperatives faces an uncertain future. Finally, in Buffalo, the chapter examines the successful reclamation of an abandoned public school property to erect affordable senior housing and community arts spaces served by tenant-owned shared solar. These cases are consistent with a dual-power political framework, in which community-owned renewable energy projects not only serve immediate needs but can be engines for broader policy, systems, and social change. They demonstrate the elusiveness of a one-size-fits-all model – impelling us toward a more granular consideration of place and context – and also the necessity of a more supportive policy environment.
