How to find community solar for low income households
How to find community solar for low income households is a question the federal government now answers with a specific tool rather than a state by state search. A community solar project is a solar farm someone else owns that a household without a roof of its own can subscribe to for a share of the power and a lower bill. The tool is called the Clean Energy Connector, built jointly by the Department of Energy and the Department of Health and Human Services, and it lists qualifying projects in 6 places, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington DC, Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island.
What a household must be offered before it can join
Every project listed on the tool has to pass a savings test first. It must offer a bill credit discount rate of at least 20% difference between the financial benefit and the cost of participating, so a household is guaranteed to come out ahead by that margin before it can even sign up. When the tool launched, the Department of Energy set a goal of saving each participating household about 370 dollars a year. The 2024 pilot aimed to reach up to 40,000 of those households in its first 3 places, out of approximately 5,700,000 United States households that already receive help paying their heating bill through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP.
The 40,000 figure was the target for the first 3 pilot places in 2024, not a count of households actually enrolled. No source states an enrollment count. This chart uses only 2 points because the size of the gap between the pilot target and the national total, not a trend across several points, is the finding.
Show the numbers
| Households the 2024 pilot aimed to reach | 40,000 |
| United States households helped nationally with heating bills | 5,700,000 |
How the tool grew, and how big the need still is
The tool launched March 19, 2024 in Illinois, New Mexico and Washington DC. It added Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island that December, bringing the total to 6 places. That is still a small share of the country already running some kind of community solar program. As of 2024, 43 states plus Washington DC had enabled some form of community solar program, adding up to 11 gigawatts of capacity, according to CleanTechnica. No source states how many households have actually enrolled through the federal tool since the pilot opened.
The 44 combines the 43 states and Washington DC that source 4 counts, added together for this chart rather than stated as a single figure by source 4 itself. The other 2 rows are from source 1.
Show the numbers
| Pilot places when the tool launched, March 2024 | 3 |
| Places the tool covers now | 6 |
| States plus Washington DC with any community solar program in 2024 | 44 |
A private company and a state coalition now run it
In April 2026, the federal government handed day to day management of the tool to InClime, a private company, and the Clean Energy States Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of state energy offices. The National Laboratory of the Rockies, formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, selected the pair to take over the platform the same season the Department of Energy dropped the word renewable from the name of that laboratory. Neither InClime nor the Department has stated why management changed hands. Kevin Quilliam, chief executive of InClime, named the mission behind the move.
InClime is thrilled and honored to have been selected by NLR to continue the mission it established for the Energy Connector to bridge the LMI population with community solar.
Kevin Quilliam, chief executive of InClime, quoted in source 3, the press release announcing the management handoff. Source 3.
Warren Leon, executive director of the Clean Energy States Alliance, said what the program still does for a household.
Community solar is an accessible way for low and moderate income households to benefit from solar and reduce their energy bills.
Warren Leon, executive director of the Clean Energy States Alliance, quoted in source 3, the same press release. Source 3.
CleanTechnica, a trade publication, called the timing consistent with a wider pattern of the agency stepping back from public association with wind and solar energy, its own observation rather than an official reason from the Department.