Solar with Justice: Strategies for Powering Up Under-Resourced Communities and Growing an Inclusive Solar Market

Under-resourced communities face a disproportionate share of societal burdens and lack access to many of the benefits other communities enjoy. Participation in the solar economy can help ease these burdens and provide low-and middle-income households with economic relief.

This report, “Solar with Justice: Strategies for Powering Up Under-Resourced Communities and Growing an Inclusive Solar Market,” aims to accelerate the implementation of solar in under-resourced communities in ways that provide meaningful, long-lasting benefits to those communities. The recommendations in the report set a path forward for increasing solar deployments that result in significant economic, equity, and environmental improvements.

This report was written by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) in partnership with the Jackson State University Department of Urban & Regional Planning, the Partnership for Southern Equity, PaulosAnalysis, the University of Michigan School for Environment & Sustainability, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, and The Solutions Project. More than 90 policymakers, community group leaders, solar experts, and energy equity advocates were interviewed as part of the research for the report.

• Full Report (PDF)
• Executive Summary (PDF)
• Executive Summary (Versión en Español) (PDF)