NRG Energy recently announced it is leveraging its expertise to bring shared solar – also known as community solar – to customers across the United States, fulfilling on the company’s customer-focused commitment.
“Residents in several states across America – including Colorado, Massachusetts and Minnesota – have spoken: they want their lives to be powered by affordable, renewable energy any way they can get it,” said Steve McBee, president and CEO of NRG Home, a division of NRG. “In Massachusetts, customers enthusiastically signed up to 100% of the output of our new shared solar facility, and in response we are accelerating our shared solar development to meet strong demand in states with supportive policies.”
The announcement comes on the day NRG Home Solar and NRG Renew bring a new community solar site online in Freetown, Massachusetts. The 1-MW site, which powers approximately 160 households, furthers NRG’s mission to put customers first by providing broad access to clean energy.
From left to right are Dan Hendrick, NRG, U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts, Kelcy Pegler, Jr., President of NRG Home Solar, Patrick Sullivan, NRG, tour the NRG shared solar site in Freetown, Massachusetts, Monday July 27, 2015. (Aynsley Floyd/AP Images for NRG)
NRG Home Solar and NRG Renew have over 100 megawatts of shared solar projects in various stages of development and are actively working to expand into additional markets, so customers who may not have a rooftop suitable for solar still have the option to go solar.
Subscribers to Freetown’s shared solar project entered into a 20-year agreement with NRG Home Solar that provides price stability and savings. Customers earn credits toward their energy bill that are calculated based on how much renewable energy their portion of the project generated in a billing cycle.
“One of the most exciting things about solar is that as it grows explosively we create new opportunities for people to make renewable energy part of their lives,” said Kelcy Pegler, Jr., President, NRG Home Solar, a division of NRG Home. “Shared solar represents that opportunity – a simple, inexpensive path for people who buy power to go solar without limitations.”
The NRG shared solar project in Freetown, Massachusetts, Monday, July 27, 2015. This is the first NRG shared solar, or “community solar,” facility in Massachusetts that allows customers to lock in their electricity prices for 20 years. With already 100% of the facility’s output powering customers, this 1-megawatt site will service roughly 160 residents in the region. (Aynsley Floyd/AP Images for NRG)
The Freetown project demonstrates the strategic fit of shared solar to NRG’s integrated business model, leveraging NRG Home Solar’s ability to acquire and retain customers through its retail and residential solar businesses and NRG Renew’s ability to source, construct and operate renewable energy projects, combined with an investment by NRG Yield. NRG Renew partnered with Borrego Solar Systems to develop the Freetown site and construct the system.
