WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 18, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — SolarCity aims to tap a potentially big new market: renters. The No. 1 U.S. residential solar installer announced that it will develop a series of community solar installations — that it refers to as “solar gardens” — to enable apartment dwellers, schools and others with shaded roofs in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to purchase renewable energy without installing solar panels on their properties.
The state of Minnesota and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission passed legislation to make the community solar projects a reality. As much as 100 megawatts of solar will be installed in the Twin Cities, more than all the community solar projects combined to date, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive told IBD.