Community Collaboration for Solar Low Income Housing

A community in Colorado used a mix of local, utility and federal support to apply PV systems to a low-income housing program. The project, the Whittier Affordable Housing Project (WAHP), built 30 affordable housing rentals across 12 buildings  with solar PV systems. The systems used were relatively small, 1.88 kW systems, but they were able to offset 85% of the occupants energy usage. The WAHP also included a PV installation training and education program for low income residents. And through the savings from the PV installation, the project established and funds a neighborhood-wide energy conservation incentive program. This WAHP was made possible with a creative financing package, and the contribution of a variety of stakeholders. 

The first six years of the project a 3rd party tax paying investor will own the PV systems and benefit from the 30% investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation. The Northeast Denver Housing Center (NDHC) also received a grant of $107,500 from the Governor's Energy Office of Colorado which they immediately loaned to the investor. In turn, the investor will repay the loan with interest over the first six years. At the seventh year, the NDHC will buy out the investor using the loan and interest repayments and will then own the low income solar project. To make this feasible, the WAHP also received a $2/Watt upfront cash incentive from the local utility Xcel Energy. Xcel also agreed to purchase the Renewable Energy Credits at $0.11/ kWh for the first 20 years of the projects operation. And finally, the low income housing residents will pay $0.08 kWh for the energy produced by these systems. This combination of private and public investment made the project possible. NREL has published an illustration of this financing scheme that you can see here.

For more details about this project, click the link to read the case study titled Integrating photovoltaic systems into low income housing developments: a case study on the creation of a new residential financing model and low-income resident job training program.