Ampion debuts ‘Synthetic’ community solar to overcome state barriers
Ampion Renewable Energy is launching a new product to expand community solar access across state lines. The company’s Synthetic Community Solar offering enables solar developers to optimize project economics by expanding access to solar credits for subscribers across state lines, while providing additional savings for low-income households.
With the Inflation Reduction Act’s major incentives for solar developers expiring, Synthetic Community Solar offers developers an opportunity to meet the Category 4 Investment Tax Credit (ITC) requirements more quickly.
“Our new product expands the reach of community solar by deploying it across state programs, and solves a geographic problem that has historically limited developers’ ability to finance community solar assets in communities where low-income acquisition is challenging,” said Nate Owen, CEO and founder of Ampion. “We’re grateful to offer a solution that helps developers navigate the complexities of community solar across different state programs while providing additional savings to low-income subscribers. This initiative directly supports our mission of making renewable energy accessible everywhere, for everyone.”
Traditionally, the community solar subscriber’s utility account needs to be located within the same utility territory and state as the solar farm. With Synthetic Community Solar, Ampion’s cross-state flexibility helps low-income households get the financial benefits of a project located in a different state or utility territory.
The product is especially useful when a solar farm is located in an area where low-income subscriber acquisition is prohibitively expensive or difficult. Developers can leverage Synthetic Community Solar to easily earn the Category 4 ITC incentive. Ampion works with the utility to transfer funds, in the form of utility credits, to eligible, low-income subscribers in another region. Synthetic Community Solar helps developers qualify for both federal and state incentives.
Synthetic Community Solar is already delivering results for developers and subscribers. A 2.5 MWdc installation in Maine is providing Ampion subscribers in Illinois with solar credits on their electricity bills, demonstrating how Synthetic Community Solar bridges geographic gaps. For this particular Maine project, Ampion transfers funds from the developer to income-qualified households in Illinois, providing them with savings on their electricity bills. Through Synthetic Community Solar, these subscribers receive a discount of up to 20% off the solar credits produced by the site.
Category 4 of the Inflation Reduction Act gives solar developers bonus tax credits for Qualified Low-Income Economic Benefit Projects, or solar and wind facilities that direct at least 50% of the financial benefits to subscribers. Synthetic Community Solar helps developers meet these incentive requirements faster while improving long-term site viability and returns through the Investment Tax Credits.
To learn more about Ampion and its commitment to expanding renewable energy to all, visit ampion.net.
Ampion provides turnkey subscription and revenue management solutions for renewable energy developers nationwide, simplifying the complex world of distributed generation.
