A new bill being considered in the Colorado legislature would create “solar gardens.” Solar gardens allow people to participate financially in owning part of a solar array even if they do not have a suitable site on their own property. My reading of the proposed legislation is that subscriptions in a solar garden would be financial securities, and fall under securities laws. That’s probably a good thing.
Solar for everyone
Solar panels are elitist: They cost a lot of money, and only homeowners with good solar access can usefully install them. This means that renters and people who can’t come up with at least $5,000 to $10,000 worth of cash or credit can’t own them. That’s the problem Colorado House Bill 10-1342 (HB1342): Community Solar Gardens aims to correct.
HB1342 defines a community solar garden (CSG) as “A solar electric generation facility with a nameplate rating of two megawatts or les … where the beneficial use of the electricity generated by the facility belongs to the subscribers to the community solar garden.” A subscriber is a “retail customer of a qualifying retail utility who owns a s... Read more
