With help from Boise’s budget, the push for community solar in Idaho heats up

As Boise moves to finalize its annual budget, the Idaho chapter of the Sierra Club, a national environmental advocacy group, has renewed its push for the city to implement a locally owned solar energy project.

Such projects, also known as “community solar,” generally see solar panels put atop a government- or nonprofit-owned building, with the associated energy savings distributed to area residents.

The Sierra Club chapter convened roughly two dozen local residents, organizers and elected officials for a roundtable Wednesday afternoon to advocate for the implementation of community solar projects in Boise, where costs of living have surged amid rapid population growth in recent years.

“Traditional rooftop solar, let’s say a homeowner puts on their roof at home, they get lower power bills — but for community solar, we have a joint solar array in the middle of a community, and lots of different community members can get lower power bills from that central array,” Lisa Young, director of the Sierra Club chapter, told the crowd. “That’s really the difference, and the beauty of community solar.”

Boise City Council members Jordan Morales, Jimmy Hallyburton and Kathy Corless — together half of the six-member body — attended the event, as did three state legislators.

The city of Boise’s budget for next year includes a $50,000 grant to the El Ada Community Action Partnership, a nonprofit. Some of that money is meant to support a community solar project, according to Emilee Ayers, a spokesperson for the mayor.

While specifics of the pilot project are still being developed, Corless said in an interview that under one option being considered, solar panels would be placed on the roof of a city-owned building, and the resulting energy credits given back to a local organization like El Ada, which helps low-income households pay their utility bills.

“Projects like this help us bring the community together and support one another,” she said.

The push for community solar in Boise comes amid growing restrictions on renewable energy across Ada County, where commissioners voted last year to dramatically tighten rules on where large-scale solar panel arrays can be built.

Electricity supplier Idaho Power also won approval from state regulators last year to cut the amount it compensates households with solar panels.

Brad Bowlin, a spokesperson for Idaho Power, wrote in a statement that, while the company tried to offer a community solar option in 2016, low participation from consumers led to the program’s suspension.

It’s also not the first time that city officials have seriously explored options for community solar.

Boise’s 2021 Climate Action Roadmap — a slate of landmark commitments by the city to address the effects of climate change — included goals to “work with Idaho Power to develop viable community solar projects that are cost competitive with on-site installations,” and install a community solar array in the city at least every five years.

Current plans for community solar in Boise do not directly involve Idaho Power, Bowlin wrote, though the company does “periodically reevaluate” options for such projects “as market conditions evolve.”

The roadmap also contains several other climate goals that dovetail with the development of community solar projects, such as ensuring all of Boise’s electricity comes from clean energy sources by 2035 or making the city carbon-neutral by 2050.

Efforts by the city to invest in community solar are also coming with a ticking financial clock: Federal tax credits for most third-party solar arrays — such as those owned by businesses, governments or nonprofits, instead of being placed on homes — are set to expire at the end of 2027.

With those overlapping deadlines, Sierra Club organizers have been working to build support from Boise residents and elected officials alike in a bid to get the budget’s proposed community solar project off the ground.

“From what I was able to hear and learn,” state Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, who attended the Sierra Club’s roundtable, said in an interview after the event, “anything that lowers the costs is definitely something we’re always interested in.”