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Presenter: Ishaan Singh Sarna

Faculty Sponsor: Christine Crago

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Environmental Science and Sustainability

Session: Poster Session 5, 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM, Auditorium, A37

ABSTRACT

The rapid expansion of distributed solar has sparked an interest in programs that have the potential to expand access beyond homeowners and higher-income households. Although community solar has been proposed as an effective mechanism to achieve more equitable access for renters, multifamily households, and low-income households, there is limited empirical evidence on its direct impacts on affordability. Using census-tract-level data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Low Income Energy Affordability (LEAD) tool, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Sharing the Sun Community Solar dataset, and the American Community Survey, this study examines the relationship between community solar presence and energy burden outcomes. A fixed effects regression framework is employed to control for socioeconomic and demographic characteristics while isolating the effect of community solar access and installed capacity. While previous research has focused on the demographic profiles of common adopters, this thesis evaluates the direct impacts of community solar diffusion on household energy costs and energy burden. The findings of this study aim to inform state policymakers and contribute to the broader literature on the energy transition, energy equity, and the distributional impacts of the clean energy transition.