In Ashland, Oregon, a small community is changing what it means to be “powered by the people.” Nestled on the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples, Ashland Solar Cooperative (ASC) is bringing cooperative solar to the community and ensuring the people of Ashland have options when it comes to powering their homes and businesses.
ASC is a member-based organization comprised of a local Board, members, and volunteers. Since 2019, ASC has been working to pool resources to support its vision of alternative energy options for the community. And in 2024, they were finally able to bring this vision to life.
In a rural community like Ashland, the important work ASC is doing is no easy feat. Before 2017, access to solar power was extremely limited and often available only to those with means to afford it: those who owned homes, purchased new rooftops, or possessed the capital to invest in clean energy. Those with fewer financial resources were left out of the conversation entirely.
In Ashland, 50 percent of residents are renters, families living under the city’s iconic old-growth canopy, or those with limited financial means. Something needed to change. And that’s where ASC stepped in.
The Utility Competition
Ashland owns and operates its own municipal electric utility. Unlike many regions where high utility rates make solar an easy financial sell, Ashland primarily relies on hydroelectric power, which is affordable locally at $0.10/kWh. This created a unique hurdle: how do you build a community-owned solar movement that can compete with the local hydropower rates, an already existing source of clean energy?
The turning point came in 2017, when the Ashland City Council adopted its Climate & Energy Action Plan and, shortly thereafter, its Virtual Net Metering (VNM) policy. The VNM policy enables solar power generated by a large array in a single location to generate utility bill credits that can be shared financially across multiple utility accounts. This effectively removed the need for on-site hardware and ultimately opened the door for renters and community members with low- to moderate-income to access the benefits of solar energy.
This policy shift was a natural opening for ASC to begin its work in kind.
Identifying and Financing the Project
ASC’s first order of business was to secure a viable host site for its first community solar array. ASC was fortunate to identify the rooftop of a City-owned electric services building to serve as its first host site and negotiated an affordable ($550 annually) 25-year lease agreement.
ASC considered various business models for its community solar project and ultimately chose an annual subscriber model that requires only a small upfront capital contribution from subscribers, equivalent to the value of the expected annual credits to be applied to their utility bills over the course of one year. Making economics work for subscribers and the organization in the long term required detailed financial modeling, including how to fund and then repay the estimated upfront cost of $265,000 for a local company to install the solar array. To make this project feasible, ASC had to assemble a complex capital stack. They secured a USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant that covered half of the project costs, paid after the solar array was placed into service. ASC arranged the sale of its Federal Investment Tax Credits (ITC) through a broker identified by PSEF. Lastly, ASC relied on long-term, below-market loans from solar co-op members who are aligned with the organization’s mission. While 100% of the solar array’s development was initially financed, the REAP grant and the sale of the federal tax credit allowed ASC to pay down ~75% of the initial debt within the first 12 months.
PSEF serves as connective tissue for community-owned renewable energy projects. As a PSEF member, ASC was able to access affordable property and liability insurance. Small projects like this one would not be operationally possible without the best insurance rates afforded through PSEF’s large portfolio of partner projects. Two PSEF mini-grants helped cover legal costs to create Subscription Agreements and monetize the transfer of the federal tax credit, as well as cover tax advisory and preparation services. Technical expertise from Sachiko Graber at Cooperative Energy Futures (CEF) and Jeremy Kalin at Avisen Legal was instrumental in informing the financial modeling work, which helped identify a buyer for the federal tax credit and in closing its sale.
Pete Jorgensen, a Board member and Treasurer of ASC, noted: “ASC Board members and volunteers would not have had the ability to bring its first community solar project to life without the support of PSEF and related access to resources. We are very grateful to be part of PSEF’s mission-aligned member community.”
Equity and System Maintenance
ASC’s first community solar array became operational in December 2024. It generated over 200,000 kWh of electricity in its first year of operation for 27 subscribers. This included 4 low-income households who collectively received 10 percent of the total energy production at no cost. 22 households had subscription amounts intended to cover 40%-100% of their annual electricity consumption. The largest subscriber is the Ashland Food Cooperative (AFC), which strives to have 100% of its energy from local renewable sources. AFC can be flexible in the size of its annual subscription, depending on other subscribers’ needs.
The project’s path to development and funding was marked by significant challenges. This included navigating uncertainties in federal grants and finding a viable buyer for a relatively small ($106,000) Federal tax credit. Operationally, with no paid staff, ASC (Board members, members, and volunteers) has had to ensure that subscribers’ utility bills are properly credited each month and that failed inverters are identified and replaced in a timely manner.
The ASC Board sets the annual subscription price (currently at parity with the municipal utility’s price), and recruits new subscribers, as necessary. In setting the subscription price, the Board ensures that subscription payments cover debt service and operating expenses (e.g., lease, insurance) while building a cash reserve for unexpected events and development funds for the next community solar array. As the City has recently announced plans to increase its electricity rates by ~4% annually over the next 5 years, ASC is optimistic that future subscription rates will be at a modest discount to the City’s rate while continuing to provide 10% of the solar production at no cost to low-income households.
Delivering benefits for the community, by the community, showcases that despite the challenges our members may endure on the path to project completion, the benefits in the end are worth the struggle. By choosing community ownership, ASC isn’t just generating electricity locally; it is reclaiming the power to define its own future. This model proves that when equity is the foundation and resilience is the goal, a community can build a legacy that is sustainable as the energy it produces.