Community Solar Subscriptions for Businesses: What to Expect, Timeline, and More

If your company is considering solar, you likely have a number of questions. Here at SunCentral, our goal is to make sure your company is prepared to make a well-informed decision.

SunCentral has a deep track record of helping three different groups: developers, residential subscribers, and commercial business subscribers. We provide developers with a special platform to manage community solar subscriptions, while allowing subscribers to easily access their solar energy bills and understand their savings. This experience helps us understand the extensive planning, organizational considerations, and due diligence that goes into your company considering solar. We also know that people signing up for community solar, whether they’re homeowners or businesses, often want to know how long the process will take. In this article, we’ll explain what a commercial or industrial business can expect when subscribing to a new community solar project.

What is Community Solar?

Community solar is a great choice for companies that want to support clean energy without needing to install solar panels at their own location. By signing up for a community solar subscription, there’s no need for construction at your facility, and it doesn’t matter if your building isn’t a good fit for solar panels. Plus, if your company moves to a new location, your subscription can move with you. Supporting solar energy is now easier and more flexible than ever! But, how does community solar work?

Phase 1: Pre-Contract

The “pre-contract” period generally ranges from 1-6 months, depending on your company’s existing level of knowledge about community solar and the number of internal stakeholders that need to be consulted before signing a solar agreement.

Education: 

• Initial phone call: Our initial conversation with a company exploring solar typically involves a 30 to 60-minute educational phone call. In this call, we provide a general overview of what to expect from community solar. We explain the program, what enrollment looks like, the requirements, and the savings (Does community solar save money? Yes!).
• Ongoing education (1-4 months):  After the initial call, more questions often arise as other team members learn about community solar farms. We typically receive questions from executives, as well as those in finance, operations, and accounting. Our team is always available to provide answers, whether through email or a follow-up phone call.
• Decision making: We understand that during this early phase, companies are processing a lot of information. They may be exploring other options, comparing different providers, and doing their general due diligence. We know this takes time, so we encourage companies to take as much time as they need, which is why we didn’t set a specific timeframe for this part of the process. We're here to provide as much support as necessary.

Information gathering: (1 month)

• While we’re helping to educate clients, we’re also gathering important information on our end. We collect key details, such as your company’s electricity usage, so that we can create a customized community solar subscription proposal for you to review.

Phase 2: Post-Contract

Congratulations—your company has signed a contract for a community solar subscription! The next big milestone will occur once your solar energy project is live. While it can take some time to develop a new project and bring it online, the good news is your work is mostly done. While you wait, a few exciting things happen:

Introduction to relevant SunCentral team members:

• The SunCentral team: As the solar project your subscription is connected to gets closer to its "go-live" date, you’ll be introduced to the SunCentral team. SunCentral is the community solar subscription platform that manages subscribers and will be a valuable resource throughout your subscription. We will welcome your company to the program, help your staff get set up on the online portal, explain the billing process, and address any questions. We will be here to continue to support you throughout the duration of your subscription.
• The marketing and public relations teams: Many of our clients take great pride in subscribing to community solar because it directly supports their broader sustainability goals. As the solar project gets closer to completion, we often see customers become more excited to share their involvement in clean, local energy with a wider audience. Your SunCentral sales contact may ask if you’d like to collaborate with our marketing or PR team on a press release, case study, or other types of content. If your company plans to celebrate this milestone—perhaps by supporting a local nonprofit or hosting a volunteer event—we’d love to help you showcase that achievement.

An Overview of Timeline Expectations

The time between our first conversation with a company until their community solar subscription is active typically ranges from 4 to 18 months. However, if we’ve learned anything since 2020, it’s that sometimes things don’t go according to plan—whether it’s dealing with a pandemic, natural disasters, or global supply chain failures. In our present time of seemingly endless unprecedented events, we are happy to be flexible and work with your company to make things run as smoothly as possible. You can rest assured that your solar future is in good hands.

The Trifecta: Simple, Flexible, and Accessible

When you choose community solar, you not only benefit from direct cost savings, but you also actively contribute to the promotion of local clean energy generation. Plus, you avoid the high costs and complex logistics of installing solar panels at your own facility. Importantly, as your company grows and moves, your community solar subscription can be adjusted and scaled accordingly, keeping your commitment to renewable energy flexible and aligned with your evolving needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about how your business can get started with a community solar subscription, contact the team at SunCentral today. We’d love to answer all your questions.