Silver Spring, Md. – Enterprise Community Development (ECD) announced today that it has won a $50,000 prize from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Community Power Accelerator. Awarded as part of the second round of the American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize: Accessing Capital to Deploy Equitable Community Solar, the prize is designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support community solar projects.
The award will help launch the third phase of ECD’s solar program in Maryland where the organization is planning to install a minimum of 2.2MW on the rooftop of 17-to-25 properties. Once placed in service, this community solar program will provide over 1,600 low-to-moderate households in Maryland with a discount of 20 percent or more on their electricity bills. The program will also include battery storage components for energy resilience and workforce development opportunities for the residents of Enterprise’s communities.
This work builds upon the first two phases of Enterprise’s community solar program. Phase one, which was completed in 2019, installed 1.1MW of solar facilities across 12 properties in Washington, D.C. and demonstrably reduced energy costs in these buildings while generating savings that have been used to fund resident services.
Enterprise expects to complete phase two, a four-property, 2.2MW community solar project (including rooftop and carports) in Washington, D.C. by summer 2024. As part of this initiative, Enterprise is collaborating with Neighborhood Sun to enroll residents of 12 DC properties into a community solar program and provide them with 25 percent energy bill discounts. Additionally, nine residents living in Enterprise communities recently graduated from its Solar Installer Workforce Training Program. This innovative new workforce development program provides intensive hands-on training in solar installation and was created in partnership with Prospect Solar, Greenscape Energy Ltd, and the FH Faunteroy Community Enrichment Center. The graduates of this program are now being hired for solar installer positions in the Washington, D.C. area.
“The residents of our communities want to save money and conserve energy. Our community solar program provides an easy and effective way for them to achieve those goals,” said Christine Madigan, interim president of Enterprise Community Development. “Residential energy use accounts for 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions across the country, so it is essential we find solutions like this one that are scalable, effective, and available to people of all income levels. Enterprise is committed to bringing the benefits of renewal energy and resilient building to the 23,000 residents across the Mid-Atlantic who call our communities home.”
For nearly two decades, Enterprise Community Partners has been a leader in climate-ready homes and communities. In 2004, the organization launched Enterprise Green Communities, which remains the only national green building program created with and for the affordable housing sector. Today, 31 states and Washington, D.C. promote or require Green Communities certification through their Low-Income Housing Tax Credit programs, and 10,000 homes are certified each year.
In 2023, as part its clean energy development strategic goal, ECD joined the DOE’s Better Climate Challenge and committed to reduce portfolio-wide greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent within 10 years and to work with DOE and partners to share successful solutions and decarbonization strategies. This commitment is being pursued through installation of rooftop and carport solar, battery energy storage systems, electrification of transport and energy systems in our buildings, and energy efficiency measures across our new housing development efforts as well as in our existing 114 affordable housing communities.
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About the Community Power Accelerator Prize
The Community Power Accelerator Prize from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) aims to help achieve NCSP’s goal to enable enough community solar to power the equivalent of 5 million households and create $1 billion in household savings by 2025, by addressing the lack of expertise, capacity, and pre-development funds for community solar developers, and accelerating a pipeline of projects with meaningful benefits. The goal of this prize is to expand a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States.
About Enterprise Community Development
Enterprise Community Development is the top nonprofit owner and developer of affordable homes in the Mid-Atlantic and is an affiliate of Enterprise Community Partners. We specialize in high-impact residential development, preservation, property management and resident services for more than 23,000 people who call our communities home. Our $1.4 billion portfolio includes 114 communities and 13,000 homes, positioning us as one of the top ten nonprofit owners of affordable housing in the United States. For more information, visit www.enterprisecommunitydevelopment.org.
Contact:
Rida Dhanani
rida@profilespr.com
703-309-9497
Tara Dunion
tdunion@ecdcommunities.org
202-885-9579