--- title: What is Community Solar? description: Solar has been a buzzword for a long time, but mostly in the context of a solar array on your property. That can be onerous and expensive. Enter Community Solar! image: https://blog.catalystpower.com/hubfs/What%20is%20Community%20Solar.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://blog.catalystpower.com/more-power-to-you/what-is-community-solar#main-content) [![Catalyst Power logo](//info.catalystpower.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/catalyst-theme/images/catalystpower-header-logo.svg)](https://catalystpower.com) [![Catalyst Power logo](https://blog.catalystpower.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/catalyst-theme/images/catalystpower-header-logo.svg?newlogo)](https://catalystpower.com) Search [Power Your Business](https://catalystpower.com) ![](https://blog.catalystpower.com/hubfs/Catalyst%20Power%20Logos/CatalystLogos_CMYK_Logo%20+%20Tagline%20copy%206.png) # What is Community Solar? [ Andrew Abernathy ](https://blog.catalystpower.com/more-power-to-you/author/andrew-abernathy) • December 30, 2021 Solar energy used to be the ‘self driving cars’ of the alternative energy world. Not anymore. Solar is here. It works. And it’s only going to get bigger and better. Not only is solar becoming increasingly popular for its sustainability and effectiveness. Moreover, in an effort to lower overall costs and make solar power more accessible, the government is offering credits to businesses and individuals currently invested in and using solar energy sources. So not only does it have an incredibly positive impact on the environment while acting as a reliable power source, solar is also saving people money. One of the ways in which businesses can tap into the benefits of solar energy is through Community Solar initiatives. These are simple, low-risk ways to become a part of the growing renewables marketplace. Before we go further, there are a few similar-sounding but disparate terms at play here so let’s just clear those up! Solar Power This is power generated from concentrating solar radiation (aka electromagnetic radiation, aka light) and using various technologies to transform that radiation into usable energy. Solar Panel This is one of those technologies. It turns solar radiation into electricity using Photovoltaic cells. These panels are placed outdoors mounted on the ground or rooftops and used to harness radiation. Solar Farm A solar farm is a large collection of solar panels (usually mounted on the ground) that take the converted energy produced by the solar panels and distribute it to the larger electric grid. These farms can be ‘Utility Scale’ or ‘Community Solar’ projects. Okay, now for the big one. Community Solar Community Solar is when organizations + homeowners in a given area connect to a local solar farm (a smaller farm than Utility Scale… but we figured you got that). The power generated is shared with the larger grid and distributed amongst all Community Solar participants. Because joining a Community Solar program is also considered an investment in a renewable energy project, users of Community Solar also earn credits for the amount of new energy that they produce. Those credits are then reflected in monthly utility bills. Guaranteed energy savings. Every month. Just for registering. And, because Community Solar is based on local proximity, participants are less likely to lose power if the grid goes down. Community Solar is an environmentally positive, cost saving, outage protecting, energy source. Sign up for Community Solar today! 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