A new solar project in Brooklyn could offer a model for climate justice

An industrial waterfront in Brooklyn, New York, is transforming from a gritty area of abandoned warehouses and crumbling piers into a hub of clean energy activity. A terminal for assembling giant offshore wind turbines is well under construction, and plans are taking shape for a $100 million center where startups can test new climatetech solutions.

Now the shoreside stretch is set to add a clean energy project to its portfolio: a unique solar initiative driven by the local community.

Construction will begin early this year on the 725-kilowatt array, which is spearheaded by the grassroots organization UPROSE and will span the roof of a former military supply base. The project is expected to reduce the energy bills of some 150 participating households in Sunset Park — a mainly working-class neighborhood of Asian, Latino, and immigrant communities. Revenue from selling power to the grid will go into a community wealth fund that allows residents to invest in local programs, including potentially more solar.

“For me, this is more than just renewable energy; it’s a model of how we take control over our climate future, our economic future,” said Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE.

UPROSE has been working to develop the Sunset Park Solar project since 2017, as part of its broader vision for curbing excessive air pollution and creating climate resiliency in the neighborhood. After years of forming partnerships, and repairs to the building’s rooftop, the solar array is finally expected to begin producing power by the end of this year.

Yeampierre’s group will co-own the installation with Working Power, a project developer that helps to build and finance renewable energy systems in marginalized communities. The New York City Economic Development Corporation is leasing space for 45,000 square feet of solar panels atop the renovated military base, known as the Brooklyn Army Terminal.

“We want the Sunset Park district to be the premier testbed for a just energy transition, and that includes community solar projects,” said Cecilia Kushner, chief strategy officer for NYCEDC.

Households that subscribe to the solar array will receive about a 20 percent discount on their utility bills, resulting in a combined $1.24 million in savings over 25 years — money that could help defray the rising energy expenses that many families face. UPROSE said that the array is expected to cost at least $2.7 million to build, which the partners plan to finance through grants, loans, and tax credits from government and other sources.

For Yeampierre, the yearslong effort is coming together at a pivotal moment. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to slash U.S. clean energy spending and invest heavily in fossil fuels when he returns to office later this month. As federal action wanes, cities and states across the country are poised to redouble their efforts to fight climate change.

Projects like Sunset Park Solar could provide a ​“replicable model” for how to collaborate with local partners and tap incentives to develop renewables more equitably. ​“The timing couldn’t be better for sending a message of what’s possible,” Yeampierre said.

Expanding clean energy access through community solar 

The neighborhood-driven initiative will also arrive at a time when community solar in general is gaining momentum nationwide.

Nearly 7.9 gigawatts of U.S. community solar projects were operating as of June 2024, including roughly 1.8 GW of capacity installed in New York state, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Nationally, the total could reach 14 GW of capacity by 2028, buoyed by state policies and federal efforts like the $7 billion Solar for All program, the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie forecasted.

As a category, community solar includes a variety of ownership structures and participation models. But projects tend to share the same goal: helping more people to access the environmental and economic benefits of solar energy — especially those who can’t pay the upfront installation costs or who live in rental or multifamily housing units. By some estimates, about three-fourths of U.S. households can’t put panels on their rooftops.

“Community solar really addresses a number of those issues,” said Kate Daniel, Northeast regional director for the Coalition for Community Solar Access, a national trade association. 

She said that such projects have been a ​“bright spot for climate action” for New York state in particular, which is falling far behind on its goals for installing utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage projects. In 2024, New York met its 6-GW goal for distributed solar capacity a year ahead of schedule, driven largely by the proliferation of community solar.

“We’ve seen that [community solar] is scalable and deployable, whereas large-scale renewable energy programs have really been struggling,” Daniel added.

Previously, the broader community solar market faced major shortcomings: Lower-earning households — which stand to benefit the most from energy-bill savings — historically represented a small share of subscribers. In recent years, however, participation has improved among low-income residents.

Steep enrollment fees, extensive credit-score checks, and other barriers can still prevent many households from enlisting in projects. And many participants are businesses, institutions, and higher-earning households that can absorb the upfront costs and paperwork. Small-scale and community-driven projects can also be more expensive to finance than larger, corporate-owned arrays, especially if banks see the former as risky investments.

To address this gap, nearly two dozen state and local governments have adopted policies that require or encourage the participation of low- and moderate-income residents. In New York, for example, developers can earn additional credits for projects that serve disadvantaged communities.

Those efforts are set to accelerate dramatically under Solar for All.

Last year, the Biden administration made a historic investment — funded by the Inflation Reduction Act — to support solar initiatives for low-income residents in every state.

Sixty selected programs should start receiving grants and low-cost financing this year to develop community solar or install panels on individual homes and multifamily affordable housing. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has already legally obligated the funding, meaning that Trump would face significant challenges were he to try and claw it back, experts say.

One of the winners, the Community Power Coalition, was selected for a $249.3 million grant to support more community-centered models similar in spirit to the Sunset Park Solar project, which also involves training and hiring solar installers within the neighborhood. Other approaches could serve residents in manufactured home developments or rural landowners.

“A handful of these models are happening in a couple of different places across the country, but not widely,” said Kerry O’Neill, CEO of Inclusive Prosperity Capital, a nonprofit financing platform that helped convene the Community Power Coalition.

The coalition plans to start offering financial assistance in the first quarter of this year, including grants to support planning and construction phases and bridge loans for tax credits. The group will also work to educate lenders and developers about community-driven solar projects, with the goal of bringing down prohibitively high financing costs.

“A big piece of our focus is supporting community ownership models … where the communities can determine their own energy sovereignty and what sort of projects they want,” O’Neill said.

While UPROSE didn’t apply for Solar for All funding for its Sunset Park Solar installation, it is considering tapping the federal program for future projects, Yeampierre said. UPROSE recently submitted a proposal to the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority, seeking to install a larger community solar project atop a major public bus depot in Sunset Park. The project could potentially enroll some 1,000 households in the neighborhood.

“If there was ever a time to really be bold about operationalizing a just transition, it’s now,” Yeampierre said. 

Correction: This article has been updated to include more recent research showing that community solar participation has risen among low-income households in recent years.