page_title: Community solar farm
hierarchical_section_title: Community solar farm
caption_attribution_description: English: Visitors at a Westmill Solar Co-operative Open Day at Westmill Solar Park
context_page_description: A community solar farm or garden is a solar power installation that accepts capital from and provides output credit and tax benefits to individual and other investors. In some systems you buy individual solar panels which are installed in the farm after your purchase. In others you purchase kW capacity or kWh of production. The farm's power output is credited to investors in proportion to their investment, with adjustments to reflect ongoing changes in capacity, technology, costs and electricity rates. Companies, cooperatives, governments or non-profits operate the farms.
  Centralizing the location of solar systems has advantages over residential installations that include:
  Avoiding trees, roof size and/or configuration limitations, adjacent buildings, the immediate microclimate and/or other factors which may reduce power output at the residential location.
  Avoiding building codes, zoning restrictions, homeowner association rules and aesthetic concerns.
  Not requiring homeowners to have the skills and commitment to install and maintain solar systems.
  Expanding participation to include renters and others who are not residential property owners.
context_section_description: A community solar farm or garden is a solar power installation that accepts capital from and provides output credit and tax benefits to individual and other investors. In some systems you buy individual solar panels which are installed in the farm after your purchase. In others you purchase kW capacity or kWh of production. The farm's power output is credited to investors in proportion to their investment, with adjustments to reflect ongoing changes in capacity, technology, costs and electricity rates. Companies, cooperatives, governments or non-profits operate the farms.
  Centralizing the location of solar systems has advantages over residential installations that include:
  Avoiding trees, roof size and/or configuration limitations, adjacent buildings, the immediate microclimate and/or other factors which may reduce power output at the residential location.
  Avoiding building codes, zoning restrictions, homeowner association rules and aesthetic concerns.
  Not requiring homeowners to have the skills and commitment to install and maintain solar systems.
  Expanding participation to include renters and others who are not residential property owners.
  The Solar Gardens Institute maintains a national directory of community solar projects and organizations. As of 2011, farms encompassed both photovoltaic and concentrating solar power technologies.
caption: Westmill Solar Park
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