Community solar provides a way for commercial, industrial, municipal, and residential customers, who can not or do not want to install a solar array on their property, to benefit from solar energy.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy estimate that only 50% of rooftops, for both residential and commercial buildings, are suitable for solar arrays. Community solar is a solution for the other 50%. Third-party developers construct local solar projects that connect with the utility grid, taking away the obligation to host an on-site solar array. This arrangement keeps the solar projects local and cost-effective benefitting the surrounding community.