Title: The Solar Endowment: A Solar Deployment Roadmap for US Colleges and Universities 

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Funding OpportunitySolar Market Pathways
SunShot SubprogramSoft Costs
Location: Custer, WI
Amount Awarded: $1,025,400
Awardee Cost Share: $258,900

U.S. colleges and universities are in a position to make substantial solar project investments both on and off campus. To facilitate these investments, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association is working with university stakeholders at four universities to create solar investment proposals for consideration by university governance boards. This campus stakeholder engagement is led by student solar deployment teams and builds off of past program success with the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon and similar student-led projects. This effort showcases the potential of university solar photovoltaic (PV) investments, advances favorable board policies to govern PV investments, and provides a roadmap for universities across the country to deploy solar—advancing their sustainability goals. For more information on this award and the Solar Market Pathways program, visit their website

APPROACH

MREA will engage Student Deployment Teams at each campus to build student, faculty, and alumni support of solar PV deployment and investment. These teams will develop complete site assessments to select project sites on each campus. MREA will then support the student teams in developing a solar investment proposal for each partnering university campus including recommendations for adopting solar deployment goals based on the site assessments, policies to guide investment in solar on and off-campus, and approval for the competitive solicitation for solar installation contractors. The project and student teams will then engage the university foundations in building a campaign targeted at alumni and donors to solicit support for solar deployment on each campus.

INNOVATION

Universities in the Midwest are part of an emerging solar PV market. This region currently has only 3% of the nation’s installed solar capacity but is experiencing the fastest growth rate of any region in the US. In an effort to accelerate solar deployment across the region, MREA will summarize the research, experiences, strategies, and lessons learned and create resources available for use by universities and colleges across the United States.