The solar panels on the roof of Lois Drumheller’s home on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Monroeville. (Sophia Lucente | TribLive)
For most people, Lois Drumheller’s rooftop solar panels on her home are what come to mind when they think of solar energy — a way to save some money on her electric bills.
“I want to be able to have something in my pocket left over to support community efforts,” Drumheller said.
In Pennsylvania, though, there’s growing interest, despite federal roll backs on renewable tax incentives and other programs, for a new method of solar dispersion: community-wide solar projects.
Community solar projects are made of arrays managed by a community group or developer that people subscribe to and get billed for through their local utility.
“The energy that’s generated by a community solar project is sold into to the general electrical grid and subscribers get credits on their utility bill for their share of the project’s energy,” said Elowyn Corby, senior Mid-Atlantic regional director for national policy nonprofit Vote Solar.
For consumers, the benefit is a potential savings of 5% to 20% compared to the average utility bill, according to Corby.
As long as users remain in the area services by the solar project, their subscription moves with them, Corby said.
“This is really convenient for renters,” Corby said. “It’s convenient for people who might move around often … it’s great for people whose roof or homes aren’t able to support solar or people who live in multi-family housing.”
The problem, say solar advocates, is that community solar grids aren’t legal in Pennsylvania — yet.
That could change if a community energy bill, which passed the state House this session, also passes the Senate. The current session for the Legislature ends in November.
Where could community solar projects go?
Pennsylvania is lush with space for community solar projects, which require less than 30 acres of land and don’t need to be placed on parcels right next to each other. Examples of attractive parcels could be abandoned mine property or farm land, Corby said.
Community solar projects, similar to some other solar projects, would likely require a land lease to be on farmland, in turn giving farmers an economic boost, said Doug Neidich, CEO of GreenWorks Development, which installs solar arrays on family-farms.
He said the practice of leasing, typically in 15 to 20 year stints, is a way to keep farmers on their land instead of buying them out, which utility-scale solar projects sometimes do.
Neidich said, typically, GreenWorks pays between $2,000 and $3,000 per year for each acre it leases.
“You’re not changing the ecological integrity of the farm. You’re just putting renewable energy on the farm,” Neidich said.
Building new infrastructure is ideal to keep up with energy demand, Corby said.
Under the bill in Harrisburg, groups or developers who want to start a project would have to shoulder construction costs, Corby said.
There are community solar projects in 44 other states, totalling about 7.8 gigawatts of power, as of June 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
New York, one of the leading community solar states, has about 1,350 operating or in the being planned, according to Department of Energy data. New York state allowed for community solar projects in 2015 and has since implemented programs to help low income families connect easier to projects.
Most operational projects in the state seem to have come online in the last five years, per a Department of Energy map.
What do farmers, food systems gain?
Many experts look to benefits already being realized by community projects in other states or by utility scale projects as motivation to keep pushing for solar in Pennsylvania.
Across the country there are about 670 ground-mounted solar projects on farms, said Noah Erwin, associate director for policy at Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit focused on sustainable farming and food systems across the country.
“This presents opportunities for farmers and non-farmers to work together on a project … or for small farms to come together to collectively own their own energy system,” Erwin said. “Community solar would enable more localized ownership of our energy grid, which would strengthen and improve our agricultural communities.”
For farmers, solar panels provide shade for grazing animals and farm hands and can improve soil health by lowering temperatures, said Sarah Dunn, a rural organizing associate with nonprofit Solar United Neighbors.
“We’re also finding that … not as much water is evaporating from the soil,” Dunn said. “We’re finding, too, that when we plant native plants along with solar panels … that vegetation increases the micro organisms (in the soil).”
Sheep and solar panels are the perfect combination, said Erie County livestock farmer Mark Muir who was supposed to get a community solar array put on 30 acres of his farm until the developers canceled the project because of the status of the state bill and the federal One Big Beautiful Bill, which stopped tax incentives for clean energy projects.
“Your solar array — you have the protection from the wind (and) snow, and at the same time protection from coyotes and foxes that are natural predators against the sheep,” Muir said.
He said panels also promote more targeted grass growth for grazing because water drips down off the panels and onto the ground.
A farmer could maximize their financial benefits, Corby said, by both leasing land for projects and being a solar subscriber themselves.
Solar, Dunn said, can offer quick benefits because it can be constructed and put on the grid faster than other forms of energy.
Still, there is no standard time frame because municipalities have to approve projects, Dunn said.
“It is much quicker than any kind of fracking or coal or nuclear development,” she said. “We’re talking years quicker.”
Solar in Southwestern Pa.
Solar projects on farm land show up mostly in Central Pennsylvania, according to data from solar research group InSPIRE, but that doesn’t mean the Southwestern part of the state isn’t familiar with other forms of solar.
In the Pittsburgh region, some public buildings are making headway into the renewable world.
Recently, the Jefferson Township board of supervisors gave preliminary land development approval for a solar farm on about 18 acres of an 83-acre private farm at the corner of Winfield Road and Riemer Road.
Township Manager Leo Rosenbauer said it is a utility scale project that would send it’s energy to a nearby substation, which would then go to the energy grid.
Rosenbauer said the supervisors board granted developer Sunvest Solar four exceptions to the township’s solar ordinance:
The first request was to develop on prime agricultural soil, Rosenbauer said. The township’s solar ordinance states that no more than 20% of the entire area for development shall consist of high quality agricultural soils though the duration of the project.
Rosenbauer said he wasn’t sure the exact percentage of agricultural soil the arrays would be on, but that it was a small percentage and the farm still had usable agricultural land.
The panels also will be decommissioned after their lifespan, leaving the land underneath usable again, per the township’s ordinance, Rosenbauer said.
Others requests were to waive the setback requirement for a section of the Riemer Road side because there is an existing power line along the road and for the area under the panels to not be impervious, but rather vegetated for stormwater runoff. The last allows them to not plant trees for screening on one side of the project because it is already a forested area.
The project will still require final approval from the township’s planning commission and supervisors after the developer finishes the final project designs.
Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship, Carrick High School, Pittsburgh Classical Academy and Clairton City Middle/High School all received Solar for Schools state grant funding, totaling a little over $1 million for the projects, to help offset costs for solar arrays.
The Solar for Schools grant program was renewed again in the 2026 state budget, but no new Pittsburgh-area schools were added to the recipient list.
A brownfield in Swisshelm Park is also slated for a 15-acre solar site that would power four Pittsburgh Public Schools.
The Millvale Community Development Corp. in June celebrated the activation of its new rooftop solar system on its North Avenue building.
Nearby Etna is planning a solar project for its new municipal hub.
Despite solar popping up locally, projects in the region aren’t always welcomed with open arms.
In Buffalo Township last year, two solar farms were approved for development despite strong community opposition from people concerned about potential fire and health hazards, glare and lowered property values.
SolAmerica Energy, the developer for the Buffalo Township projects did not respond to TribLive request for comment.
Lauren Posey, environmental policy advocate at nonprofit Protect PT, said solar is a great way to diversify the energy grid, which makes it more resilient, and community projects in particular expand access to people of different income brackets.
“Affordability is a big concern for people these days. So even that small amount, 10% off a monthly bill, could really help,” Posey said.
Protect PT garnered 83 signatures on a petition it was circulating in support of community solar, which it delivered to the office of state Senator Kim Ward R-Hempfield.
Posey said community solar projects could help fight misinformation about solar, such as that it pollutes the environment and makes land unusable.
“It’s pretty cool that your energy is being generated locally,” Posey said. “If people are interested in energy freedom and greater energy independence for the United States, I think there’s a win there as well.”
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