The Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar (The Sunny Awards) is a $100,000 prize competition that recognizes community solar projects and programs that employ or develop best practices to increase equitable access to the meaningful benefits of community solar for subscribers and their communities.
Community solar is any solar project or purchasing program in which the benefits of a solar project flow to multiple customers such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups, within a certain geographic area. Community solar projects and programs can vary significantly in their structure, implementation, and benefits they provide. The best practices of the projects and programs recognized by the Sunny Awards will provide a blueprint for community solar developers, state energy offices, utilities, and others to help achieve the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) target to power the equivalent of five million households with community solar by 2025, generating $1 billion in electricity bill savings.
IACAA is thrilled to learn that two of our member agencies were recognized during the Sunny Awards. We reached out to Kathy Walk, C.E.F.S. Economic Opportunity Corp.; Minday Browning, Embarras River Basin Agency; and Jennifer Schmidt, Illinois Solar for All, to learn more about their contributions to the promotion of solar energy in Illinois. Here’s what they had to say!
