The four projects are split between New Castle and Sussex Counties and represent more than $73 million in private investments.
Two are in Seaford, with the other two in Townsend and Clayton. They’ve all been accepted to the state’s JobsFirst Permitting Accelerator, which works to cut down the time it takes to develop sites by handling permitting reviews faster.
Each site will make solar power available to local residents and businesses through a subscription. This will allow people to save on electric bills by tapping into the solar farms without having to install rooftop panels.
Gov. Matt Meyer said Delaware needs to generate more of its own energy.
“Energy should be affordable enough so that the only thing shocking about your bill is how low it is,” Meyer said. “We're not there yet, but today we take a step in that direction, a big step. Community solar, for me, in part, is about equity.”
Meyer added many families do not own homes but should be able to reap the environmental and financial benefits of solar power.
One megawatt is enough to power about 800 homes in a year, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. These projects will bring more than 16 megawatts of new solar energy to the First State.
“Each of these projects gets a fast track review, approval, and grid connection,” Meyer said. “This is something that I am personally tracking every single week. Delaware is open for clean energy business, and we mean it.”
The community projects are expected to provide savings and power to over 15 thousand families, with an estimated 10 to 15% reduction in energy bills to people throughout the state.
