Materials from the Solar Utility Network Deployment Acceleration (SUNDA) project, which ran from September 2013 through April 2018, focus on helping to lower the barriers to entry for co-ops interested in owning solar PV.

These materials are based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award Number DE-EE0006333.

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• Report: A Solar Revolution in Rural America
• SUNDA Solar Project Leaves a Legacy of Cooperation, Knowledge and Success
  
• The Story of Co-op Solar in Nine Graphics
• Bringing the Power of Community Solar to the Entire Community
• Report: NRECA-DOE SUNDA Project Final Report

 

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SUNDA Materials

The project team with the help of the participating co-ops developed a number of tools and resources that help cooperatives get up-to-speed on solar. These tools are organized based on the phase of the project from initial conceptualization to design, implementation, service offering and member engagement:

1. Just Beginning
• Solar PV Getting Started Brochure
2. Project Scoping
• Solar Decision Guide
• Cost & Finance Screening Tool
• Template PV System Designs
3. Learning More
• PV Manuals
  
  
4. Detailed Planning
• Project Manager's Quick Start Guide
  
• Community Solar Playbook
• System Impact Guide
5. Building Consensus
   
• Communications Toolkit
  

In addition, the project enabled peer-to-peer learning and sharing of best practices with respect to land acquisition and system deployment, business models that work for co-ops, options for offering community-solar, and more.

Additional materials developed through the SUNDA project are available in the Topics area of this website under Topics > Power Supply & Wholesale Markets > Solar.

SUNDA Participants and Deployments

NRECA partnered on the SUNDA project with the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), National Renewable Cooperative Organization (NRCO), Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange, CoBank, PowerSecure, and the17 co-ops list below.

Co-op project partners installed more than 20 MW of utility-owned solar PV. Typical projects ranged in size from 250 kW to more than 12 MW.

SUNDA Participants

SUNDA Deployments