SunShare and CSolPower, a local New Mexico community solar company, have completed two community solar gardens in New Mexico, marking the milestone with a ribbon-cutting event at the Juniper Sol Community Solar Garden. The two arrays add shared renewable generation for households across the state, where community solar was authorized under the Community Solar Act enacted in 2021. That law directed the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to administer a statewide program authorizing up to 200 MW of projects and required that at least 30% of a community solar facility's subscribers be low-income customers.

The 6-MW Juniper Sol Community Solar Garden is sited on 31 acres in Santa Fe and will incorporate agrivoltaic practices, including native, pollinator-friendly habitats under and around the solar panels — an approach increasingly used on solar sites to keep land in agricultural or ecological use while it also generates power. Half of the solar garden's subscribers are income-qualified, above the minimum share required under state rules, some of whom reside in SunShare's affordable housing partnerships with Yes! Housing and Catholic Charities.

The second array is the 4.5-MW Rockhound Sol Community Solar Garden, located in Deming in southwestern New Mexico.

"Our nation's electricity needs are rapidly growing, and the Juniper Sol project demonstrates how community-based solar can cost-effectively and quickly meet that demand. At the same time, these types of projects bring wide-ranging benefits, such as to the 2,000 families who are saving on electricity costs for the next 25 years with their subscriptions to this garden," said David Amster-Olszewski, CEO and Founder of SunShare. "As we celebrate SunShare's 15th anniversary with this dedication of Santa Fe County's first community solar garden, SunShare is as committed as ever to advancing a clean and distributed renewable energy future."

SunShare, founded in 2011 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is among the longest-operating community solar companies in the United States. Under the community solar model, subscribers — including renters and residents without suitable rooftops for their own panels — receive credits on their electricity bills for power generated by a shared local array.

As part of its commitment to enhancing the lives of the communities in which it operates, SunShare also announced it has committed more than $7 million in donations to Navajo Technical University, the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, and Habitat for Humanity.

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