Abstract
Despite the observed disparities in US residential solar deployment, there is limited insight into whether these disparities exist for the non-residential sector. Here we use DeepSolar, a comprehensive photovoltaic database constructed with satellite imagery, to assess solar deployment equity based on the US Justice40’s disadvantaged community measure. We find that disadvantaged communities have less non-residential solar (−38%), but this disparity is notably higher for residential solar (−67%). Across-state variations are consistent for residential solar (−81% to −49%) yet highly heterogeneous for non-residential solar (−66% to +34%). Using scenarios to explore the potential for microgrids powered by solar on building rooftops larger than 1,000 square metres, we estimate that 63% of disadvantaged communities could meet at least 20% of annual residential electricity demand. Our research argues for a new focus on non-residential solar as a way to strengthen resilience and accelerate local deployment of clean energy resources to promote energy justice.
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Data availability
The complete data analysed in the current study are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions and the privacy of individual homeowners. However, de-identified versions of the data are made available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/a7n3j/?view_only=d91d76a4946e45c6bcf3237a45b32d15 (ref. 47).
Code availability
The code that is used for data processing, model implementation and result visualization is made available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/a7n3j/?view_only=d91d76a4946e45c6bcf3237a45b32d15 (ref. 47).
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank their colleagues in the Stanford Sustainable Systems Lab (S3L) and Stanford Magic Lab for their feedback and support. The authors further thank Descartes Labs for providing access to their satellite imagery. This work was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Funding Program (award number DE-EE0009359) to R.R. and A.M.; by the National Science Foundation through a CAREER award (#1554178) to R.R.; and by a Stanford Precourt Pioneering Project award to R.R. and A.M. The views and opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily state or reflect those of the funding sources.
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M.W., C.Z., J.F., D.N., A.M. and R.R. conceptualized and designed the research; M.W. performed the research and analysed the data; R.P. and Z.W. constructed the main dataset; M.W. and C.Z. wrote the initial paper draft. M.W., C.Z., Z.W., R.P., J.F., D.N., A.M. and R.R. edited and revised the paper. A.M. and R.R. provided funding acquisition support for the research.
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Wussow, M., Zanocco, C., Wang, Z. et al. Exploring the potential of non-residential solar to tackle energy injustice. Nat Energy 9, 654–663 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01485-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01485-y
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