SolarCity Developing Largest U.S. Community Solar Project

Upon completion, the community-wide project is expected to be the largest in the continental U.S. The solar systems are expected to produce more than 10 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually—sufficient to provide an estimated 75 percent of the residents’ energy use next year—and could eventually offset 100 percent of Soaring Heights Communities’ electricity use.

Housing developer Actus Lend Lease, SolarCity, Tucson Electric Power (TEP), and financing parties National Bank of Arizona and U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation (USBCDC) are all partners in the project.

The complete installation is expected to include six megawatts of total solar capacity in a combination of a ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) system and rooftop solar systems that will be installed on approximately 900 residences. National Bank of Arizona will own the 45,000 panel ground-mounted system, which accounts for more than 3.3 megawatts of solar capacity. The balance of the system is expected to consist of 36,000 more panels in the rooftop arrays. The rooftop systems are being financed within an existing SolarCity fund, which was financed by U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation (USBCDC) earlier this year.

The solar systems will be designed and installed by SolarCity and will be interconnected by TEP. The entire project is estimated to represent an increase of more than 15 percent over Arizona’s current grid-tied solar capacity. Collectively, the installation is expected to offset more than 570 million pounds of carbon dioxide over its lifetime, the equivalent of taking approximately 50,000 cars off the road for a year, or planting more than 300,000 trees.

Soaring Heights Communities will also be one of the first solar-powered communities on an Air Force Base in the U.S. Actus Lend Lease is currently developing one of the world’s largest solar powered communities at its Army Hawaii Family Housing complex. Upon completion, the Army Hawaii Family Housing project will be the largest solar-powered community in the U.S. Through its partnership with the U.S. Air Force, Actus Lend Lease leases Soaring Heights Communities homes to military families.