Commentary: Can community solar save us from PJM’s grid mismanagement?
By Alice Lu, Justin Mason and Elowyn Corby, reprinted from Pennsylvania Capital-Star, July 29, 2025
Pennsylvania is in a race against time: can we bring enough new energy onto the grid to meet our region’s growing power demand (primarily fueled by new data centers, both speculative and real) in time to avoid dramatic spikes in the cost of energy paralleling the destabilization of our energy grid?
While solar power has emerged as the cheapest new electricity source in history, thousands of new energy projects are trapped, waiting for approval to come online as part of grid manager PJM’s bottlenecked interconnection process. This costly administrative limbo can delay construction for over five years or even cause developers to abandon projects entirely after significant investment.
This delay in bringing new energy online is already making it more expensive for Pennsylvanians to keep the lights on, and it could get much worse: a new report by Evergreen Collaborative and Synapse Economics finds that “Mismanagement by PJM is set to spike electric bills by almost 60 percent over the next 10 to 15 years.” Unless something changes, the results for Pennsylvania families and businesses will be catastrophic. And while PJM has initiated limited reforms, their full impacts remain unclear.
The problem is immense, but there’s also a clear workaround: Local energy generation like community solar can bypass this bottleneck while democratizing our energy transition and providing concrete benefits to Pennsylvanians.
Community solar lets ratepayers subscribe to a local solar array and receive guaranteed energy bill savings. It’s a shovel-ready, distributed approach to bringing new energy online. If you haven’t heard of community solar, don’t feel bad: it’s probably because Pennsylvania is one of a rapidly dwindling number of states that has yet to authorize it.
Community solar projects are generally much larger than a residential solar array, but small enough to connect to the local energy distribution system, letting them sidestep the PJM interconnection queue that so often traps large-scale projects. By bringing more energy online quickly, community solar can ease the intensity of our energy crisis.
Community solar projects also deliver immediate benefits to local communities:
* They allow renters, apartment dwellers, and homeowners with unsuitable roofs to access affordable, locally generated energy.
* They create jobs and tax revenue in local communities
* They strengthen grid resilience by bringing energy generation closer to home
* They provide savings on electricity bills, especially critical for low-income families struggling with rising rates.
Neighboring states like New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and New York have already opened the door to community solar, but Pennsylvania has failed to act.
This could change very soon: a bill to authorize Community Energy (which includes community solar) recently passed through the PA House, and is now awaiting action in the Senate. This legislation would guarantee that everyone who subscribes to community solar would see savings on their energy bills, while expanding renewable energy access to communities that have historically been excluded (such as renters and low-income communities). It is supported by diverse stakeholders ranging from The Pennsylvania Land and Liberty Coalition to Our Solar PA, a statewide coalition of dozens of groups working for a community-centric renewable energy future.
We can’t afford to wait for the problems with our regional energy system to solve themselves, or for PJM to reform in response to pressure from the Governor’s office, State Public Utility Commissions, and ratepayers advocates.
Community solar gives us a way to make progress now. It puts regular people—not just utilities and large corporations—at the center of our energy transition. This isn’t just a way to sidestep the interconnection backlog—it’s an inclusive approach to building our energy future together.It’s past time to authorize community energy projects across the state, and to clear the path for energy solutions that work for our communities.
Alice Lu, Policy Analyst, Clean Air Council – Alice Lu is the Policy Analyst at Clean Air Council. With a background in public health, she advocates for energy and environmental policies that promote equity and protect human health and the environment. She resides in Philadelphia.
Justin Mason, Field Director, Pennsylvania Land & Liberty Coalition – Justin Mason serves as the Director of Programs & Operations for the Conservative Energy Network – Pennsylvania and Field Director for the Pennsylvania Land & Liberty Coalition. Born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania he is an energy advocate that takes pride in the Keystone states energy legacy.
Elowyn Corby is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director at Vote Solar Action Fund, where she advocates for inclusive solar policies and helps to amplify community voices and priorities in the conversations that shape our energy system. She lives in Philadelphia.
