Community solar subscription managers are one of the four main user types on the Clean Energy Connector. This user consists of representatives from community solar subscription manager organizations who support enrollment in community solar projects for income-verified households. To use the Connector, organizations must be approved by the state community solar administering agency, and must agree to the required consumer protections for each state they operate in. Their main role on to support the Connector includes the following:
1. Upload their organizations’ projects that are seeking income-verified enrollees; these projects must also have received their interconnection agreement and include estimated subscription sizes.
2. Receive secure information of income-verified households whom are interested in enrolling in community solar through the Connector.
3. Conduct outreach and complete enrollment of income-verified households to community solar subscriptions, following agreed upon consumer protections throughout enrollment process.
4. Update project information as subscription availability changes for each project.
5. Update data in the Connector to track outreach to households and successful sign ups.
Subscription managers will receive an invitation to set up an account through the Connector website. The State Community Solar Administrating agency will then review the organization’s profile, request revisions if necessary, and then approve the profile if the organization meets operating requirements and consumer protection commitments in the state. Once an organization is approved, additional users for that organization do not need to receive approval from the state to join. Once their account is approved, subscription managers can begin adding projects with available subscriptions to the Connector. These projects will not receive subscribers until they are approved individually by the State Community Solar Administrating Agency.
To receive an approval for a project added to the Connector, subscription managers will need to include basic information such as the project address, project number, total capacity, estimated subscription size, amount of capacity reserved for low-income subscribers, and the project’s interconnection approval documentation. In the same way that the profile was approved, the State Community Solar Administrator needs to review, verify, and approve each project submitted before any subscribers can be assigned. The subscription manager may then be required to provide state-specified compensation for each household enrolled, to both maintain the Connector and compensate local LIHEAP administrating agencies for their outreach and enrollment support efforts. Subscription managers are required to update the status of each contacted house to track successful enrollments.