Community Solar Tracker
Provided by: Institute for Local Self-Reliance|Published on: September 29, 2025
Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Data, Graphs, and Maps
Subjects: Geography, Engineering
Authors: Ingrid Behrsin
Region: United States, New Jersey, Oregon, Connecticut, New York, Minnesota, Maine, Hawai'i, California, Washington, Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico, Alaska, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
Languages: English
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This resource from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance is a data dashboard to track the progress of community solar programs in the United States.
- Students will explore interactive maps and graphs shoiwng data about the per capita capacity, overall capacity, number of projects, and average output per state.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The written portions of this resource are brief, allowing for more time to explore the interactive components.
- The interactive graphs and maps in this resource are user-friendly, and students will enjoy exploring them.
Prerequisites
- Students should have a basic understanding of solar photovoltaic panels and their benefits.
Differentiation & Implementation
- If students are not familiar with community solar, teachers can click on the term in the introductory paragraph to go to a page with a more in-depth definition of it.
- To have students practice translating quantitative data into a written summary, teachers can have each student focus on a state and write a few sentences describing the status of community solar in that state.
- To highlight the connection to climate change, teachers can discuss the impacts of fossil fuel use on the climate and emphasize that solar energy is an alternative method that reduces the use of fossil fuels.
- Teachers can make connections to Sustainable Development Goal 7, Affordable and Clean Energy. Teachers can highlight that this tracking emphasizes both pieces of this goal; only tracking states that have community solar programs that are not monopolized by utility companies that charge a high premium for this service.
This resource allows students to explore how much community solar the United States has, which states allow these projects, and how much solar power these projects produce. The map and graphs are easy to use and are good examples of data visualizations. Additional links to information about what community solar is and what each state is doing specifically are included. The information presented is accurate, and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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