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What is “community solar?” The term means different things to different people.
One goal of a project funded by the Marin Community Foundation to be completed in June 2008 and is to provide networking services among the various West Marin communities adding solar PV systems to key high-profile community assets: community centers; schools; fire stations and water district operations. In each of the five communities targeted – Muir Beach, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Point Reyes Station and the San Geronimo Valley – major solar PV projects moved from the planning into the development phase. In one case – Muir Beach – the solar PV system was already in place, though this was hardly common knowledge. In another case – San Geronimo Valley – this investigation salvaged a $150,000 at $2.80/watt subsidy for a 58 kW ground mounted system to serve the Lagunitas School District and the San Geronimo Valley Community Center buildings. A long delay in development of a solar PV project in Stinson Beach – (Pathfinder Communications had raised an initial $3,250 from solar vendors in February 2005) – was also spurred on by this MCF/NorCal Solar project.
When used in the context of this forthcoming report, however, “community solar” actually refers to a specific and currently unavailable solar application: the ability of multiple users – often lacking the proper on-site solar resource or fiscal capacity or building ownership rights – to purchase a portion of their electricity from a solar facility located off-site.
Peter Asmus, president of Pathfinder Communications, is an internationally known expert on energy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) matters. He is also a journalist, community organizer, musician, photographer and poet. 
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