Visioning Armourdale's Affordable Energy Future

This white paper examines how incorporating local clean energy solutions in the Armourdale neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas can address some of the key concerns and priorities of the community around electricity bills affordability, accessibility to clean energy generation and system resilience. This work was a collaboration between the Union of Concerned Scientists, RiSE for Environmental Justice (RiSE4EJ) and the Science and Community Action Network (SciCAN), in consultation with community members from Armourdale. The report analyzed the capital investment cost and bill impacts of investing in behind–the-meter rooftop solar in single family detached buildings in Armourdale. Additionally, the study looked at examples of community shared solar projects and best practices to advance effective, community-led inititatives. The study also examined the role of solar energy paired with energy storage in advancing energy resilience in the community. The analysis finds that, averaged annually over the 25-year lifetime of a rooftop solar project, a household’s electricity savings varies widely depending on available incentives. This denotes the crucial role of supportive federal, state and utility-level policies to address energy affordability through solar energy deployment. The analysis’ recommendations are framed around advancing sound clean energy policies, guiding community solar development, and integrating energy resilience.