Maryland Community Solar

What Maryland Community Solar does

Maryland Community Solar (legal entity: U.S. Community Solar) is a private sales-and-enrollment intermediary that connects Maryland and Delaware utility customers to local community solar farms. Founded around 2020 and headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, the company operates with 11-50 employees and serves two primary segments: residential subscribers (homeowners, renters, and condo owners who cannot install rooftop solar) and small commercial customers in Maryland. The company does not own or operate solar assets; instead, it partners with farm operators such as Nautilus Solar to assign subscriber portions of a farm to a customer's utility account via virtual net metering.

Subscribers receive credits on their utility bills for the energy produced by their allocated share of the farm and pay Maryland Community Solar for those credits at a guaranteed 5-25% discount, retaining the difference as savings (typical savings of $300-$600 per year). The company monetizes this spread as a transaction fee. Enrollment is free, requires no upfront capital or equipment, and takes roughly ten minutes online; new subscribers also receive a $50 Visa gift card incentive. The company explicitly structures the relationship with no cancellation penalty, meaning retention depends on continued bill savings rather than contractual lock-in.

Customer acquisition is delivered through three coordinated GTM motions: a door-to-door field sales force with uncapped commission potential ($100K-$175K), an inside sales team handling inbound inquiries and enrollment completion, and a self-serve online channel supported by HubSpot scheduling. Marketing emphasizes community education (blog, FAQs, social media) and grassroots outreach, with a ReTreeUS partnership for local sustainability events. In July 2024 the company expanded into Delaware and in December 2024 relaunched its brand identity; Arcadia serves as an additional enrollment technology integration.

Name

Maryland Community Solar

Legal name

U.S. Community Solar

Website

https://mdcommunitysolar.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Maryland Community Solar is a private sales-and-enrollment intermediary that connects residential and small commercial utility customers in Maryland and Delaware to local community solar farms, monetizing the spread on subscriber bill credits through a transaction-fee model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Solar Services

NAICS

Solar Electric Power Generation (221114)

SIC

Cogeneration Services & Small Power Producers (4991)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Solar Development & Subscription Management (EUAMAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Solar Financing, Leasing & Ownership Platforms (Tax Equity, PPA, Securitization) (EUAMABAJ)

Keywords

• Community solar enrollment
• Solar subscription services
• Residential solar programs
• Commercial solar enrollment
• Virtual net metering

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Solar Credit Discounts: Customers subscribe to a portion of a local solar farm and receive credits on their utility bills for energy produced. They pay the solar provider for those credits at a guaranteed discount (5-10%), keeping the difference as savings. No upfront costs or equipment required.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Maryland Community Solar enrolls Maryland residents and businesses in community solar farm subscription programs at no upfront cost. Subscribers receive solar credits on their utility bills via virtual net metering and pay the company for those credits at a guaranteed 5–10% discount, retaining the spread as savings. The company facilitates enrollment in approximately 10 minutes via door-to-door outreach, online forms, or inside sales support.

Product overview

Maryland Community Solar operates a single core service offering: a community solar enrollment platform that connects Maryland residents and businesses to local solar farms. The company facilitates enrollment in approximately 10 minutes at no cost, providing subscribers access to solar credits that reduce their electric bills by 5-25%. The service includes customer care portal access for account management and works with solar farm partners like Nautilus Solar for credit management and billing. A separate business enrollment track is available for commercial customers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Residential Community Solar Enrollment Free enrollment service for Maryland homeowners, renters, and condo dwellers that connects them to local community solar farms. Subscribers receive solar credits on their utility bills through virtual net metering, paying the company for those credits at a guaranteed 5–10% discount, yielding 5%–25% electric bill savings with no equipment, installation, or upfront costs.
• Business Community Solar Enrollment Enrollment pathway for Maryland businesses to subscribe to local solar farms and receive solar credits on their utility bills, supporting sustainability goals and reducing energy costs without upfront capital investment.

Quantifiable outcome

• Save 5% to 25% on annual electric bills ($300-$600 per year, $6,000-$12,000 over 20 years)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Nautilus SolarcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNautilus Solar is one of the leading managers of community solar farms. They connect subscriber portions of the solar farm to electric utility accounts and manage credits and discounts. Maryland Community Solar works with Nautilus because of their responsive customer service and because they provide a 5-10% discount to Marylanders.
• ReTreeUSminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMaryland Community Solar partnered with ReTreeUS to plant a fruit orchard at Georgetown Central School in honor of Earth Day. The partnership supports Maryland's sustainable future through education, community engagement, and environmental initiatives. Students participated in planting the orchard.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Engie North America: Engie is a global utility and renewable developer with a significant U.S. community solar portfolio. Comparable as a large-scale incumbent with overlapping community-solar subscriber programs and developer-of-record capabilities.
• Clearway Community Solar: Clearway operates one of the largest portfolios of community solar projects in the U.S. and runs its own subscriber enrollment programs. As a much larger, publicly-traded-backed incumbent, it competes for both project pipeline and subscriber acquisition in markets where community solar programs exist.
• Sunrun: Sunrun is the largest U.S. residential rooftop solar subscription company and also operates community solar offerings in some markets. It competes in the residential clean-energy subscription category, though its primary model is rooftop solar leases/PPAs rather than community solar farm subscriptions.

Emerging players

• Uplight: Uplight provides a clean energy marketplace platform used by utilities and energy retailers to enroll customers in community solar and other distributed energy programs. It is comparable as a technology-enabled channel for community-solar subscriber acquisition, though positioned more as a B2B platform than a direct D2C enrollment brand.
• EnergySage: EnergySage is a leading online solar marketplace that also surfaces community solar options to consumers. It is comparable as a customer-acquisition channel for distributed solar, though its core focus remains on rooftop solar quoting rather than community-solar subscription enrollment.

Direct peers

• Dimension Energy: Dimension Energy develops, owns, and operates community solar projects and runs subscriber enrollment programs. Comparable on the subscriber-acquisition and asset-management side of community solar, with a focus on subscription sales channels serving residential and commercial customers.
• Arcadia: Arcadia is a clean-energy platform that operates community solar enrollment (in fact, some Maryland Community Solar customers are enrolled via Arcadia). Arcadia competes in the same community-solar subscriber-acquisition category but at a larger, multi-state, technology-platform scale, making it both a partner and a direct competitor.
• Solstice: Solstice is one of the largest community solar subscription platforms in the U.S., connecting residential and commercial customers to local solar farms across multiple states. It is the most direct functional analog to Maryland Community Solar — same subscription enrollment model, same target customer (renters, condo owners, SMBs), same revenue mechanics via solar credits at a discount.
• Nexamp: Nexamp is a vertically integrated community solar developer and subscription manager operating across multiple U.S. states. It is comparable as a one-stop community solar provider (development + farm management + subscriber enrollment), and competes directly with Maryland Community Solar in subscriber acquisition wherever their footprints overlap.

Others

• Recurve: Recurve is a software platform for distributed energy resource (DER) program design and measurement. While not a direct competitor, it serves the same community-solar ecosystem by enabling program administrators and utilities to design and verify subscriber savings.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/mdcommunitysolar
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maryland-community-solar
• Instagraminstagram.com/marylandcommunitysolar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maryland Community Solar