As solar technology is evolving, Pennsylvania is looking at ways to include the energy source into its power grid.

One approach is the community solar model.

The House Consumer Protection, Utility, and Technology Committee held a public hearing today on House Bill 1842, which legalizes community solar.

The goal of the model is for private groups to build solar projects, attach them to the grid, then let people in that utility territory area subscribe to solar energy instead of other sources.

Solar can cost less to produce, so supporters of the bill want subscribers to get credits towards their utility bill.

It is how to include solar in Pennsylvania's utility billing system that requires legalization.

“How we sell the energy, you as a person that wants to participate in it and get those cost savings," said Leslie Elder, vice president of policy and regulation affairs at Summit Ridge Energy. "That interaction of how when I build it, we work with the utility, you get the credit... that relationship right there- that is the problem we need to solve."

On an ideological level, community solar allows people who rent or can't afford their own installations to still use solar energy if they want.

Lawmakers are also trying to take advantage of historic levels of federal funding for solar projects available right now though the inflation reduction act.

This legislation has been bouncing around Pennsylvania's General Assembly for over 10 years. The largest hurdle facing the bill is working through the fine details of that utility billing in a way that does not pass costs onto non-solar subscribers.