Fort Chaplin Park Apartments

Fort Chaplin Park Apartments, a 549-unit affordable apartment community, is a great example of how a solar roof lease can provide an additional stream of income to property owners while also providing electricity benefits to tenants. The apartment complex, which is comprised of 45 buildings, is located on 16.6 acres in Ward 7 of Washington, DC. Standard Communities completed a $33 million renovation of the property that included a 1.28 MW solar photovoltaic system and a LEED Silver 15,000 square foot Community Center. For its efforts, Standard Communities earned the annual Green Initiative Excellence Award from Multi Housing News in December of 2021.

The clean energy generated from the system is supplied to the grid as part of DC’s Solar For All program, which was launched by D.C. Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) in 2017 and is currently operated by the DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU). All of the Fort Chaplin affordable housing complex units are automatically eligible for the program and can expect to see utility savings of 50% over the next 15 years.

“Standard takes a holistic approach to integrating sustainable practices into our transactions. The major sustainability upgrades completed at the Fort Chaplin benefit the residents and the community. We’re extremely proud of the impact that we’ve made,” said Scott Alter, Co-Founder and Principal of Standard Communities.

Over $2 million in energy savings will be provided to residents over the life of the system. In addition, Standard Communities will benefit from a sustainable stream of revenue – allowing them flexibility to pursue other opportunities.

Fort Chaplin Park has been praised by the District’s Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton for the expansion and preservation of affordability as a result of Standard’s investment in the community, which is now preserved as 100% affordable housing for at least the next 30 years.

The 1,209 kW system also generates approximately 1,445,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year, which compared to fossil fuels, curbs the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to burning nearly 6 railcars-worth of coal.

This project was co-developed with Save Solar and the Department of Energy and Environment as a part of Solar for All.