Despite the observed disparities in US residential solar deployment, there is limited insight into whether these disparities exist for the non-residential sector. Here we use DeepSolar, a comprehensive photovoltaic database constructed with satellite imagery, to assess solar deployment equity based on the US Justice40’s disadvantaged community measure. We find that disadvantaged communities have less non-residential solar (−38%), but this disparity is notably higher for residential solar (−67%). Across-state variations are consistent for residential solar (−81% to −49%) yet highly heterogeneous for non-residential solar (−66% to +34%). Using scenarios to explore the potential for microgrids powered by solar on building rooftops larger than 1,000 square metres, we estimate that 63% of disadvantaged communities could meet at least 20% of annual residential electricity demand. Our research argues for a new focus on non-residential solar as a way to strengthen resilience and accelerate local deployment of clean energy resources to promote energy justice.

尽管观察到美国住宅太阳能部署存在差异，但对于非住宅领域是否存在这些差异的了解有限。在这里，我们使用 DeepSolar（一个利用卫星图像构建的综合光伏数据库）根据美国 Justice40 的弱势社区衡量标准来评估太阳能部署公平性。我们发现，弱势社区的非住宅太阳能较少（−38%），但住宅太阳能的这种差距明显更高（−67%）。住宅太阳能的跨州变化是一致的（−81％至−49％），但非住宅太阳能的跨州变化高度异质（−66％至+34％）。通过场景探索 1,000 平方米以上的建筑屋顶上太阳能微电网的潜力，我们估计 63% 的弱势社区可以满足至少 20% 的年度住宅电力需求。我们的研究主张重新关注非住宅太阳能，以此增强抵御能力并加速清洁能源的本地部署，以促进能源正义。