A Community Approach to going Solar
2/14/13 A Community Approach to Going Solar, by Glynnis Hart - Ithaca Times
It all started with one woman in Portland, Oregon. Facing the steep up-front costs and the equally steep learning curve that go with converting a house to solar, Stephanie Stewart approached her Mt. Tabor neighborhood association to see if a collective approach would help. The neighborhood association turned to Energy Trust of Oregon, and Solarize- a collective buying approach to solar installation- was born. Within six months of starting their campaign to go solar together, they had made 130 solar installations on homes in Portland. Since 2009, 600 solar installations have been made in Portland, producing 1.7Megawatts of electricity.
“Solarize” is now a nationwide collective purchase concept; in New York State, most recently, a Solarize program has been used to increase the number of households installing solar energy systems in Madison county in 2012. Since it’s a grassroots and locality-based movement, there’s no one way to do it, and no government agency behind it.
Guillermo Metz at Cooperative Extension is one of the people volunteering their time to make Solarize Tompkins SE a reality. Metz explains that a lot of people want to go solar, but there’s inertia: they don’t feel they know enough about the process or about the contractors who do it. Solarize programs address this inertia with community meetings that explain the process of solarizing your home. It’s easier for people to do something new if they do it together, so there’s a group dynamic that goes on, says Metz. Solarize will bring solar installers and finance experts to the community meetings, and they can screen homeowners for solar suitability with a form filled out at the meeting. (For instance, how much shade is on your home? Can you do a roof installation?) If people are interested in going solar, they can fill out a form at the meeting. The Solarize coordinators select a local solar installer/s for the program and send the prescreened forms to the installer/s. The installers make site visits to all prospective homes, and within three months, installations are expected to begin.
Solarize Tompkins SE will concentrate on the southeast end of Tompkins County, mainly Danby, Caroline, and Dryden. Community meetings start this April, with the wave of solar installations planned for this summer’s construction season. It’s within a limited time frame, with time limited financial incentives to assist buyers. The time limit, Metz explains, also helps with one drawback to the program; local solar installers may feel it’s unfair to have only one or two of their number selected to do such a big project, but the time limit keeps the amount of work one company can do down. The point of the program isn’t to take over the solar installation market in an area, says Metz, but to give it a good jump start. They’ve found in other communities that solar installations done by other companies go up at the same time. Also, communities who have used the program to massively increase solar installations have noted the introduction of stable green jobs. Not only does the solar installation madness spread to the neighbors, but so many solar installations create jobs for solar engineers, site assessors, electricians and roofers.
Metz says they’re hoping for 50 to 100 installations this year in Tompkins county- normally, the county sees about 30 a year. They’ve sent out the RFP (request for proposals) to all the local solar installers, and should have made their selection by mid-March. Because it’s a community-run, volunteer-run program, they’re free to choose installers based on criteria such as whether they are women and minority owned businesses. In Portland the program signed an MOU with the contractors to coordinate with apprenticeship programs in the construction trades. Tompkins county, Metz points out, has an advantage over the rest of the state in that there are half a dozen solar installers here to choose from.
Financially, the program brings costs down 30-35% through bulk purchasing. The installers are guaranteed a set number of jobs within six months, and Solarize Tompkins SE is hoping to group installations close together, for instance doing all the Caroline ones around the same time, then the Danby ones and so forth. This should make the work more convenient and save transportation and logistics costs for the installer. The program also presents homeowners with financial incentives, such as low-interest loans and leasing options.
One barrier to going solar has traditionally been the high cost of installing the panels. If you reduce energy use sufficiently and have solar panels, you can experience the satisfaction of watching your NYSEG meter go backwards on a sunny day. Since most solar households in Tompkins county are connected to the energy grid, they benefit from the buy-back from the electric company. Produce more energy than you need, and NYSEG buys it from you. “People who have sized their installation properly and reduced their needs sufficiently are making a little bit of money,” says Metz, who has a solar/wind combination system at his house. So, although the initial cost of installing the panels may be $30,000 or more, over time the homeowner can expect to recoup the cost.
However, in recent years leasing programs have become available. Metz estimates that with cutting contractors’ costs and putting together a package of financial incentives or leasing options they can bring the initial cost down to $2-3,000 dollars.
Solarize Tompkins SE will be doing PV- photovoltaic panels- and solar thermal – where solar is used to heat water- installations. They’ll only be doing roof installations, says Metz, as ground installations are too costly.
He’s hoping for around 100 installations to occur this year through the program, but in the past Solarize groups have been surprised by the surge of interest; solar installations went up by 400 % in Portland the second year. Interested persons should go to the website, at solarizetompkinsse.org, where they can take a survey.
Taking the interest survey does not carry any obligation, but it helps the program coordinators gauge interest.
Community meetings will be held during April and May, 2013, with installations expected to be completed by December.
It all started with one woman in Portland, Oregon. Facing the steep up-front costs and the equally steep learning curve that go with converting a house to solar, Stephanie Stewart approached her Mt. Tabor neighborhood association to see if a collective approach would help. The neighborhood association turned to Energy Trust of Oregon, and Solarize- a collective buying approach to solar installation- was born. Within six months of starting their campaign to go solar together, they had made 130 solar installations on homes in Portland. Since 2009, 600 solar installations have been made in Portland, producing 1.7Megawatts of electricity.
“Solarize” is now a nationwide collective purchase concept; in New York State, most recently, a Solarize program has been used to increase the number of households installing solar energy systems in Madison county in 2012. Since it’s a grassroots and locality-based movement, there’s no one way to do it, and no government agency behind it.
Guillermo Metz at Cooperative Extension is one of the people volunteering their time to make Solarize Tompkins SE a reality. Metz explains that a lot of people want to go solar, but there’s inertia: they don’t feel they know enough about the process or about the contractors who do it. Solarize programs address this inertia with community meetings that explain the process of solarizing your home. It’s easier for people to do something new if they do it together, so there’s a group dynamic that goes on, says Metz. Solarize will bring solar installers and finance experts to the community meetings, and they can screen homeowners for solar suitability with a form filled out at the meeting. (For instance, how much shade is on your home? Can you do a roof installation?) If people are interested in going solar, they can fill out a form at the meeting. The Solarize coordinators select a local solar installer/s for the program and send the prescreened forms to the installer/s. The installers make site visits to all prospective homes, and within three months, installations are expected to begin.
Solarize Tompkins SE will concentrate on the southeast end of Tompkins County, mainly Danby, Caroline, and Dryden. Community meetings start this April, with the wave of solar installations planned for this summer’s construction season. It’s within a limited time frame, with time limited financial incentives to assist buyers. The time limit, Metz explains, also helps with one drawback to the program; local solar installers may feel it’s unfair to have only one or two of their number selected to do such a big project, but the time limit keeps the amount of work one company can do down. The point of the program isn’t to take over the solar installation market in an area, says Metz, but to give it a good jump start. They’ve found in other communities that solar installations done by other companies go up at the same time. Also, communities who have used the program to massively increase solar installations have noted the introduction of stable green jobs. Not only does the solar installation madness spread to the neighbors, but so many solar installations create jobs for solar engineers, site assessors, electricians and roofers.
Metz says they’re hoping for 50 to 100 installations this year in Tompkins county- normally, the county sees about 30 a year. They’ve sent out the RFP (request for proposals) to all the local solar installers, and should have made their selection by mid-March. Because it’s a community-run, volunteer-run program, they’re free to choose installers based on criteria such as whether they are women and minority owned businesses. In Portland the program signed an MOU with the contractors to coordinate with apprenticeship programs in the construction trades. Tompkins county, Metz points out, has an advantage over the rest of the state in that there are half a dozen solar installers here to choose from.
Financially, the program brings costs down 30-35% through bulk purchasing. The installers are guaranteed a set number of jobs within six months, and Solarize Tompkins SE is hoping to group installations close together, for instance doing all the Caroline ones around the same time, then the Danby ones and so forth. This should make the work more convenient and save transportation and logistics costs for the installer. The program also presents homeowners with financial incentives, such as low-interest loans and leasing options.
One barrier to going solar has traditionally been the high cost of installing the panels. If you reduce energy use sufficiently and have solar panels, you can experience the satisfaction of watching your NYSEG meter go backwards on a sunny day. Since most solar households in Tompkins county are connected to the energy grid, they benefit from the buy-back from the electric company. Produce more energy than you need, and NYSEG buys it from you. “People who have sized their installation properly and reduced their needs sufficiently are making a little bit of money,” says Metz, who has a solar/wind combination system at his house. So, although the initial cost of installing the panels may be $30,000 or more, over time the homeowner can expect to recoup the cost.
However, in recent years leasing programs have become available. Metz estimates that with cutting contractors’ costs and putting together a package of financial incentives or leasing options they can bring the initial cost down to $2-3,000 dollars.
Solarize Tompkins SE will be doing PV- photovoltaic panels- and solar thermal – where solar is used to heat water- installations. They’ll only be doing roof installations, says Metz, as ground installations are too costly.
He’s hoping for around 100 installations to occur this year through the program, but in the past Solarize groups have been surprised by the surge of interest; solar installations went up by 400 % in Portland the second year. Interested persons should go to the website, at solarizetompkinsse.org, where they can take a survey.
Taking the interest survey does not carry any obligation, but it helps the program coordinators gauge interest.
Community meetings will be held during April and May, 2013, with installations expected to be completed by December.
