Category Archives: Solar Group Buy

Buying rooftop solar, in bulk

By Christian Roselund, PV Magazine

One of the oldest ideas about how to cut costs is advancing, not through a business, but through a non-profit. Solar United Neighbors (SUN) is reporting that it has added 13 “solar co-ops” in ten states over the last six months, which are allowing participating homeowners and small business owners to essentially buy rooftop solar in bulk, 30 roofs at a time.

These new cooperatives span the nation, from Arizona to Maryland, with four in a state that is experiencing a minor boom: Florida. Beaches Business Solar Co-op, Miami Digital Solar Co-op, Orlando Solar Co-op and Pasco County Solar Co-op. These co-ops work by gathering neighbors together through informative sessions run by SUN, and getting them to sign up more neighbors, often through word of mouth. Read more here.

Solar United Neighbors (SUN) Resources

Additional PV Magazine News Stories & Resources

  • FPL redefines community solar
    Florida Power and Light (FPL), in collaboration with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Vote Solar, and Walmart has officially filed a settlement to establish the nation’s largest community solar, after announcing plans for the program in the spring. The program, named Solar Together will be the biggest in the United States by a pretty wide margin, a piece of the larger 30×30 program that aims to install 30,000,000 solar panels by 2030, being described by SACE as 30×30’s ‘backbone.’
  • Solar + storage to survive disasters
    Roth Capital Partners has released a new research note on conclusions made and predictions about the solar industry, based off of observations made at Solar Power International 2019 (SPI). While the note is chiefly concerned with industry-wide solar stock performance, one bit of information stood out: Roth expects the U.S. residential solar market to exceed anticipated growth, increasing 25% year-over-year in both 2019 and 2020.
  • Energy storage and inverters to get you through power outages
  • Vertically integrated advanced energy manufacturing from SolarEdge
    SolarEdge is still fundamentally based on solar power, however, it is turning into a vertically integrated energy manufacturer and service provider.

Green Hydrogen News

Featured Resources

Midwest Solarize programs helped 482 property owners add 3.8 MW of solar in 2018

By Kelly Pickerel, Solar Power World

The Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s Solar Group Buy (also known as Solarize)
programs have helped 482 property owners in four states add 3,815 kW of solar electric generating capacity to their homes, farms, organizations and businesses, more than doubling
the organization’s solar group buy results to date.

MREA’s Solar Group Buys come at no cost to the partnering jurisdictions and organizations
except for staff time. Each program included a competitive process led by local advisory
committees to select the solar installation firm that would serve their respective program.
Read more here.

Photo: Eric Marshall installed solar through MREA’s 2016 Solar Bloomington-Normal program. Credit: Eric Marshall

MREA RESOURCES

MREA’S 30TH ANNUAL ENERGY FAIR IN CUSTER, WISCONSIN

 

June 21-23, 2019. Register by February 15th to save 10%.
Click image to link to more information.

 


ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

 

The Solar Revolution Is Coming—But Not to Everyone, Popular
Mechanics. A new study shows that the benefits of solar power are skipping over communities of color.

 

SOLAR MICROGRID NEWS

Solar Microgrid To Power Indoor Farm All Year Round, CleanTechnica

Schneider Electric currently has more than 300 microgrid projects on the go in the US, and is using its EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor software platform for cloud-connected, demand-side energy management. It’s integrated into the system to enable a look at current electric rate tariffs and optimization of energy usage – but does so faster than any human could.

MORE BUSINESSES IN THE NEWS

Watch Budweiser’s Bob Dylan-Backed Super Bowl Ad Touting Wind Power, AdAge

‘Blowin in the Wind’ is the soundtrack for ad promoting brew’s enviro credentials. Anheuser-Busch InBev last year set a goal to ensure that by 2025 all of the electricity it purchases globally will come from renewable sources.

Potential Models for Nebraska Communities: Solar Power Hour locations announced for Johnson County Solarize program

IOWA CITY — Nearly two dozen public meetings have been scheduled to help educate area residents on Johnson County’s Solarize program — which incentivizes private solar development through volume purchasing prices. Similar to last year’s Solarize program in Linn County, the first of its kind in Iowa, the program is administered by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association. The Cedar Rapids and Linn County Solarize program concluded with about 607 kilowatts of solar energy added to 105 properties. Read more here.

Photo: Stacks of solar panels. Bulk purchasing is a central part of Solar Group Buy & Solarize Programs.

RESOURCES FOR ORGANIZING A SOLAR GROUP BUY OR SOLARIZE PROGRAM

CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEBRASKA COMMUNITIES, ORGANIZATIONS / SMALL BUSINESSES AND URBAN & RURAL FOOD PRODUCERS

Thank you to everyone who attended last evening’s NFS community event!

Many thanks to everyone who attended the second Solar Group Buy Meeting last night at UNO’s Community Engagement Center: to Green Bellevue for your much-appreciated co-sponsorship, to audience members for sharing ideas and asking excellent questions before, during and after the meeting, and to our two panels of energy efficiency and solar energy experts, who provided a wealth of information:

  • David Holtzclaw, Transduction Technologies
  • Graham Christensen, GC ReVOLT
  • Jeff Berggren, GenPro Energy Solutions
  • Jon Traudt, Health and Energy Company
  • Leon Komar, Lifetime Home Services
  • Mark Lostcutoff, O-HEAT: Omaha Heat Energy Analysis and Testing
  • Michael Shonka, Solar Heat & Electric

Thank you to Rita Corell for sharing the link to “Solar Easements – Nebraska,” a topic discussed briefly at the meeting.

Please save the following dates and join us again at UNO’s Community Engagement Center for these events co-sponsored by Green Bellevue:

December 14, 2017: Panel Presentation on “Community Solar” organized by NFS board member Leo Arens

January 10, 2018: Third Solar Group Buy Meeting: Roundtable & Q&A With Solar Installers and Solar Ambassadors

Nebraskans for Solar’s November Event: Second Solar Group Buy Meeting

November 8, 2017
UNO Community Engagement Center
Combined Rooms 201 & 205

Co-Sponsored by Green Bellevue

Program Facilitators: NFS Board Members Helen and Ken Deffenbacher
Green Bellevue President Don Preister

6:45 pm: Come a little early to talk with the experts.
7:00 pm: Two panel presentations, each followed by a Q&A.
Each panelist will present a “5-Minutes-Or-Fewer” Talk.

First Panel: Energy Efficiency experts will discuss the steps they have taken to make their own homes more efficient, plus additional ways homeowners and businesses can save energy and money. Making a home or business more energy efficient will reduce the size solar array required to meet its electricity needs.

  • David Holtzclaw, Transduction Technologies
  • Jon Traudt, Health and Energy Company
  • Leon Komar, Lifetime Home Services
  • Mark Lostcutoff, O-HEAT: Omaha Heat Energy Analysis and Testing

Second Panel: Solar Energy Experts will present information on purchasing and installing a solar PV system. Included in the discussion will be a demonstration of the ConnectDER, available incentives, financing, the inspection process required by OPPD, the permit and other details.

  • David Holtzclaw, Transduction Technologies
  • Graham Christensen, GC ReVOLT
  • Jeff Berggren, GenPro Energy Solutions
  • Michael Shonka, Solar Heat & Electric

If you attended the first Solar Group Buy meeting on October 11th, please bring your information packets, as these have handouts with information you may want to ask the solar panelists about, and the following (optional) items:

  • Photo of your roof or other proposed solar installation site if you are going solar.
  • Photo of your project if you’ve installed a solar system since our October meeting.
  • OPPD bills for your personal reference to monthly kilowatt-hours (kWh) usage.

RESOURCES PRESENTED AT OUR OCTOBER 11th MEETING

New connection technology is cutting cost of solar installation, by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News

Please join us and contribute to the discussion! Refreshments will be served. Information packets will be available to those who were unable to attend the October 11th meeting, for as long as quantities last.

CEC GUEST PARKING
Arrive before 7 pm if possible: Reserved parking is available for Nebraskans for Solar guests in Lot E in front of the Community Engagement Center. Visitors should enter through the parking booth, which is staffed by an attendant until 7pm. Let the attendant know you are there for the Nebraskans for Solar event. If Lot E has reached capacity, he or she will give you a permit to park in an adjacent lot. After 7 p.m. parking is available in all UNO lots, including the library’s lot next to the CEC.

Second Solar Group Buy Meeting November 8th

Please join us for the next Solar Group Buy Meeting
November 8, 2017 at 7 p.m.
UNO’s Community Engagement Center
Combined Rooms 201 and 205

Two brief panel presentations, each followed by a major Q&A session, are planned for the second meeting of the greater-Omaha-area Solar Group Buy. One panel of local energy efficiency experts will discuss numerous ways to save energy and money, from the free and inexpensive steps you can take to the more expensive. Conserving energy will reduce the size solar system required to meet the electricity needs of a home or business.

Solar installers will make up a second panel of experts. They will briefly introduce themselves and then open the discussion to attendees’ questions. Included, too, will be a demonstration of the ConnectDER, available incentives, a discussion of the inspection process required by OPPD, the solar installation permit, and banks and other lending agencies that provide loans for energy efficiency upgrades and solar energy projects. Solar Ambassadors, those who have already installed solar, will also be present to add to the discussion and answer questions.

Optional items to bring to the meeting:

  • photo of your roof or other proposed solar installation site
  • rooftop checklist – See the Solar Group Buy PowerPoint. A separate checklist will be added soon to the resources, below.
  • OPPD bills showing your usage over the past months

RESOURCES PRESENTED AT OUR OCTOBER 11TH MEETING

New connection technology is cutting cost of solar installation, by Karen Uhlenhuth,
Midwest Energy News

Please join us and contribute to the discussion! Refreshments will be provided. 

Save the Date & Plan to Attend the Next Meeting of the “Solar Group Buy Initiative: Creating a Model for Nebraska Communities”

Many thanks to everyone who attended last night’s first-ever-in-Nebraska solar group buy roundtable discussion at UNO’s Community Engagement Center.

Solar enthusiasts, ambassadors, installers and other solar experts attended the meeting and contributed information and ideas towards creating a model program for the greater-Omaha area and other Nebraska communities.

The discussion and one-on-one conversations after the meeting generated the following presentation / discussion topics for our next meeting to be held on November 8th — same place, same time: UNO’s Community Engagement Center from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Please join us and help to create a solar group buy model for Nebraska!

Proposed Topics for the November 8th Solar Group Buy Meeting – So Far 

  • Before Going Solar: A DIY Checklist. This will be available on our calendar before our next meeting.
  • Ways to shrink the size of a solar PV system that’s needed through energy efficiency and conservation steps: Presentation by one or more energy-efficiency experts.
  • Steps to Going Solar – Presentations & Discussion:
    Conventional PV installation versus an Installation using the ConnectDER (which OPPD has approved).
    Solar PV Systems: What are the components that make up a PV system and the functions of each.
    What to look for in solar panels, inverters, power optimizers and other components.
    Warranties for labor and equipment.
    The solar permit and other paperwork. We’ll have a copy of the permit and how much it costs at the meeting.
  • Group purchase of solar PV systems.
  • Additional discussion on group buy discounts as a proven means of increasing the sheer number of installations in communities, why they make sense, and how installers and group buy participants can collaborate to benefit all. (More projects = increased community interest. Increased community interest = more projects. In other words, people have a tendency to do what they see their neighbors doing).
  • Energy storage options with or without the ConnectDER.
  • Additional discussion of installation location options.
  • Additional discussion of all available incentives for businesses and homeowners. Check them out before our next meeting here: Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) – Nebraska
  • How schools and other nonprofits, which don’t qualify for the 30% federal Investment Tax Incentive (ITC), benefit from solar group buys.
  • Ways to Finance a Solar System: A list of Nebraska banks and other agencies that offer financing for solar systems and information about each one will be available at the meeting. 

To add more topics to the above list and / or to share resources and information links on the ones currently proposed, please email them to Helen Deffenbacher: nebraskansforsolar@gmail.com 

If you would like to use the PowerPoint slides and handouts from last night’s meeting to start a Solar Group Buy in your community, please contact Helen at the above address, and she will email them to you.