(June 30, 2016) While only a few people attended the meeting with a representative of MD Sun in Snow Hill last week, it was not a prerequisite for joining or attempting to organize a solar cooperative in Worcester County.
Following the process laid out by Corey Ramsden, Maryland project manager for the nonprofit dedicated to assisting communities form cooperatives, the important part is filling out an online form found at www.mdsun.org/worcester.
The form asks for information such as the address where solar panels are to be located, a recent utility bill and asks users to rank several factors used in selecting a solar installer.
Taking these data in bulk, MD Sun generates a big picture summary of what is, and what isn’t important to potential solar customers and uses it to identify potential installers, Ramsden said.
The idea behind a cooperative arrangement is for a large group of potential customers to band together to leverage the best deal on installation costs — the bulk of the customer outlay when deciding to switch from the traditional power grid to an alternative source.
Anyone in Worcester County can elect to be part of the process, or drop out if it’s discovered solar solutions aren’t a good fit.
Once the form is submitted, Ramsden said MD Sun would take a look at satellite images of the owner’s property to see if it’s adequate to generate enough power.
“The images can be wrong, though so it’s best to also review them yourselves,” he said.
For example, Ramsden said he’s seen images that still include trees that would pose a problem for solar panels, but owners report have been removed.
Ramsden said owners need about 200 square feet of roof space for the smallest viable system at 3 kW. He added that ground-based solutions were also available.
The area to be covered in panels must get good, direct sunlight preferably between the hours of 9 a.m.-3p.m., and should face south, east or west. Ramsden said north-facing surfaces didn’t get enough direct sunlight to generally be of much use.
Once the nonprofit has enough data to proceed, it will solicit bids from either its own host of vendors or one the nascent cooperative identifies by itself.
“We generally get between three and eight bids per group. Salisbury had four and Easton had five,” he explained.
The co-op has the final say in which vendor is selected.
The selected vendor then visits the property for its own evaluation. Finding the property suitable for an installation, the installer will offer a contract to the owner, he said.
“This is the first commitment you, as a buyer, will make,” Ramsden said.
Once an agreement is reached, Ramsden said it takes between 3-5 months before a customer begins generating electricity.
MD Sun does have a financial interest in signed contracts, Ramsden said, adding he wanted “to be up front about that.”
For each signed contract, the nonprofit is paid $500. Ramsden said the cost is usually paid by the installer out of its marketing budget because of the large number of potential customers already identified by MD Sun.
Ramsden said groups smaller than a countywide effort are possible depending on how many people are interested in forming a co-op, which will be determined by how many online forms are generated.
Following the process laid out by Corey Ramsden, Maryland project manager for the nonprofit dedicated to assisting communities form cooperatives, the important part is filling out an online form found at www.mdsun.org/worcester.
The form asks for information such as the address where solar panels are to be located, a recent utility bill and asks users to rank several factors used in selecting a solar installer.
Taking these data in bulk, MD Sun generates a big picture summary of what is, and what isn’t important to potential solar customers and uses it to identify potential installers, Ramsden said.
The idea behind a cooperative arrangement is for a large group of potential customers to band together to leverage the best deal on installation costs — the bulk of the customer outlay when deciding to switch from the traditional power grid to an alternative source.
Anyone in Worcester County can elect to be part of the process, or drop out if it’s discovered solar solutions aren’t a good fit.
Once the form is submitted, Ramsden said MD Sun would take a look at satellite images of the owner’s property to see if it’s adequate to generate enough power.
“The images can be wrong, though so it’s best to also review them yourselves,” he said.
For example, Ramsden said he’s seen images that still include trees that would pose a problem for solar panels, but owners report have been removed.
Ramsden said owners need about 200 square feet of roof space for the smallest viable system at 3 kW. He added that ground-based solutions were also available.
The area to be covered in panels must get good, direct sunlight preferably between the hours of 9 a.m.-3p.m., and should face south, east or west. Ramsden said north-facing surfaces didn’t get enough direct sunlight to generally be of much use.
Once the nonprofit has enough data to proceed, it will solicit bids from either its own host of vendors or one the nascent cooperative identifies by itself.
“We generally get between three and eight bids per group. Salisbury had four and Easton had five,” he explained.
The co-op has the final say in which vendor is selected.
The selected vendor then visits the property for its own evaluation. Finding the property suitable for an installation, the installer will offer a contract to the owner, he said.
“This is the first commitment you, as a buyer, will make,” Ramsden said.
Once an agreement is reached, Ramsden said it takes between 3-5 months before a customer begins generating electricity.
MD Sun does have a financial interest in signed contracts, Ramsden said, adding he wanted “to be up front about that.”
For each signed contract, the nonprofit is paid $500. Ramsden said the cost is usually paid by the installer out of its marketing budget because of the large number of potential customers already identified by MD Sun.
Ramsden said groups smaller than a countywide effort are possible depending on how many people are interested in forming a co-op, which will be determined by how many online forms are generated.