(Nov. 24, 2016) Now boasting a roster of 39 people, according to Corey Ramsden, project manager, the Worcester County Solar Cooperative continues to grow as the deadline to join approaches.
Originally slated to end at the end of October, the interest was both slow and steady enough for the deadline to be extended until the end of November.
Though new recruits won’t have a say in choosing a vendor to install solar panels on a property, a decision made earlier this year by co-op members, they can still avail themselves of the lower negotiated rate for photovoltaic solar cell installation.
“The Worcester co-op is one of the largest we’ve helped organize on the eastern shore with more than 35 participants who’ve joined the group so far. Members are seeing between 15 and 20 percent savings on the cost of their systems,” Ramsden said.
At last update in early October, the group had 28 members, with 21 of those already in some stage of the installation process, according to Ramsden.
The group formed earlier this year, under Ramsden’s guidance through MD Solar, a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging communities to adopt a co-op format for solar panel installations, to develop a request for proposals from solar installers.
Those interested can still visit www.mdsun.org/worcester to register with the co-op. On the site, visitors will find a form requesting several pieces of information, including the address of the home to be outfitted with panels.
Using satellite imagery, the installer will perform a check to see if the home is a good fit for solar generation. Ramsden warned that the images are sometimes out of date, so if the installer reports the home is a poor fit for panels, users may want to consider reviewing commonly available satellite images, like Google maps, of their neighborhood to ensure fair representation of their property.
If the house is a good fit, a site visit is planned from which a proposal is generated, leveraging the buying power of the co-op to bring down the installation price.
Originally slated to end at the end of October, the interest was both slow and steady enough for the deadline to be extended until the end of November.
Though new recruits won’t have a say in choosing a vendor to install solar panels on a property, a decision made earlier this year by co-op members, they can still avail themselves of the lower negotiated rate for photovoltaic solar cell installation.
“The Worcester co-op is one of the largest we’ve helped organize on the eastern shore with more than 35 participants who’ve joined the group so far. Members are seeing between 15 and 20 percent savings on the cost of their systems,” Ramsden said.
At last update in early October, the group had 28 members, with 21 of those already in some stage of the installation process, according to Ramsden.
The group formed earlier this year, under Ramsden’s guidance through MD Solar, a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging communities to adopt a co-op format for solar panel installations, to develop a request for proposals from solar installers.
Those interested can still visit www.mdsun.org/worcester to register with the co-op. On the site, visitors will find a form requesting several pieces of information, including the address of the home to be outfitted with panels.
Using satellite imagery, the installer will perform a check to see if the home is a good fit for solar generation. Ramsden warned that the images are sometimes out of date, so if the installer reports the home is a poor fit for panels, users may want to consider reviewing commonly available satellite images, like Google maps, of their neighborhood to ensure fair representation of their property.
If the house is a good fit, a site visit is planned from which a proposal is generated, leveraging the buying power of the co-op to bring down the installation price.