Clean Energy States Alliance Releases Residential Solar Group-Purchasing Guide for State Policy Makers
Montpelier, VT (PRWEB) September 04, 2014 -- The New England Solar Cost-Reduction Partnership, a coalition of five New England States managed by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), has produced a new guide for community group purchasing, "Planning and Implementing a Solarize Initiative: A Guide for State Program Managers."
This guide features detailed cases studies of two particularly well-developed and successful programs from New England: Solarize Connecticut and Solarize Mass. Solarize is a group purchasing program for solar PV systems that lowers acquisition costs for rooftop solar installations. As more homeowners join the group purchasing program, the cost goes down, because of a tiered-pricing plan with reduced prices for more participation. The guide will be helpful to program managers and other stakeholders in states across the country seeking to develop their own Solarize programs.
Solarize programs in both Connecticut and Massachusetts have been tremendously successful in increasing the rate of residential solar adoption in three ways:
- First, Solarize expands the potential customer base. In Connecticut, 20% of households who signed a contract for a new solar PV system through the Solarize CT program had never previously considered installing solar.
- Second, the program speeds up solar deployment. In Massachusetts, the number of small-scale solar projects more than doubled in the vast majority of participating Solarize communities as a result of the program. In Connecticut, during Phase I of their Solarize program, selected Solarize municipalities achieved 24-65 times the rate of new solar installation contracts as compared to the rate during the prior seven years.
- Finally, Solarize programs help drive down the installation prices for consumers. In Connecticut, Solarize has resulted in cost reductions of between 20-30 percent for customers. Solarize Mass has achieved an average price reduction of 18-20 percent for installed projects.
The guide is available online at http://www.cesa.org/resource-library/resource/planning-and-implementing-a-solarize-initiative-a-guide-for-state-program-managers.
The New England Solar Cost-Reduction Partnership, established with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative Rooftop Solar Challenge II program, is working to build a robust regional solar market by targeting non-hardware “soft” cost barriers to solar deployment such as arduous permitting and interconnection processes, lack of finance tools, and unfavorable zoning rules for solar in some jurisdictions. For more information on the Partnership, please visit http://www.cesa.org/projects/new-england-solar-cost-reduction-partnership/. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative Rooftop Solar Challenge II, visit http://www.eere.energy.gov/solarchallenge.
About the Clean Energy States Alliance: The Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing state and local efforts to implement smart clean energy policies, programs, technology innovation, and financing tools. CESA works with the leading state clean energy programs and provides information sharing and technical assistance to states and local governments on “best in class” clean energy programs and policies. CESA also facilitates collaborative networks to coordinate efforts between states, federal agencies, and other stakeholders. For more information, visit http://www.cesa.org.
About the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative: The U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative is a collaborative national effort that aggressively drives innovation to make solar energy fully cost-competitive with traditional energy sources before the end of the decade. Through SunShot, DOE supports efforts by private companies, academia, and national laboratories to drive down the cost of solar electricity to $0.06 per kilowatt-hour. Learn more at http://www.energy.gov/sunshot. To learn more about the Rooftop Solar Challenge II, visit: http://www.eere.energy.gov/solarchallenge/.
Maria Blais Costello, Clean Energy States Alliance, http://www.cesa.org, +1 (802) 233-2554, [email protected]
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