The following information is provided by SmartPower:
In less than five months, Solarize Connecticut (Program) drove twice as much adoption of residential solar in four pilot communities as those towns had seen in the last seven years. The Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA), The John Merck Fund, and SmartPower partnered to develop this innovative program that leverages community outreach to simplify the process of installing solar and the power of group purchasing to deliver discounts on the cost of a typical solar installation. Solarize Connecticut is part of the Energize Connecticut initiative which is intended to help consumers save money and use clean energy.
Mansfield Town Manager Matthew Hart said that Solarize Connecticut is providing Mansfield residents with a "unique opportunity" to participate in a group purchasing program for solar installations.
"We look forward to building on the program's past success to help residents in Mansfield, and in our partner community of Windham, realize the benefits of clean energy," he said.
Durham, Fairfield, Portland, and Westport all reached the lowest price level available through the program by successfully encouraging enough town residents to participate. As more homeowners signed up to install solar through purchase or lease agreements, the price for everyone went down - including those who installed systems earlier in the program before the maximum savings kicked in. The four municipalities collectively achieved almost 300 signed contracts as a result of the Program effort.
Building on the success of the four initial communities, CEFIA has announced that the second phase of the program will begin in early March and will include Bridgeport, Canton, Coventry and a community partnership between Mansfield and Windham.
"The community leaders working with local installers devoted incredible energy to Solarize Connecticut to help contract approximately 2.3 MWs of new residential solar and more than double the amount of solar deployed prior to the Program in each town. By achieving the lowest tier of pricing, hundreds of local homeowners were able to benefit from discounted access to clean solar energy," said Bryan Garcia, president and CEO of CEFIA. "We expect that we will achieve similar success as we begin the next phase of this innovative program with new communities and their dedicated volunteers. The success we are realizing through this initiative is helping CEFIA meet its larger goal of deploying 30MW of new residential solar over the next decade by reducing costs and making the process easier for consumers."
Each of the communities selected for phase two of the program will work with CEFIA to select the solar installer who will partner with them on the project. Communities will consider the tiered pricing offered by the installers as well as the quality of their workmanship, materials, project management experience and marketing plans. A Request for Proposals (RFP) has been issued and eligible solar installation companies have until January 28, 2013 to submit their proposals to CEFIA for consideration.
Once the installers have been selected for each community, additional details about pricing, leasing options, and program participation will be announced. In the meantime, residents residing in any of the phase two communities can visit www.solarizect.com to sign up to receive more information as it becomes available.
