by Mike McCarthy, Community Solar Organizer
In the recent community solar related Comment and debate op-ed (“Solar industry destroying Vermont landscape,” Oct., 8), Robert Deeble raised legitimate questions about solar energy.
At SunCommon, we believe that everyone has the right to a healthy environment and safer world — and clean energy is a great place to start. And Vermonters agree, with 86 percent supporting the state’s official goal of having 90 percent of all our energy come from renewable sources by the year 2050.
Vermonters are looking for alternatives to the hundreds of millions of gallons of fuel oil, propane, fracked gas, gasoline and diesel that we burn every year — the dirtiest and most expensive fuels. Replacing those climate-killing fuels with clean, safe, locally-generated, renewable energy is where we need to go. But barriers to clean energy have prevented adoption on the scale needed.
SunCommon was formed to tear down those barriers, so that everyday Vermonters can be part of repowering our state. By offering solar to homeowners at no upfront cost and a comfortable monthly payment that saves real money over time, we’ve helped nearly 1,000 Vermonters go solar. But at least half of all Vermont homes are unsuitable for solar — because their roofs face away from the sun or are shaded by trees.
So we created a new solution that allows just about any Vermonter to be part of repowering our state — we call them Community Solar Arrays or CSAs. Using less than an acre of land, these CSAs can supply 30 homes that couldn’t support solar otherwise. The CSA’s landowner feels great, hosting a community-scale array that their families, friends and neighbors benefit from. Folks in the community like knowing that they’re supporting local renewable energy. And we all move forward toward the state’s important goal of clean energy. SunCommon has completed one of these 1-acre CSAs and we’re working on dozens more in the coming years around the state.
How we do that matters — a lot. SunCommon is a mission-driven Vermont company that earned certification as a BCorp due to our commitment to benefit our employees, the environment and the communities in which we do business. So we want to plant these CSAs where it makes sense. They do take up an acre or so, preferably on underused land in our working landscape. They need to tap into the utility grid, so they typically co-exist alongside asphalt roads and power poles.
Many Vermonters share the view of beloved landscape artist Sabra Field who wrote, “I find fields planted with solar panels a fascinating succession crop that promises a harvest of independence from imported power sources.” But we get that the 10-foot tall Community Solar Arrays are not to everyone’s liking. We seek to plant CSAs with care for the view they are becoming part of. We screen them with attractive shrubbery when appropriate. And we’re exploring surrounding them with grazing goats or sheep, beehives or songbird boxes, arching sunflowers or other beautiful activities that celebrate the sunshine and the CSA’s commitment to a healthy environment.
We appreciate critiques like the one from Mr. Deeble because we’re learning as we go — committed to doing it right, the Vermont way.
For SunCommon in Waterbury Center, Mike McCarthy helps landowners who want to promote renewable energy by hosting Community Solar Arrays.
