With SunCommon and Green Mountain Power’s new BYOD program, customers own their battery and choose how much of their stored energy to share with GMP. The program now offers the biggest upfront payment from a utility in the country (up to $10,500) for enrolling a home battery, and customers could be eligible for thousands more in federal solar tax credits!

Customers can also choose to use their batteries each evening when the sun sets, using energy from their stored solar power to reduce demand on the electrical grid during the time of day when lots of folks are arriving home and using power at the same time.

With this option, the battery is connected only to the home’s solar system and not to the grid at all. So unless the solar panels are covered with snow, the battery will charge up under the daytime sun and then discharge over the evening hours, running the home on stored solar power. As we all know, Vermont has its seasons, so more solar power will be available for battery charging in the summer and less in the winter.

Key Benefits:

• Energy independence and total control. Your solar system powers your home, you control your battery, and you still benefit from GMP’s incentive.

• The largest financial benefit, for most. Accessing the federal tax credit and an upfront payment from GMP of up to $10,500 through this program will add up to the largest total incentive for most of our storage customers.

Drawbacks:

• If you’re a CSA Member, you can still enroll in the GMP BYOD program but you will not get a solar tax credit with your system.  Because your solar panels are in a community array and not attached to your home, your battery needs to be hooked into the grid in order to charge.