By Dan Colton, Staff Writer | July 22,2015
Dozens of Brandon residents who can’t equip their property with a solar array will soon have another alternative.On Wheeler Road in Brandon, the upcoming 1-acre, 150-kilowatt solar array will power up to 30 homes. Construction will begin later this month or in early August, said SunCommon community organizer Steve Peters.Peters said the company’s 2012 initiative to equip homeowners with home-based solar power was stymied at 40 homes in Brandon.“We realized they can’t do it at their homes,” Peters said, running into problems like mounting arrays on outdated slate roofing and on over-shaded property.The company’s solution is the community array model, Peters said.
Launching the campaign last fall, SunCommon spokeswoman Emily McManamy said the company’s community solar fields respond to a market demand for alternatives by consolidating solar infrastructure at a central community locations.
RJ Adler, a SunCommon community organizer, said SunCommon generates energy credits worth $1 each at the arrays. The company then sells the $1 credits to community array members for 93 cents, he said, giving ratepayers a 7 percent discount on energy prices.
McManamy said once customers join the energy program, the cost of energy “either mirrors or is very comparable based on what they were previously paying for their electricity.” She said if array members move, they can transfer their membership to anywhere in Green Mountain Power’s territory.
Last month, SunCommon reported its community arrays serve more than 300 homes from nine locations.
Now the company’s community solar program is coming to Brandon, and Peters said Brandon and Sudbury residents have preferential treatment to sign up for the area’s solar community until July 30.
