Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Interested in Joining a Neighborhood Bulk Solar Purchase?

Announcement:

We need your help! We’re trying to drum up interest in our neighborhood solar bulk purchases, but need help getting the word out. Could everyone forward the message below to neighborhood listserves, ANCs, Facebook, and friends and family? DC has an incredible solar market and we want to help take as many people solar as possible. Please share!!
---
Neighbors going solar: Join us!

If you’ve ever wanted to go solar but weren’t sure where to start, now is your chance! Neighborhoods throughout the District are organizing neighborhood solar bulk purchases and saving 20-30% off the cost of solar. Just like buying in bulk at Costco, going solar as a group allows you to save money and get support from the group throughout the process.

Each neighborhood uses a competitive bidding process to select a single installer to complete all of the projects. Homeowners sign an individual contract with the installer, but everyone receives the bulk discount.

The neighborhoods are working with nonprofit DC Solar United Neighborhoods (DC SUN), who serves as a consumer advocate for DC residents going solar. DC SUN is completely neutral and they don’t represent the interest of any company. Rather, they help you through the process of going solar. DC SUN’s mission is to make solar accessible and affordable for everyone in the District.

If you are interested in going solar, click here for more information and instructions on how to sign up.

6 comments:

Ann said...

Anyone done this before? Does anyone know whether there are hard borders to this? We're in Trinidad, and I'm wondering whether we could do either Ward 5 or Capitol Hill, depending which got off the ground first.

inked said...

Ann,
I suspect you could do either, as I believe I've heard of people in Carver Terrace doing the Capitol Hill one.

scottmag said...

I have set up a contract and am in the process of design and install of the a solar system. The company I am using requires no money down, they install the system for free and you buy the solar energy the system creates saving about 25% off your utility bill. You then can buy the system after five years for about $5000 I think. anyone interested can email me at scott.magnuson@yahoo.com

Scott (Argonaut)

pat said...


The borders are soft, i'm on the west edge of RFK
and i'll be getting onto this deal.

what i figure is 30% discount, 30% Tax savings,
and a 50 cent DC incentive, that's leaving me fronting
a small amount and owning the system.

some people lease their systems, i'd rather own it.

Anonymous said...

Anyone have a rough estimate of the total cost to the homeowner? We've been toying with the idea, but have no clue what to expect price-wise.

Ann said...

It looks like there's an info session tonight in Eckington for the Ward 5 group. From the google group:

The Ward 5 effort is actually still open to sign ups. We'll be having an info session on Thursday, October 24th at 7pm at The Summit at St. Martins. We'll answer any questions you might have about solar and explain how the bulk purchase process works.