With the deadline for signed contracts fast approaching, the Solarize Mass/Harvard pilot project pace has quickened. According to New England Breeze project manager Kristen Ferguson, Harvard residents have added 50 percent more solar photovoltaic systems to the town's project total since the beginning of the month. The company expected to have 30 signed contracts for a total of 154 kilowatts by Friday, Sept. 16.
New England Breeze plans to finish all outstanding site evaluations by Sept. 16 and to have all proposals out by the end of the following week.
"Due to the overwhelming demand, all site visit appointments have been filled," said Ferguson in an email to Harvard volunteers.
Homeowners will have until Sept. 30 to sign a contract and be eligible for New England Breeze's tiered pricing which is based on total Harvard volume, and for Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's incentives.
"We're in Tier II and see the possibility of Tier III," said Solarize Mass/Harvard coordinator Jim Elkind, referring to the pricing in New England Breeze's winning bid. The 154 kW total puts all of the projects squarely in the Tier II pricing of $5 per watt. Another 47 kW by the end of the month would push the project over 200 kW and into Tier III, resetting the price at $4.50 per kW for everyone.
According to information at a June Solarize Mass event, an average installation size is about 5 kW.
"We're tremendously pleased with the success of the Harvard project," said Elizabeth Kennedy, Mass. Clean Energy Center project manager, at a Solarize Now information event at the Depot Road soccer fields last Saturday. Kennedy complimented Harvard's strong technical networking capabilities and the volunteer project coordinators' ability to get the word out.
Elizabeth Youngblood, MassCEC project coordinator, said that MassCEC had not determined its next steps. We will "look at lessons learned from the four pilot projects," Youngblood said.
"All the communities are different," Kennedy said. "What works in one community might not work as well in another."
She compared Harvard's program with its strong electronic community networking to Hatfield, where information was more effectively disseminated at community events and by word of mouth. She also noted that the topography of the two towns influenced their programs and that the average project size in Hatfield tended to be larger than in Harvard, probably because Hatfield has more open sun exposure.
Meanwhile, the community solar garden project (CSG)—a large photovoltaic installation shared by many residents—took a turn last week when Solarize Mass/Harvard volunteers learned the project would not be part of MassCEC's Solarize Mass/Harvard program.
"It was a surprise," said Worth Robbins, a Solarize Mass/Harvard volunteer, of the change in direction. "All along our assumption was that once details for a community solar garden were sorted out, New England Breeze would implement it, and the volume would contribute toward the tier pricing."
A Solarize Mass/Harvard brochure sent out to Harvard residents at the end of August echoed that assumption, with the statement: "You can put your system in a 'Community solar garden.' New England Breeze has the details and will be happy to discuss the option with you."
"It's very complex from engineering and logistical standpoints," Ferguson said. "The project will take significant investigation to make sure it is as successful a project as it can be. A 100 kW project—no one does that in two months. It could take six months just to work out the details with National Grid."
According to New England Breeze CEO Mark Durrenberger, "The garden's a great endeavor, but with legal constraints and uncertainties, unknown unknowns."
The idea of a community solar field was made in the shade—the shade of the many homeowners without enough sun for a solar installation on their own property. Robbins envisioned the shared community solar garden, already a reality in many parts of the country, as a way to give those residents a renewable energy option.
According to Robbins, he made a final effort at Saturday's Solarize Now event to keep the CSG in Solarize Mass/Harvard, with its capacity counting toward tier pricing for Harvard residents who already have or who will contract for on-premise installation before the Sept. 30 deadline. Speaking at different times with Durrenberger and Ferguson, Robbins said he proposed that a yet-to-be-formed LLC contract directly with New England Breeze for installation of the generating capacity necessary to satisfy the total of all individual CSG contracts executed between residents and New England Breeze by the deadline, and that tier pricing for on-premise installations be accomplished by refunds after the CSG is completed.
Robbins said that, according to a telephone conference last week with MassCEC's Kennedy, individual CSG contracts would be required to qualify for Solarize rebates. Robbins said he believed this approach would eliminate New England Breeze's concerns about the risk of having given tier pricing and then later, having the CSG fail to be developed.
Earlier this week, Robbins said that Harvard volunteers are working to ensure that the CSG will still be developed as an alternative for those who are unable to install on their own property, but it will not be part of the project with New England Breeze. He said the project will be started immediately, given that one of the major funding sources requires construction to begin before the end of 2011.