St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. — Solarize St. Thomas, the community-based group purchasing campaign, is hosting an Open House over three days in Red Hook to bring the message of solar power’s value and benefits to St. Thomas residents and business owners.

The campaign, which launched locally in January, has attracted nearly 100 homeowners to sign up for a free solar power evaluation for their properties. Already, seven contracts for solar installations have been completed, resulting in 78,567 lbs annually of avoided CO2 in the
Virgin Islands.

Homeowner Contracts Result in Lowest Price Tier Available; Financing Workshop Set for May 26

Asheville, N.C. — After just over a month since its launch, the Solarize Asheville-Buncombe campaign has already reached the lowest-cost tier for group-discount purchasing. The community-based group-purchasing solar campaign entered Tier 8, which represents the lowest price for solar energy under the program.

In addition, the campaign has awarded its first three contracts to local residents who qualified for the newly developed Neighbor to Neighbor Solar grant program to receive further financial support toward installing solar power at their homes.

Fund-raising kickoff for Neighbor to Neighbor Solar Highlights Earth Week 2021

The first local homeowner to take advantage of Solarize Asheville-Buncombe, a community-based group-purchasing solar campaign, has signed a contract to power a Weaverville residence with renewable energy.

The resident secured a 8.8-KW system through Solarize Asheville-Buncombe, which seeks to make solar energy and battery storage more affordable for both residences and commercial buildings through a unique bulk-purchasing concept. The more participants, the more costs decline for every property owner who contracts for a system.

Nearly 350 local residents and businesses owners have already signed up to learn more about how Solarize Asheville-Buncombe works. A virtual community launch event held earlier this month also attracted nearly 150 online viewers to a webinar that explained how the campaign’s tiered approach to solar and battery costs enables system discounts.

You’ve heard about solar, you may know that the cost of solar has come down 70% since 2010 and that there is a 30% tax credit available to help reduce the upfront cost. And you may even be lucky enough to have a Solarize program in your community that can help reduce the costs another 20%.  

But what you may not have heard is that now is the best time to go solar. That’s right, now is the time. Policy and market forces are at play that make 2018 and 2019 the sweet spot to get the most bang for your buck and we’ve got three charts that explain why so you don’t miss out. There are three main drivers that affect the cost of solar and value of a solar investment that everyone should know:

Updated: September 15, 2019

Does solar improve property value? The evidence says, YES!

In our increasingly transient society, property owners are concerned about whether they will stay in their home long enough to recover their investment in solar energy. Luckily for us there are several studies and reports available to shed light on whether solar increases property value. But before diving straight into the reports it is helpful to review what solar is and does for your home.

Solar generates electricity that you would otherwise need to purchase from somewhere else. In fact, solar generates more energy when we need it the most and when electricity from the utility costs the most -- during the hot summer months when air conditioners are blaring in the hot summer sun.

What is Solarize Dunwoody anyway? 

Solarize Dunwoody is a community-based, competitively bid, solar PV bulk-purchasing program that makes going solar easier and more affordable than going it alone.

Community-based: Solarize Dunwoody is a coalition of local area nonprofits and for profits devoted to bring more solar to Dunwoody and neighboring communities. Coalition members include the Dunwoody Homeowners Association, Dunwoody Sustainability Committee, UMC Earth Keepers, Environment Georgia, Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, and Solar Crowdsource as well as a few volunteer citizens of the Dunwoody community. We hold several free events throughout the duration of the campaign to educate the public about the benefits of solar and the program.

Dunwoody City Council Recognizes Solarize Dunwoody

Declares January 31st, the last sign-up day in the program, as Solarize Dunwoody Day

Dunwoody, GA—At their Jan. 8^th Council Meeting the Dunwoody City Council voted unanimously to name January 31^st, 2018 as Solarize Dunwoody day and applauded the Solarize Dunwoody Coalition which includes local residents, a member of the Dunwoody Sustainability Committee, the Dunwoody Homeowners Association, Environment Georgia, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, Solar Crowdsource and the solar installer Hannah Solar for their work to educate residents and businesses about solar.

We've said a lot already. Now hear from your community friends and neighbors about their experience with Solarize Dunwoody:

Residential Tiered Pricing (aggregate kW)

Residential pricing is determined by a tiered pricing structure. We use the power of bulk purchasing and economies of scale so the more homeowners that participate in the program, the lower the pricing will be for everyone. Here’s how it works: early adopters who go solar at Tier I pricing will pay $2.90/watt which is already a 10% savings for a comparable quality system outside this program. Then, throughout the course of the campaign, we aggregate the total amount of solar purchased and pass that savings down to the early adopters through a rebate paid at the end of the campaign. Tier VI pricing of $2.65/watt represents a 20% savings for everyone!

Many of you have already received a free solar evaluation from Hannah Energy but all the others (you know who you are :)), here's what you can expect. Hannah Energy's solar evaluations includes three main components: energy analysis, site/shade analysis, and financial analysis.