Solar

Solar Energy and Suntility Solar Energy Services in Massachusetts

Massachusetts Focuses on Expanding the Community Benefits of Solar

As the state is just days away from approaching 16,000 cumulative solar installations, following the announcement of a state total of over 15,000 solar projects from earlier this week, the next round of photovoltaic projects in the Commonwealth will be uniquely local and equally as innovative. As highlighted by Governor Deval Patrick in a recent keynote speech on solar,

“We have a solar revolution underway here in the Commonwealth…Solar is a key part of our clean energy future. That future won’t happen overnight because it can’t, but it will happen because it wants to. And it will be up to all of us to make it happen.”

In a bid to expand the scope of solar, increase consumer options, and clean energy access, the following segments of solar installation will play a more central role in the progress to Massachusetts’ goals of 1600MW of solar by 2020:

– Small residential and commercial;

– Solar canopy units;

– Emergency power generation units;

– Community shared solar generation units; and

– Low or moderate income housing generation units.

Encouraged by proven models such as the 346kW Brewster Community Solar Garden™, and recognizing the possibilities to increase participation in the benefits of solar, these market segments will be key drivers of solar adoption in the years to come.

Community shared solar generation for example provides true consumer choice, allowing homeowners, businesses, and non-profits the ability to derive their energy locally, and with 100% renewable electricity. The Brewster Community Solar Garden™ facility, featured in a 2014 Enphase Energy press release represents a shining example of how a diverse and vibrant group of stakeholders in a community can work together and prosper from locally sited solar. Installed by My Generation Energy which has installed solar from Martha’s Vineyard to Marion, and from Quincy to Wellfleet, the project is managed by the comprehensive suite of Suntility Electric‘s solar management solutions.

“The Brewster Community Solar Garden™ project, as the first Community Shared Solar Project in the state, with nearly 3 years of operational experience, truly demonstrates the positive reception, broad benefits and strength of this exciting model,” Suntility Manager Michael Stone. “This collaborative approach to solar has successfully driven the reach of this clean, quiet, local power from beyond individual rooftops to numerous electric accounts in the area.”

If you’re a Massachusetts resident, business, or non-profit interesting in participating in a community solar garden project near you contact us by entering your information here:

https://www.suntilityelectric.com/contact-us-today-for-a-free-consultation-or-for-more-info/

If you’re a solar or wind project owner and are interested in our leading renewable energy services please contact us or feel free to read these resources on:

Massachusetts Net Metering Credits;

Solar Renewable Energy Certificates in Massachusetts;

Solar Management in Massachusetts;

Wind Management in Massachusetts; and

the Brewster Community Solar Garden™.

About Suntility Electric, LLC

Suntility’s experience on renewable energy projects spans nearly 200 systems across Massachusetts including wind and solar providing a range of services including: professional monitoring; performance reporting; owner’s agent services; net metering credit services; agency reporting; SREC brokerage assistance; solar installation inspections and audits; NSTAR and National Grid bill audits; renewable energy consulting; solar maintenance; and more.

Suntility is your trusted partner in success. Suntility provides renewable energy maintenance services, utility credit services, owner’s agent services and consulting solutions to optimize facility reliability, performance and value.

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

By Michael on August 28, 2014

Success in the Massachusetts Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction & Massachusetts Net Metering Caps Raised 50%

The annual Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction fully cleared on Friday August 1, 2014. Long-story-short, it’s very good news for solar owners.

What is a Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction? First, let’s clarify what is being auctioned. A Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC for short) is issued to the owner of a solar project. The more clean solar energy it produces, the more SRECs are issued. The utilities purchase these certificates and the market price is somewhat regulated by the Commonwealth. Part of this regulating function is a “last chance to sell” provided by the Clearinghouse Auction at the end of each year.

Many solar owners, and those of us in the business, were watching closely as this auction played-out. Would it indeed “clear” meaning to sell all of the remaining 2013 SRECs? If so, confidence in the program and the Commonwealth’s ability to sufficiently regulate the market would be bolstered. The Clearinghouse Auction did indeed clear Friday; and the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) immediately announced the results.

Good News for the Short-term and the Long-term

The immediate news is welcome to those participating in the auction. The long-term implications are also positive for everyone who already owns or is considering solar. Here is why: The regulation governing the SREC market has a feature where the auction process itself triggers the future market demand to increase. The details are complicated, but this creates additional pressure on the utilities to buy more SRECs and to purchase them sooner. In this way, the auction process has already driven the prices of 2014 SRECs upward in recent days. The SREC valuation will likely continue on that trend as it is anticipated that 2015 will be a “short year,” which will serve to drive prices up even further.

Solar owners rejoice in making a smart decision. Meanwhile, many of those considering going solar are now making their move based on this positive development!

Net Metering Legislative Update

Additionally in recent news out of Boston, the state legislature raised the amount of solar allowed to net meter (spin the meter backwards for full retail value) from 3% of the utilities historical peak demand to 4% of the utilities historical peak demand for private projects, and from 3% to 5% for public projects. This program is central to solar owners receiving full retail compensation for the energy they produce and send back to the grid when they aren’t using it on-site. The state will also study the benefits of net metering as part of the design of future incentive programs to achieve the governor’s goal of 1600MW of solar in the Commonwealth. For perspective there is currently over 393MW of net metering projects (including solar and wind) in Massachusetts. Prior to the legislation the net metering caps were set at 665MW. With this most recent legislative adjustment the new net metering cap levels will allow 998MW of net metering projects in the state. Important to note is that most projects under 25kW are exempt from the net metering caps, aren’t counted towards the aggregate net metering cap figures and that eligible small projects after the caps have been hit can still be built and net meter.

Portions of this article were posted on MyGenerationEnergy.com by Luke Hinkle founder of My Generation Energy and Founder and Manager of Suntility Electric, LLC.

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

By Michael on August 4, 2014

Need help managing your Massachusetts Net Metering Credits? You’re not alone.

Unclear on the Schedule Z, or even what it is? Managing a lot of electric accounts? and a high volume of net metering credits? Have you experienced challenges with the utilities in the past? Are net metering credits something that you don’t have expertise in or don’t have the bandwidth to do, or both?

Commercial and utility-scale wind and solar project owners in Massachusetts have received a diverse set of incentives over the years. These include: rebates; grants; tax credits; accelerated depreciation; renewable energy certificates; and net metering credits. Managing the last set of incentives – net metering credits – is very often the most cumbersome with the unique combination of arcane utility regulations and the constant administrative attention required.

Ensuring everything is done properly by your Massachusetts utility, WMECO, National Grid or NSTAR, is absolutely critical considering the significant value of these credits. Whether you are the solar or wind owner allocating the credits or the recipient of the credits, such as a municipality, it’s important to know that you’re getting your full value and you’re optimizing the value of this important incentive. Absent dedicated professional management of your net metering credits and net metering credit accounts, you could very easily be losing tens of thousands of dollars through your own mistakes or those of the utility. At Suntility we’ve discovered and corrected hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of utility and user net metering credit errors.

To get started in successfully navigating this key Massachusetts renewable energy program, contact Suntility today to learn about the advantages we can provide you and your project.

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

Additional articles you may be interested in, include:

Solar Monitoring – Peace of Mind & Better Results For Your Solar Installation

What is an SREC or REC?

The Value of Solar Operations & Maintenance (O&M)

By Michael on July 30, 2014

Suntility’s Holistic Approach to Solar Operations, Maintenance & Administration

According to Solar Power World Online, “Solar plant owners and investors face a daunting task calibrating all the levers of solar asset ownership to reap a strong ROI.” Even with limited and/or no moving parts, long warranties, no fuel requirements, and other benefits versus traditional capital equipment, commercial and utility-scale solar still presents a unique series of tasks required of investors to ensure the myriad blue collar and white collar roles are fulfilled to maximize return on investment.

Having dedicated industry professionals that understand everything from the technology to the regulations for your solar project(s) and that can efficiently manage both over time is fundamental to the long-term success of your investments in this growing clean energy resource. Working with Suntility you can be confident that the key multidisciplinary roles required of your facility will be fulfilled to ensure that your system is both producing as well as possible and as economically as possible. With deep industry experience spanning back to the beginning of commercial deployment in Massachusetts, and significant and diverse capacity under management across the state, Suntility is uniquely positioned to cost-effectively deliver the solar performance solutions that will benefit your project(s) long-term. Whether you require just a solar monitoring partner or our full suite of solar management solutions, our services and efficiency of expertise will allow you to focus on what you do best.

About Suntility Electric, LLC

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

By Michael on July 1, 2014

Suntility Manager Speaks at National Fire Protection Association Conference on Solar Power

Luke Hinkle, Manager of Suntility, spoke at the nation’s premier event on fire safety this past week in Las Vegas. This important discussion focused on safe design choices to significantly reduce potential hazards to property owners and fire fighters. Functioning in an owner’s agent role and as the managers of multiple megawatts of renewable energy across Massachusetts, Suntility views safety as not only a fundamental component in reducing risks and liability associated with these energy projects but also critically important to increasing overall system reliability and uptime. Luke Hinkle, Ph.D., also the Founder of My Generation Energy, has long advocated for solar safety considerations in design, installation, and system ownership, having presented on solar safety to the fire departments of the Massachusetts towns of Brewster, Falmouth, Sandwich and Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard.

About Suntility Electric, LLC

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

By Michael on June 16, 2014

New Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) Program & Grid Modernization Efforts Move Massachusetts Towards a Greener Grid – Learn More & Get Involved

This spring the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources announced it’s second solar renewable energy certificate program in Massachusetts. This incentive program allows solar owners to be compensated for the clean, local, solar benefits of the energy they produce in addition to the electricity savings. This program is intended to move the state towards an installed solar capacity of 1600 MW by 2020. To put it in perspective 1 MW is enough to power about 180 homes annually.

At the same time significant discussion and planning is underway to ensure those resources can be brought online quickly, effectively and with the most benefits to electricity customers here in Massachusetts. To facilitate that the electric grid itself – from the Berkshires, to Boston, to Cape Cod – will need to evolve and become more modern. Suntility Manager Luke Hinkle has been actively engaged on these issues at the local, regional and state level and recently took part in a WCAI discussion titled ‘Smarter and Greener: Making Changes in Our Energy Use.’ This discussion covers the state of the electric grid, managing distributed generation resources, and actions that can be taken to ensure the electric system can adapt to the economic and environmental drivers in our world today. To listen click here:

http://capeandislands.org/post/smarter-and-greener-making-changes-our-energy-use

To learn more and get involved click here:

https://www.change.org/petitions/cape-power-brokers-green-our-grid-now

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

By Michael on May 9, 2014

Suntility’s Solar Solutions Advance One of Massachusetts Most Innovative Net Metering Credit Facilities

Suntility, My Generation Energy and the Brewster Community Solar Garden™ Cooperative were recently featured in Enphase Energy’s Array of the Week. This innovative community solar arrangement allows members of the cooperative to receive the electricity benefits of a solar array in their community, in the form of net metering credits, directly on their NSTAR electric bills. Brewster residents and organizations that understand the value of predictable, clean, local electricity but can’t go solar at their particular location are able to participate and capture those benefits through the Brewster Community Solar Garden™ Cooperative.

This system has been in operation for more than two years and has been producing at peak performance thanks to Suntility’s solar management practices and the highest quality installation provided by local installer My Generation Energy. The benefits of the array in the form of net metering credits and solar renewable energy certificates, have been flowing smoothly thanks to Suntility’s regulatory, administrative and operational solutions. Working in conjuction with Enphase, My Generation Energy, and the Brewster community, Suntility is proud to be a part of this market leading solution just as community solar in Massachusetts continues to grow under the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) SREC-II program. For the full article from Enphase click here:

https://enphase.com/eblog/2014/featured-array-revisited-brewster-community-solar-garden-facility/

To learn more about solar installation and development in Southeastern Massachusetts with My Generation Energy click here:

http://www.mygenerationenergy.com/

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

By Michael on May 9, 2014

Suntility To Attend Friends Academy Solar Ribbon Cutting In Dartmouth, MA

Solar projects are continuing to increase across Massachusetts. Strong demand for clean energy and reasonable regulations that provide monetary benefits such as net metering credits and solar renewable energy certificates have facilitated thousands of solar projects for Massachusetts non-profits, communities, businesses, homeowners and landowners. Suntility Electric is excited to partake in the commissioning of this new system constructed by My Generation Energy and interconnected to the NSTAR electric system.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on May 9th at 2:30 pm and the celebration is open to the public and will be held at the school at 1088 Tucker Road, Dartmouth in Southeastern Massachusetts. To learn more click here: http://www.mygenerationenergy.com/2014/04/solar-at-friends-academy-dartmouth-may-9-2014/

By Michael on April 24, 2014

Solar Monitoring – Peace of Mind & Better Results For Your Solar Installation

Suntility Electric’s solar monitoring and support helps you achieve your solar production goals. Have confidence that dedicated solar professionals are monitoring your system for issues, tracking your results, and alerting you to any identified problems. Suntility actively monitors your solar array remotely so you don’t have. Importantly we have the industry and technical expertise to know when your system is under-performing and can help you make the most of your investment in solar. This service is cost-effective and can be implemented quickly to provide you with the solar support your system needs.

This service is essential to ensuring you receive as much in electricity savings, net metering credits and SRECs as possible. SREC prices and electricity rates may vary but having a strongly performing solar installation is the first step in achieving the best solar results. Get there with Suntility, your trusted partner in success.

If you’re in Massachusetts and would like to learn more about Suntility’s Solar Monitoring services reach out to us today by calling 508-566-6322 or by entering your contact information here:

https://www.suntilityelectric.com/contact-us-today-for-a-free-consultation-or-for-more-info/

These services are just one element of Suntility’s full suite of solar operations and maintenance services (O&M). Suntility manages many of the largest solar installations in Massachusetts and in the region. To learn more on Suntility’s maintenance services click here:

https://www.suntilityelectric.com/maintenance-services/

By Michael on April 16, 2014

Cities & Towns Sign Solar Deals At An Accelerating Pace – Ensuring The Best Results Will Be Key

Massachusetts cities and towns are leading the way to a cleaner future having signed multi-decade multi-million dollar deals for solar energy. These municipalities have entered these long-term agreements with the prospect of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth, and in some cases millions of dollars worth, of savings over the contract life. Municipalities can offer the solar projects a long-term revenue stream while the solar projects can offer cities and towns either discounted electricity and/or stable electricity prices.

Most of these arrangements don’t simply mean a direct discount to a city’s electric bill for example but require the local electric utility to transfer credits, called net metering credits, from the solar project electric account to the city’s electric account(s). These credits offset amounts that the city would have normally had to pay their utility such as NSTAR, WMECO or National Grid. Some cities and towns are receiving these credits on close to a hundred accounts. Naturally the complexity inherent in these arrangements needs to be properly managed and administered. Suntility’s Net Metering Credit Services do exactly that by providing critical tracking, verification and management of municipal solar deals. We work directly with cities or towns and/or with proactive solar project owners to validate the entire process. Clients receive concise easy-to-read reports with actionable information to quickly review the entire process and when there are errors on accounts they are highlighted with clear resolution steps.

If you’re a city or town shouldn’t you know the results of your solar deal? Why leave the success of a multi-million dollar deal to chance? Suntility is a highly effective partner for municipalities helping them accomplish their clean energy, environmental, administrative and budgetary goals. Reach out to us today for more information on these important services.

To learn more contact us at 508-566-6322

By Michael on April 7, 2014

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