Wayland residents and businesses invited to Survey about solar panels – deadline is March 18

Because Wayland is a Green Community, the town has a chance to be part of Solarize Massachusetts, a program sponsored by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, that will allow residents, businesses and faith organizations to purchase photovoltaic (electricity producing) solar panels and their installation, as well as solar power, at reduced prices.

Wayland became a Green Community in 2010. Many good things have come out of that already, but this one is particularly exciting because the benefits and cost savings will translate directly to the residents and businesses who sign up. The Solarize program would help interested parties by the Town conveniently selecting the best installer and contract for the whole of Wayland, and hiring that installer, thereby cutting costs of equipment and installation; by streamlining the permitting process; by making information about the entire process accessible through consistent community outreach; by creating a sense of community while becoming more sustainable and resilient.

The Team working on it and expected to run the program should it be granted, is a collaboration of the Energy Initiatives Advisory Committee and Transition Wayland.  And they are asking for your help. As part of the application, they need to demonstrate what kind of interest there is in Wayland for solar panels. They invite you to take their online Survey: it takes 3 minutes to answer 5 simple questions. The deadline is March 18. The survey is available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QYNKM9B or via the Transition Wayland website at http://www.transitionwayland.org.  They also request that you forward this invitation to all Wayland residents, businesses and organizations that you think should take the Survey as well.

Cost reductions in the Solarize program are achieved through a tiered pricing structure that provides increased savings for everyone as more people in the community participate. For instance, the seventy-five customers who signed up with the Solarize Massachusetts pilot in Harvard, MA, last year, made it to Tier Four. Compared to the net system cost of $15,275 and break-even period of 5.3 years in Tier One, their combined buying power resulted in a net cost of $10,025 and a break-even period of only 3.3 years. (source: http://masscec.com/masscec/file/HarvardSolar201Combined.pdf  / the Solarize website is at online here)

Contact Kaat Vander Straeten (kaat@transitionwayland.org) or Anne Harris (arharris29@yahoo.com) for more information.

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