Staff article

Putney, VT kicked off its Solarize campaign with a grand opening at the Putney Community Center on March 15 in a festive atmosphere. Three organizations gave presentations.

Solarize Putney is bringing affordable solar energy to the homes and businesses in Putney. While solar photovoltaics are offered, so is solar water heating. The effort provides lower costs by combining the purchasing power of a group of people, resulting in an efficiency of scale for the installers. This translates into lower prices for consumers.

Three different companies took part in the event. All can help with details of net metering and incentives.

Soveren Solar, of Putney, provides a community array option for those without a place to install a system. This means even apartment dwellers can own their own solar systems to offset electric bills. Their systems are associated with their Green Mountain Power accounts, and can be used from anywhere in the GMP service area.

RGS Energy (formerly Real Goods Solar) of Louisville, Colorado, provides home solar PV installations. As a large company it can deal with the logistics of large numbers of installations at the same time. They have supported the Solarize movement in many places, both in Vermont and nationally.

Sunward Systems of Shelburne, Vermont specializes in solar thermal water and space heating, with help from local installers. Their installations are entirely solar-powered, so the heat is grid-independent.

For more information, contact Daniel Hoviss at 802-254-1410 or daniel@putney.net.