DOE employee solar program reports first results
April 2, 2015 | By
Jaclyn Brandt
Back in 2014, employees at a few large corporations were offered the chance to go solar as a benefit of employment. The program allows the employees to invest in solar -- at a discount -- as part of what is considered the first nationwide bulk solar purchase program. The first results of the program are being reported.
The employees -- who work at companies such as 3M, Cisco Systems, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Johnson and Johnson, National Geographic Society, and Principal Financial Group -- as well as their families and communities were offered a chance to participate in the program to acquire solar panels with a $0 upfront investment. It was created by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF). Six months after the "Solar Community" program's launch, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) has reported that 1,415 employees have signed up for the program, and 174 installations have been completed or are currently in progress. So far, the program has added 1.4 megawatts (MW) to the grid. The program is being managed by Geostellar, which uses an online marketplace to "streamline the solar purchasing process and determine the most cost-effective approach for the system, including design, equipment orders, permitting, and installation," SETO said in a statement. "Geostellar's technology -- developed with support from a 2013 SunShot Incubator competitive award -- reduces the non-hardware soft costs associated with going solar, saving consumers money." The Sunshot Incubator Program's mission is to help startup companies overcome barriers to technological innovation. SETO reports that the $104 million invested by the government since 2007 has returned $1.7 billion in venture capital and private equity investment. The companies have focused on technologies in sectors like: Photovoltaic (PV) technologies, concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies, power electronics, balance-of-system (BOS) hardware, and balance-of-system non-hardware (Soft Costs). According to SETO, the panels in the "Solar Community" program have lowered the energy costs for participants by an average of 30 percent. For more: © 2015 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/doe-employee-solar-program-reports-first-results/2015-04-02 |