How does it work?
By purchasing Sun-Es, you are supporting the growth of a locally-sourced green energy in your community. Though you are not purchasing solar panels yourself, you are helping others in your community to afford solar PV panels, which increases the amount of renewable energy in use on the grid. It is similar to supporting green power through your local utility or other third-party installers of green power. But, instead of supporting that green power through large corporate wind and solar farms, you are supporting your neighbors and friends closer to home. You sign up to pay the solar producers a fixed charge per 100 kwh that they generate via their solar panels. That support allows more people to afford to install solar panels if they have a good location to do so.
What is a Sun-E?
A Sun-E is a support for 100 kwh of verified solar generation.
How is the solar generation verified?
Solar producers agree to allow Local-E to read or otherwise access information from their solar PV generation meters. These meter reads are stored in the Local-E database and are marked as “supported” once a Sun-E purchaser has paid for that support. Once a Sun-E or portion of Sun-E has been marked as “supported” it may no longer be supported by another Sun-E purchaser. So, each kwh of generation can be supported once and only once by a Sun-E purchase. This ensures that as many solar installations as possible are able to be supported by unique Sun-E purchases.
What if there are not enough Sun-Es in the Local-E database? Can I support an installation that is already being supported by another Sun-E purchase?
No. In that case, Local-E will store your request for Sun-Es and will notify you when additional Sun-Es are available to purchase. You can then decide whether to purchase that newly verified solar generation.
Am I buying my neighbors’ solar generation?
No. Solar generated by solar PV panels is sold to the local utility for use on the grid. So you are not specifically buying that output. You are buying your energy from the utility grid through your utility. However, every solar installation in your neighborhood or community increases the renewable energy on the grid available to all. So your purchase of Sun-Es can help to enable more and more of your community members to afford solar installations, which increases the renewable energy on the grid.
Is this a Green Energy Program?
No. It is similar to a Utility’s Green Power program. In the utility programs, utilities source renewable generation equal to the amount you’re “greening up”. They do that either by building green power generators – usually wind, or by purchasing green power attributes from someone else’s green power generation. With Local-E, you are doing something similar, but in your own community. You are offering a market premium for the generation of green energy and making it more valuable, so that it incents more local solar energy to come online.
Do I have to involve my utility?
No. Sun-Es are a commodity bought and sold between solar PV producers and their community supporters. Your utility is not involved in this transaction. You continue to purchase power from your utility. The solar producers continue to sell their solar power to the utility for use on the grid.
Is this community solar?
This is not community solar. Community solar projects are projects where community members “buy in” to a solar installation and then share the income produced by the solar installation. Sun-E purchases are reliable supports to existing solar installations. They can enable more and more homeowners to purchase solar panels by giving homeowners an additional revenue source to offset the initial high costs of solar installations.
Do I have to commit to buying Sun-Es for a certain period of time?
You do not have to commit to buying Sun-Es for a certain period of time. You may purchase Sun-Es at any time. You may purchase Sun-Es on a one-time basis or a monthly recurring basis and you may cancel your support at any time.