By Autumn Long/WV SUN Solar Co-op Coordinator
A group of homeowners in north central West Virginia has formed a solar co-op and are leveraging their bulk buying power to go solar together and get a discount on the solar hardware and installation costs.
And the 30-member North Central West Virginia Solar Co-op is now seeking additional members.
It will be hosting an informational meeting on Thursday, January 12 at 7 p.m. at Fairmont University’s Haught Hall.
The North Central West Virginia Solar Co-op is open to members from Morgantown, Fairmont, Clarksburg, and other communities within an hour’s drive from Morgantown.
Sponsored by the Morgantown Municipal Green Team, the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters, the group began last year after the success of the Morgantown Solar Co-op.
Twenty-three Morgantown-area homeowners installed a total of 141 kW of solar through that co-op. Interest in the communities in and around Morgantown remained high after that initial round of installations.
WV Solar United Neighborhoods (WV SUN) expands access to solar by educating West Virginians about the benefits of distributed solar energy, helping them organize group solar installations, and strengthening West Virginia’s solar policies and its community of solar supporters. It has helped more than half a dozen communities across the state develop solar co-ops.
Those interested in joining the North Central West Virginia Solar Co-op can sign up at www.wvsun.org/solar-coops/north-central-wv/
Joining the co-op is not a commitment to purchase panels. Co-op members decide individually if going solar is right for them and can save up to 20 percent off the cost of a typical installation by going solar with the group.
The group is accepting sign-ups for the bulk purchase through January 31.
I’d love to see this offered around Charleston.