Boulder County residents have another opportunity to join their neighbors to save big on rooftop solar. Already boasting 287 members of a 200-member goal, the co-op is now accepting up to 500 members through the end of the year.
The Boulder County Solar Co-Op is led by Solar United Neighbors (SUN), a national nonprofit that helps communities collaborate to negotiate bulk discounts on solar panels and installation for local homeowners. SUN offers local solar companies the prospect of gaining potentially hundreds of customers in one fell swoop. And solar companies along the Front Range are wising up to that benefit.
Tanner Simeon-Cox, a program director with Solar United Neighbors, said the Boulder County co-op received more bids from solar companies than any of the 17 other Colorado co-ops they’ve run.
“I’m super stoked about this co-op because it’s breaking all kinds of SUN Colorado records,” Simeon-Cox said of the Boulder County cohort.
SUN capped its initial membership drive, which reached its limit of 200 within two weeks, to make sure the chosen installer could handle the volume. In early November, a group of about a dozen or so co-op members met to evaluate bids from companies. According to Simeon-Cox, the priority for Boulder County members was finding a company that offered an affordable price for quality panels. They also sought a company that allowed members to upgrade to higher tiers of equipment at a reasonable rate, like battery backups.
Smart Wave Solar out of Denver was selected for the Boulder County co-op, beating out other local entities including Fort Collins-based Sandbox Solar and Wattmore Solar from Denver — both of which had served previous SUN co-ops in the Front Range.
He said the group discount being offered to co-op members by Smart Wave is “significant,” about 10% to 20% less than what homeowners would get on their own from Front Range companies.
Smart Wave said it could handle up to 500 customers, leading to the call for more members. Simeon-Cox said the company has “hit the ground running.”
“Smart Wave has only been working for three weeks on this project and they’re already at 49 signed contracts,” Simeon-Cox said, “which is about 318 Kilowatts of capacity that’s already been contracted.”
In SUN’s co-ops, the goal is to get 20% of their members to install solar. Since joining the co-op involves no commitment, members can back out of the process at any time, for any reason, without recourse. By Simeon-Cox’s estimation, Boulder County’s cohort is on track to far surpass that and offset tons of carbon in the process by producing hundreds of kilowatt-hours of clean electricity.
“Our previous largest co-op to date was Denver last year,” he said. “They had 230 kilowatts of installed capacity, which came to about 4,800 metric tons of CO2 offset. We’re already on pace to blow those numbers out of the water.”
Simeon-Cox estimated the 318 Kilowatts already under contract in Boulder County’s cohort should offset about 6,600 metric tons of carbon over the next 25 years.
SUN is pushing to hit its new membership goal of 500 while also helping those already in the co-op navigate the solar contract process with Smart Wave and local municipalities. To maximize installations, Simeon-Cox said he regularly checks in with the solar installer to identify residents who may have withdrawn from the process due to high costs.
“What I try to do is connect those folks with their local sustainability departments to see if there are any finance incentives their city or the state can provide them to make the project a little more feasible for them,” Simeon-Cox said.
Carolyn Elam, a sustainability senior manager for the City of Boulder, said Boulder has been working with SUN “to make sure anyone who might be eligible for a solar grant through the city gets that grant.” Boulder’s grants are income limited, but all solar projects in Boulder are eligible for a sales tax rebate from the city.
SUN is also regularly reviewing proposals and signed contracts between Smart Wave and co-op members to ensure the installer is “true to their word” and sticking to the co-op’s agreement.
New members that join by Dec. 31 will have until Feb. 11, 2024 to sign a contract with Smart Wave Solar. In the meantime, SUN is considering hosting some additional information sessions for new members on how solar works and how co-ops work.
“Now is the time to join if you’re considering it,” Simeon-Cox said. “It is 100% obligation- and cost-free to join.”