SCE&G today introduced South Carolina’s largest community solar program (16 MWac), making solar generation available to electric customers who cannot, or do not wish to, install rooftop solar panels. Through the SCE&G Community Solar Program, residential customers and eligible nonresidential customers may now purchase or subscribe to solar panels at several solar facilities to be constructed within SCE&G’s service territory.
In exchange for the electricity produced by their panels, participants will receive credits on their monthly utility bills there by lowering their monthly expenses. The program is available to residential electric customers who own or rent their homes, and to schools, churches and municipalities. Customers can visit www.sceg.com/communitysolar for more information or to enroll in the program.
“We often hear from customers who desire the cost savings and environmental benefits of solar energy, so we’re really proud to bring those advantages to even more customers,” said Danny Kassis, vice president of customer relations and renewables for SCE&G. “For some customers, this program creates a pathway to solar energy where there wasn’t one before.”
SCE&G chose Clean Energy Collective (CEC), a national leader in community solar programs, and their RooflessSolar™ product, to implement its program. SCE&G expects to interconnect the first two of three CEC-developed solar facilities by the end of this year.
As part of their community solar solution – Community Solar Platform™- CEC will facilitate customer enrollment and provide monitoring and production tracking services. The solar facilities will use panels that track the sun’s path across the sky, increasing power generation up to 20 percent more than traditional fixed or rooftop systems. SCE&G is responsible for all maintenance of the sites.
“One of the largest utility-sponsored programs in the country, SCE&G’s Community Solar Program demonstrates SCE&G’s commitment to providing customers a choice in how they meet their power needs, and the growing renewable energy movement in South Carolina,” said Paul Spencer, chief executive officer of Clean Energy Collective. “We are proud to be working with SCE&G to bring community solar to South Carolina on a large scale.”
SCE&G played a key role in developing the 2014 South Carolina Distributed Energy Resource Program Act, which established equitable net metering rules, introduced distributed energy programs and allowed customers access to solar leasing options.
SCE&G energized its first utility-scale solar facility in December 2015 and has announced additional developments that will help the utility exceed its goal of generating at least 42 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar by 2020. SCE&G also provides customer programs to support the development of more than 42 MW of customer-scale solar generation by 2020, and already has interconnected more than 4,000 of its customers.
For more information on SCE&G’s solar programs, visit www.sceg.com/solar.
About SCE&G
South Carolina Electric & Gas Company is a regulated public utility engaged in the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity to approximately 713,000 customers in 24 counties in the central, southern and southwestern portions of South Carolina. The company also provides natural gas service to approximately 361,000 customers in 36 counties in the state.
About Clean Energy Collective
Clean Energy Collective (CEC) pioneered the model of delivering clean power-generation through medium-scale solar PV facilities accessible to all utility customers, and today is the nation’s leading developer of community solar solutions. Since establishing the country’s first community-owned solar array near El Jebel, Colorado in 2010, CEC has built, or has under development, more than 175 RooflessSolar™ projects with 32 utility partners across 15 states, serving thousands of customers, and representing more than 400 MW of community solar capacity. CEC is also the leading provider of community solar software and services to the utility, development and financial industries through its Community Solar Platform™. www.cleanenergyco.com
Source: SCEG
