Becky, CRE’s representative, led attendees through basics for evaluating a land-lease option and alternatives to leasing one’s farm land for a solar array.

The result was that the President of the Garrett County Farm Bureau, Bill Bishoff, suggested that the program as presented go “on the road” and should include access to an expert in land-lease agreements for energy generation, may be important to farms across the state. CRE is taking leadership on that initiative.

Today I got a solicitation from an electric power supply vendor asserting that I am now responsible for choosing the source of my electrical power supply, and that if I prefer my electricity to come from clean renewable sources, to simply return a “Clean Energy Option” card to the sender.

There is some truth to this assertion…but it contains several potentially misleading representations:

First, an electricity customer is neither responsible nor obligated to separately choose an electricity supplier.  The electricity delivered today, if you make no changes, is by your “default provider” and is considered “standard offer service.”

Secondly, in Maryland, you may choose your source of electricity (i.e. electrons) … and natural gas… suppliers and thereby support certain clean renewable energy options.

However, you may not choose who delivers your power to you, i.e. if you are in the Potomac Edison (PE) Service Territory, you will have a meter from PE and power lines owned by PE will deliver power to your home, farm or business.

The electricity/electrons you buy from your distribution utility (PE) is your “standard offer” service.   The electricity you are delivered is comprised of a mix of electrons from a variety of generation types and sources (1).

Additionally, your electric power supplier may have a clean energy option.  You may not need to change suppliers if you want to have a “cleaner” energy mix.

But most importantly, you are under no obligation to make a change, from purchasing electricity from your power supplier to any other supplier organization.

However, if you want to evaluate the merits of making a power supplier change, please carefully evaluate vendors, compare pricing, contract terms and potential other differences (2).   Energy suppliers who would like to contract directly with you must be licensed by the Maryland Public Service Commission.  (See Consumer Information Supplier Search for a list of licensed active suppliers in a service area. http://www.psc.state.md.us/supplier-search/).

Note that the “Clean Energy” party soliciting me was NOT on this list!

Why would someone want to change the “type” of electricity they purchase?

Many of us are interested in supporting clean renewable energy.  Having a “power to choose” contract allows one to indirectly invest in someone’s clean, renewable energy production facility, but you don’t know where this is located.  For instance, you can invest in 100% wind energy projects.  However, the location of the wind project may be hundreds of miles away, and the mix of electrons actually delivered to your meter is not likely influenced by your purchase.  So, while you are supporting clean energy production, you do not necessarily receive any additional clean, renewable electrons in exchange for your investment.

What are other ways to ensure you have invested well in local, clean renewable energy?

To assure yourself that clean, renewable energy is provided to your home, farm or business, the renewable energy produced must be either (a) connected directly to your own meter, (whether you purchase, lease or bulk-purchase), (b) directly connected to another meter in your service territory and owned by a Community Solar Ownership Plan to which you subscribe, or, (c) directly invest in a group Solar Ownership organization.

For many people, there are limited options available for having one’s own solar project.  Challenges include being a renter, having a roof that is not well oriented for a solar project, or not having adequate discretionary investment funds available.  To remove some of these challenges, there are new options available to support the clean energy economy and have a more direct benefit in which the renewable electrons produced locally are used locally.

1. Maryland’s Public Service Commission (PSC) is in the final round of approving regulations for Community Solar Energy Ownership Plans in a Pilot Project. It is expected that the regulations will be finalized in May.  In this model, you may become a “subscriber” to a solar project that is locally owned and which provides local benefits.  This is sometimes called a “shared solar” or “solar garden” model.
2. Two other organizational models, each designed for co-owning solar energy, may include: the University Park (MD) Solar project, a limited liability company, and the Clean Energy Cooperative Project in Pennsylvania, a for-profit cooperative.

We will discuss the Community Solar Energy Subscriptions, Joint Ownership Organizations and Bulk Purchase Solar Cooperative models in future articles.

Summary:

(1)  Sources of electricity delivered by Potomac Edison throughout their service territory is described within their FAQ’s.

“In general, our generation fleet is made up of approximately 56 percent coal, 24 percent nuclear, 11 percent hydro, wind and solar sources, 8 percent natural gas and 1 percent oil. Approximately 99 percent of our electricity comes from non-emitting nuclear and low-emitting natural gas, scrubbed coal or renewable facilities. Like other utilities, all of FirstEnergy’s power plants are interconnected into the regional grid that encompasses several states. Your house draws power from that grid, therefore, there is no way to know exactly where your power is coming from.”   (www.firstenergycorp.com/environmental/faq.html)

• if you’d like to learn more about your rights to change – or not to change – electric power suppliers, go to the Maryland Clean Energy Center’s “Power to Choose” information page.

 (http://mdcleanenergy.org/consumer/power-choose/suppliers)

If you have questions, experiences to share or comments about your “Power to Choose” options, or any of the emerging group solar ownership organizations, please send them to Rebecca @ communityrenewableenergy.org.