MSSI - Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc
Today's energy for Tomorrow's world | 443-218-2620
Learn how to fire the electric company and get the government to pay for up to half of your new solar electric system. This seminar is open to everyone, but is geared primarily towards homeowners and small business owners who are considering adding a solar electric system.
Please call 443-218-2620 to rsvp and get directions. Or, contact us.
Saturday, June 5th, 3:30-4:30
PM Monday, June 7th, 6:30-7:30
PMMaryland Solar Solutions, Inc. at the Triple Crown Expo in Arundel Mills
Join Maryland Solar Solutions at Arundel Mills Mall July 16, 17th, and 18th
for the Triple Crown Expo, 10 AM-10 PM each day. Admission is free! Come see
us to talk about solar, and check out many other home improvement contractors
and product vendors as well! No registration necessary.
Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc.’s free solar seminars are free and open to anyone. Come and meet the owner and some employees of the company. Learn about how solar electricity works, a little of its history (solar panels have been around longer than you think!), and discover the tax incentives and grants available for home and business owners who add solar arrays in Maryland.
MSSI staff will also take the time to explain the sometimes-confusing world of SRECS, or Solar Renewable Energy Credits. These credits, which represent the green value of the clean energy your solar array generates, are sold at auction twice a year and purchased by utilities and other companies seeking to meet Maryland’s Renewable Energy Portfolio standards. The State of Maryland’s ambitious goals call for 20% of Maryland’s power to be generated by clean sources by 2022, including 2% from solar. Many companies find it practical to purchase SRECs aggregated from small solar arrays in order to meet this goal.
Light refreshments are served, and bluehouse’s relaxed, comfortable atmosphere allows MSSI staff and our seminar guests to talk in a small group setting.
Please, rsvp to MSSIcontact@marylandsolarsolutions.com or call 443-218-2620 if you plan to attend.
Since 2005, Bluehouse has been the Baltimore area's source for healthy, green home products, providing solutions for every room. Bluehouse specializes in sustainable furniture, organic mattresses and linens, chemical-free cleaning products, elegant green tableware, and more. Bluehouse is also the area's only Authorized Retailer of Herman Miller Designs.
Saturday, October 3rd, Maryland homeowners got a chance to see solar electric systems, solar thermal energy, straw bale insulation, and other green innovations in use in real people’s homes in and around the Baltimore metro area.
Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc. was happy to host the Baltimore Area branch of the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Tour. The free, self-guided tour took place on October 3rd. The bright, sunny weather was ideal for a look at solar. Guests visited two locations in the Reisterstown, MD area.
Colette Hayward, founder of Reisterstown-based Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc. personally guided guests around her own solar home. Hayward’s home, with its 6.9 KW grid-tied solar electric system, including a Fat Spaniel monitoring system and Fronius inverter, gave guests a chance to have involved discussions about solar. “Since it’s my own house, I’m comfortable taking people inside to show them the inverter,” Hayward said. “I know the specs on all the panels, the racking systems, everything.”
“My system’s taking my home to net zero,” Hayward added referring to the fact over the course of a year, the panels will produce 100% of the energy her household uses. “I’m proud of it. I was happy to show it off.”
The staff of Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc. is already planning to participate in next year’s ASES National Solar Tour in Fall 2010. It’s too soon for rsvps for guests, but please contact us if you live in Baltimore City or County and would like to add your solar home or business to the tour. E-mail MSSIcontact@marylandsolarsolutions.com or call 443-218-2620.
Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc. has just received Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) Certification (Certification #10-357889) from the city of Baltimore. This certification is designed to help companies owned by women to grow and thrive by giving them a more direct avenue to city bids. This is exciting news both for Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc. and for the companies we partner with.
For two weekends in March, the staff of Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc. was on hand and ready to answer questions and distribute information to the homeowners who thronged to the Maryland State Fairgrounds. We met and spoke with hundreds of visitors. We answered questions about tax benefits for adding solar, as well as logistics for adding solar to individual homes.
As always, shading issues were one of the biggest obstacles many homeowners faced to adding solar electric systems. Many homeowners are unwilling or unable to remove or top off trees that shade all or most of their roofs, making solar an unfeasible option.
However, many others were pleasantly surprised to learn that a solar electric system could be perfect for their needs, even if their house wasn.t a textbook example of a perfect location for solar.
We met young people who have not yet purchased their first home, but desperately want solar when they do, and citizens of countries where solar is more heavily adopted than it is here in the US.
While there were several solar companies represented at the show, we feel confident that our service-oriented, completely turn-key solar integration capabilities made us stand out. We look forward to our next public event!
Maryland is one of the best states in the nation for going solar. Net metering, state laws that protect solar energy producers from undue interference from homeowners' associations, and various local incentives all add to the favorable climate. However, one of the biggest factors, the Maryland Solar Energy Grant Program, has gone through some changes.
Going solar in Maryland is so popular that while everyone currently on the Maryland Energy Administration's waiting list for the Maryland Solar Energy Grant Program for fiscal year 2010 will be funded, applicants added after September 1st will be subject to a new grant structure.
Previously, the grant incentive structure, based on watts of DC output, went as follows:
$1.25/watt for the first 4,000 watts of capacity
$1.00/watt for watts 4,001-8,000
$.50/watt for 8,001-10,000
The new incentives, announced September 1, 2009 are as follows:
$1.25/watt for the first 2,000 watts of capacity
$.75/watt for watts 2,001-8,0000
$.25/watt for watts 8,001-20,000
The new structure caps the total potential dollar amount of the grant at $10,000.
So, homeowners will still be rewarded for going solar, but the dollar amount will be less than it was as the state approaches its renewable energy profile goals.
"Act Fast!" and "Special Offer Expires Soon" are advertising clichés, but for Marylanders interested in adding solar, they ring true. The state's funds for the Solar Energy Grant Program are finite, and Marylanders can expect to see funding for individual projects shrink even as regulations get tighter. This does not mean solar has stopped being a great investment, but it does mean that it pays to stay educated about new developments in the state's solar incentive programs. Maryland Solar Solutions, Inc. can help-and we can help you get your name on the applicable waiting lists for funding as soon as possible.
The Economic Stimulus Bill signed into law on February 17th, 2009 has resulted in several important new incentives and measures to stimulate energy efficiency and solar, wind and other renewable energy development, manufacturing, installation and operation in the United States.