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Administered by the Business Council on Climate Change (BC3) and in partnership with 35 cities and companies around the Bay Area, the SunShares program is a limited-time group-buying program intended to reduce the cost and complexity of purchasing various clean energy technologies through both discounts and educational workshops, according to the staff report presented to the city council in June by Lafayette Assistant Planner Julia Koppman Norton.
This year, as it has for the past two years, Lafayette is participating in the program. Residents can take advantage of the program to install solar panels, purchase an electric vehicle or even, new this year, purchase a residential vehicle charging station.
By pooling the buying power of participants SunShares is able to get discounted pricing from solar companies and vehicle manufacturers. This year the program was able to negotiate a 15 to 20 percent additional discount beyond the companies' initially discounted bulk purchase. The organization pre-vets solar installers and has selected PetersenDean, Solar Technologies and Skytech Solar.
For residents who may be considering installing solar but don't know where to start, SunShares is offering webinars, scheduled throughout August, September and October and the city of Lafayette will be partnering with Walnut Creek and Concord for a SunShares workshop on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 28. Renters can also find out about their options for electricity.
Residents need to register by Nov. 10 to receive a no cost and no-obligation solar proposal and will need to sign a contract by the end of the year with the provider to move forward with solar installation by spring 2018.
For exact dates of workshops and webinars and for more details, residents should go to www.bayareasunshares.org or for questions should contact BC3 at sunshares@bc3sfbay.org.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA