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Council discusses community-solar partnerships, asks staff for further review
Summary
Councilors heard a staff briefing on two community-solar vendors and asked for additional information from municipalities and stakeholder groups before deciding whether to pursue a municipal partnership.
Town staff briefed the Centerville Town Council June 5 on two community-solar vendors that have approached the town: Solar Simplified and Solar on Earth. Councilors asked staff to gather more information and deferred any decision to a subsequent meeting.
Staff described differences between the firms: Solar Simplified offers a month-to-month subscriber contract and a $50 per-resident signup credit to the town, while Solar on Earth offers annual contracts and immediate credits applied to subscribers' power bills. Staff said a partnership with Solar Simplified would automatically provide about a 10% reduction to town utility bills and the same reduction to participating residents' bills, based on the firms' proposals.
Council members raised concerns about broader solar-farm policy issues under consideration regionally and asked staff to consult external stakeholders, including the Maryland Municipal League (MML), the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC), local utility representatives (Delmarva Power was mentioned), and municipal peers such as Salisbury and Pocomoke, which have municipal arrangements. One councilor asked staff to consult a utility lobbyist contact and to review whether community-solar agreements could unintentionally incentivize large ground-mounted solar conversions of farmland.
Staff said town attorney Sharon has reviewed the agreements and recommended bringing the matter to the council for direction; the council directed staff to add the item to the June 26 agenda so members can review findings from MML and other peers and decide whether to pursue a partnership.
