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Project Developers, Firms, Solar Installers:
Groundswell is pleased to invite Responses and Expressions of Interest relating to our SE Rural Power Program, which aims to advance the design, installation, ownership, operations and maintenance of a series of community solar photovoltaic (PV) energy generation projects across eight states in the Southeastern United States.
Key Details:
- RFI Release Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
- Response Deadline: Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 5:00pm EST
- Project Scope: Groundswell seeks to identify partners in the development and related services for approximately 107 MW of residential-serving community solar projects in predominantly rural areas in the Southeast, with individual projects ranging from 200 kW to 5 MW.
- Eligibility: Open to project developers, firms, solar installers with experience in developing commercial-scale solar energy projects, ideally within the Southeast region. Responses from firms with experience in rural markets, and with municipal utilities and electric cooperatives are especially welcomed.
Next Steps:
Groundswell builds community power to cut electricity bills in half for our neighbors who need savings the most. We use community solar, resilience hubs, and home energy efficiency to preserve affordable housing, strengthen the grid, and support local economic development. Then we connect people with projects through our data platform to deliver sustainable, measurable results. Founded in 2009, Groundswell joyfully serves rural, small-town, and urban communities in the Heartland, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast with more than $3 million in annual electricity savings on a pathway to $15 million per year in savings by 2030.
- Please submit any questions to SEruralpower@groundswell.org, and Groundswell will make best efforts to respond, sharing any responses with all RFI respondents.
- Responses should be sent to SEruralpower@groundswell.org, by Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 5:00 pm ET.
Dominion Super Off-Peak Hours Docket
Mike Weisskopf is looking to coordinate with other SCSC members to approach the Public Service Commission to reinstate full net metering for Dominion SC solar customers. In a routine rate increase last year (Docket 2024-34-E), Dominion introduced Super Off-Peak hours and removed these 1,460 hours/yr from net metering. This is a rate increase for solar customers that routinely have excess Off-Peak hours that should offset these Super Off-peak hours.
This detrimental change to net metering affects current Solar Choice customers. It will affect approximately 10,000 solar customers starting January 1st, 2026 as the first large batch of original Dominion solar customers roll into Solar Choice or what Dominion now calls NEM 3.0.
This change to net metering was not publicly announced. Customers noticed this change in their October 2024 electric bills. Mike is working to establish a docket where customers can communicate with the PSC to reinstate full net metering. Please check back to Collaboration Corner for future updates on how to protest this change to the PSC. If you are interested in proactively participating, please contact Mike at weisskopfmk@yahoo.com
Mike Weisskopf is a retired Naval Officer. He worked for Raytheon as a naval surface combatant system engineer, graduated from The Citadel with BS in Electrical Engineering and he has a MS in Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School. Mike has always been interested in solar power generation. Six years ago he self-installed a SolarEdge based system. In doing so, he became familiar with the permitting process and working with Dominion Energy SC to obtain interconnection agreement. Since then, he has been a proactive participant in Public Service Commission dockets. He has been a SCSC member for three years.
This page is dedicated to members looking for partners to collaborate on a new or existing project. If you would like to see your project posted please send your information to Mark at mleidlein@gmai.com