WASHINGTON, DC: In partnership with Skyline Innovations, a third-party solar developer, Solar Energy Services, Inc. completed installation on a homeless shelter in downtown Washington, DC.

S.O.M.E. (So Others May Eat) is an interfaith community-based organization in the Nation’s Capital. The extensive renovations to their 53-person dwellings at the Chabraja House included a solar system expected to substantially reduce utility costs by offsetting their conventional water heating system.

Ten solar thermal collectors facing south on the building’s rooftop are closed-loop plumbed to 4, 120 gallon solar storage tanks inside the building.

Click HERE for pics and info

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Your recent editorial (The Capital, April 18) suggested Gov. O’Malley should put more emphasis on the distributed approach to renewable energy, where solar and wind power are generated by smaller systems throughout the state. In fact, the governor intends to sign legislation next month to do just that. Delegate Sally Jameson and state Senator Robert Garagiola sponsored what is essentially budget-neutral legislation (HB/933/SB717) to open up the state’s solar goals to include solar water heating, a very mature and efficient technology, first patented in Baltimore in 1891.

This family friendly technology currently saves a typical family of four about $500 per year on electric bills by obtaining 75 percent of their annual water heating energy from solar. The new law will allow system owners to sell green credits to help utilities comply with the state’s solar goals. Consequently, homeowners will now see simple paybacks on these affordable systems shortened from five to eight years to a very manageable two to four years, on a 25-year lifespan.

Aside from advancing our solar goals, and allowing modest-income homeowners to participate in the benefits of solar, there are significant economic benefits too. Solar water heating is a labor intensive installation, which keeps dollars recirculating in the community. It requires trades people to install it, a group much in need of work.

The components are low tech, but heavy and bulky , so there is strong incentives to manufacture domestically, if not locally. A typical residential system only requires 40 to 80 square feet of sunny roof, drastically increasing the potential pool of participants.

As a daily consumer of solar-heated water himself, O’Malley is well aware of the opportunity for Maryland. I commend him and our legislators for their leadership on this issue.

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WASHINGTON, DC:  Solar Energy Services, Inc. recently completed the installation of a dual solar water heating system at a twin apartment complex in downtown Washington, DC.

Each of the two apartment buildings located on S Street were equipped with 20, 4′ x 10′ solar thermal collectors plumbed into a water storage tank.  The labor and material costs of the solar water heating systems have been absorbed by a third-party solar developer, Skyline Innovations, who will assume the role of a utility company for the solar portion of the building’s hot water load.

WASHINGTON, DC:  Installation of a 14 panel solar thermal system was completed at an apartment complex in historic Adams Morgan earlier this week.

Solar Energy Services, Inc., a Maryland based solar contractor, was engaged by Skyline Innovations to design and install the solar water heating system that will act as a pre-heat to the 33 units that use the building’s conventional heating system.

Real Estate Agency Literally Giving Away Money for Solar Installations

At the risk of appearing to favor one of the cooler real estate agents in town, I’ll just pass on the news that Green D.C. Realty is putting up its own money to entice homebuyers to put solar thermal installations on their new purchases. They’re calling it a “solar home coupon”: You buy a house with them, and they give you $2,000 towards the setup with Solar Energy Services, which will also help arrange near-term financing to tide you over until the federal and city tax credits come through.

As we saw with my story a few weeks ago, local solar companies are trying really really hard to get people over the hump to their first solar purchase. Green D.C. Realty is betting that the incentive will bring in enough business to make good on their investment.

WASHINGTON, DC:  3501 13th St. NW is the latest address to have a solar thermal system installed.  The multi-family housing unit now has solar collectors on the roof, installed by Maryland solar contractor Solar Energy Services, Inc. to pre-heat the building’s existing conventional water heater.

The solar system includes 32 solar thermal collectors, south-facing on the building’s roof, closed-loop plumbed to 2, 806 gallon tanks.  The system is expected to significantly reduce the building’s utility bill by offsetting their water heating load with solar.

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Crosstown Properties, LLC – Multifamily Solar Water Heating (Completed July 2010) – Washington DC

SES was engaged by a third party solar project developer to install a 32 panel (1280 SF) solar water heating system for an occupied apartment building in Washington D.C. The system included the installation and integration of 1600 gallons of additional solar storage in non-pressurized tanks. The system is designed to offset approximately 70% of the water heating load for this 45 unit apartment building. The solar developer provided all of the capital to install the system at no cost to the building owner. The building owner receives clean energy at a discount to their traditional natural gas, achieving a monthly savings immediately upon commissioning of the system.

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HAVRE DE GRACE, MD:  Solar Energy Services, Inc. just finished installing a solar water heating system at Laurrapin Grille in Havre de Grace, MD.  The system includes two, 80-gallon tanks and four, 4′ x 8′ solar thermal panels on the southerly facing roof.  The system is expected to offset the restaurant’s hot water load by at least 50%.

COLLEGE PARK, MD:  Earlier this week Solar Energy Services, Inc. completed the installation of two separate solar energy systems at the Cherry Hill Campground.

The solar domestic hot water system consists of 10 panels, for a total of 400 square feet of collectors integrated with four, 120 gallon solar storage tanks, each with dual heat exchangers. On the same roof, SES installed a 22-panel solar pool heating system (920 square feet) designed to heat the main swimming pool during the spring and fall, saving Cherry Hill Management a tremendous amount of energy and money.

As part of the installation, SES also replaced the existing inefficient boilers with high efficiency modulating, condensing boilers (natural gas) integrated with the solar system to provide backup energy for domestic water heating. SES also installed crossover valves to allow Cherry Hill to divert solar energy to the secondary pool when the main pool reaches desired temperatures.

Post Install Info and Pics

COLLEGE PARK, MD:  Solar Energy Services, Inc. partnered with Skyline Innovations of Washington, DC, to install a solar water heating system at the College Park Carwash.

The thermal system utilizes six 30-tube Apricus evacuated tube collectors and two 120 gallon Vaughn Solar Sepco tanks.

More Information and Post-Install Pics