Solar in the News
Government Incentives Give Solar Energy a Boost - The Washington Post
July 19, 2010
Back in March, Shelley Cohen and Mike Gala sent out a request to contractors to submit proposals on their project: to have solar panels installed on the roof of their colonial home in the District. Four companies responded, but one stood out: Astrum Solar.
"We were looking for the most comprehensive proposal and that's what we found with Astrum," said Cohen, a renewable energy project developer at Ameresco. "Astrum offered a full turnkey [approach]. They do the interconnection, the install and take care of the energy credits."
Last week, Astrum Solar, which is based in Annapolis Junction, completed the installation of an 11.96 kilowatt system on the 1,100-square-foot roof of the couple's home -- the largest residential system in D.C. The company says the 52 photovoltaic panels should generate 13,754 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, meeting 75 to 85 percent of the home's electricity needs.
The Cohen and Gala project is one of 500 installations Astrum has slated for completion this year, according to the company's president, Vadim Polikov. "The solar market is incredibly vibrant and exciting," he said. "The market, especially in the U.S., has probably tripled in size just about every year."
About 72,939 photovoltaic systems have been installed in the United States in the past decade, according to the federal government's Open PV Project. The Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, recorded a 37 percent increase in installations in 2009. Much of that expansion was attributed to an uptick in residential projects. Full Article
