Through a partnership with Baltimore-based company WeSolar, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is pleased to offer community solar benefits to full-time UMB staff, faculty, and postdocs who receive electricity from BGE. This benefit is a guaranteed 10 percent discount on the base rate for the electricity portion of your BGE bill.
To date, over 260 staff, faculty, and postdocs have collectively enrolled 2,949,768 kilowatt-hours of electricity usage in UMB's community solar program to save money on their electricity bills and support local renewable energy. This number is equivalent to the carbon emissions from burning over 1.4 million pounds of coal.
A community solar farm is a farm of solar panels owned and operated by a developer — in this case, CleanChoice Energy. The energy produced by the solar farm flows to the smart grid and becomes part of the overall energy supply without any changes to the electrical supply delivered to your residence. This type of purchasing program offers utility customers the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy but with:
- No homeownership requirement
- No installation or initiation costs
- No cancellation fees
- No having to switch energy suppliers
The five participating solar farms available for UMB employees to take part in are located in Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County. The minimum credit score requirement usually needed to participate in community solar has been waived through this special offer for UMB employees.
Visit bit.ly/UMBsolar for additional information and answers to other frequently asked questions and to watch information sessions that were held last year.