Leasing a System

You can choose to either purchase or lease a solar PV system. If you choose to lease a system, a solar leasing company would install the system on your property for little or no upfront cost to you. They would own and operate the system. You would pay them a monthly equipment lease fee which is less than what you would have paid CMLP, on average, to deliver the same amount of electricity to your house.  One caveat: the lease agreement must be approved by CMLP’s legal counsel in advance. To date, they have approved lease agreements offered by Direct Energy Solar (formerly Astrum Solar) and New England Clean Energy – the only two that have submitted agreements for approval. 

Owning a System

General information about system installation costs can be found here: www.masscec.com/solar-costs-performance.

Residents can get loan assistance from MassCEC.

You can find information about the federal tax credits for solar PV installations here: energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index#c3 and state tax credits here: programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/144.

PV Installers

CMLP recommends getting 3 quotes for any significant work you have done on your house.  We do not have a list of pre-screened solar contractors, but you can find some through the following avenues:

• solarreviews.com/solar-companies/massachusetts/boston
• Talk with friends & neighbors to see who they’ve worked with and recommend.
• Chat with one of the many Concord residents who have volunteered to act as Solar Coaches.  To do so, send an email to CMLP here: pcady@concordma.gov.
• Look at solar installer ratings with the Better Business Bureau, through the public library’s Consumer’s Checkbook account (checkbook.org/library/Concord-Public-Library/login/), or via online ratings such as Yelp or Google.

Here is a list of companies that have installed systems in Concord. CMLP does not endorse or pre-qualify these companies in any way.