LONGMEADOW – In early April, Reminder Publishing reported that Longmeadow was planning to partner with the city of Springfield in an application to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Solarize solar power program. This program is an effort to bring together residents of both communities to drive down the cost for solar installation on homes of participating residents. As of Sept. 19 the application to move forward with this program was approved, and the two solarize groups moved forward and have recently selected an installer.

Longmeadow Solar Coach Steve Marantz explained to Reminder Publishing that over the last few months, both towns’ solar groups have vetted 12 companies who applied for the job. Through a process of ratings that the state assisted the groups on, the two teams were able to whittle the interviews down to four solar companies. Following the interviews, Marantz shared that the selected company is Solar Flair.

“On November 16th we interviewed four finalists. They were all good, it was pretty tough [to choose] but it came down to that and Solarize Springfield and Longmeadow thought that they [Solar Flair] gave us the best combination of price and experience,” Marantz shared. “They’ve been fairly involved in a number of different solarize programs in the state. They’re not newbies to this process.”

Prior to the application being approved, approximately 70 to 80 residents signed up with interest in the solarize program. Marantz told Reminder Publishing earlier in the year that he believed there would be a cost savings of approximately 20 percent by purchasing solar for homes through the solarize program, along with an additional state incentive.

Moving forward, there is now a sign–up period for residents which will go on through the spring of 2019. Marantz said that the sooner a resident signs up, the sooner the installer will be able to come to a home and visit the site. The installer would then assess the home and explain to the resident what they would need in terms of the size of the system.

On Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at Longmeadow’s Greenwood Center, located at 231 Maple Rd., there will be a “Meet–The–Installer” event where residents are able to ask questions, offer comments and share concerns regarding installation with the installer directly. On Dec. 6, Solarize Springfield will be hosting a similar event at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission at 60 Congress St. in Springfield from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

For more information residents are encouraged to go to https://www.solarizemassspringfieldlongmeadow.com/ or Marantz can be reached directly at solarizelongmeadow@gmail.com