Let our Energy Services Team help you make an informed decision about solar energy. As Your Trusted Energy Experts, we will walk you through the process and help you understand the economics. Have peace of mind and allow YOUR cooperative to help you make decisions about your solar energy needs.
We recommend that the Member neither install a solar system, nor enter into any associated financial obligations, until after the Cooperative has evaluated and approved the proposed system.
Solar Application Fees
Residential fee: $150.00
Non-Residential fee: $250.00
Note: In the memo area of the check, please include the address of the member applying for interconnection. (example: 134 Solar Dr. Pickens, SC 29671)
1. Submit Application to Interconnect.
2. Mail-in application fees:
USPS Mail
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative
P.O. Box 277
Pickens, South Carolina 29671
ATTN: Solar Interconnection
FedEx or UPS
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative
734 West Main Street
Pickens, South Carolina 29671
ATTN: Solar Interconnection
3. Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative (Blue Ridge) will review the application. If the system is over-sized, our representatives will contact both the member and the solar company.
4. Blue Ridge and the member will both sign the Interconnection Agreement. The terms of the Net Billing Rider will be reviewed with the member, and our representatives will offer our suggestions and insights, should we observe any concerns related to issues of shading and/or the physical location of the system.
5. After the Interconnection Agreement has been signed, Blue Ridge will then send an approval letter to the solar company.
6. Once the solar company has received the codes release from the appropriate county, Blue Ridge will then update the meter, following the completion of a field inspection. The meter will be updated at either the end of the month or the end of the billing cycle, whichever may come first.
7. Blue Ridge will then forward the “Permission to Operate” letter to the solar installer.
Effective 9/1/2021
The following requirements will be in force with regard to any future installations made at cooperative member premises effective August 1, 2019:
- As part of the site-plan diagram, the location of a ground-mount solar system must be clearly marked on the member’s property. This action would ensure that when the Blue Ridge representative makes a visit to the site, there would be no question about the exact position of the planned solar array.
- Effective immediately, the cooperative will no longer approve any lineside taps. Should such a configuration be encountered, the solar-system application would not be approved, nor would the interconnection process be completed.
- Any plan to install solar equipment upon a power-line right-of-way easement assigned to the cooperative would be prohibited. Neither project approval nor the interconnection process would go forward until the proposed site of the equipment could be relocated. The relocation site would need to be situated on ground that rests totally beyond the boundaries of any said right-of-way strip.
