NET ENERGY METERING AGGREGATION

NEMA allows owners of solar systems or other renewable generation facilities to apply energy generation credit from a single solar installation across multiple metered accounts. This means that a single solar energy system can offset electricity used in facilities that are not directly connected to the solar energy system.

Benefits of aggregated metering

Many farms, dairies and orchards have widely distributed facilities–pump stations, homes, production facilities, barns, storage buildings and more. Agriculture businesses can have dozens of meters spread throughout thousands of acres of land. With NEMA, a single solar power plant can offset all electricity used by the business, provided the property is contiguous.

NEMA has the potential to dramatically accelerate the ROI on solar investments for California agriculture businesses. With abundant sunshine, some of the highest electricity prices in the nation, and federal and state incentives, many are finding that they recoup their costs in less than five years.

Creating an energy bank

For businesses with distributed metered assets, NEMA allows you to create a kind of energy bank that all of the meters can draw from, whether they are connected directly to your solar panels or not. In the best case scenario, your solar power system generates more electricity than the combined meters have used each month, meaning your electricity bank account is always in the black, and you will completely eliminate all electricity costs, and sell excess electricity back to your utility. This is far easier than building multiple solar power plants.

One of the challenges of implementing NEMA can be understanding the billing system. In many cases where homes, business buildings, farming equipment and other metered electrical uses, different rates often apply to different assets. This can create some math challenges! One of the services Coldwell Solar offers is to handle billing reconciliation to ensure that customers are paying no more than they are obligated to pay.