Georgetown-area residents will soon be able to add solar panels on homes

Georgetown area residents who want to install solar panels but aren’t currently allowed to will soon have their moment in the sun.

Delaware Electric Cooperative (DEC), which provides power to most of southern Delaware, plans to add its first battery storage facility at Bruce Henry Solar Farm. The facility will allow about 100 DEC members in the surrounding area to install solar panels. DEC spokesperson Jeremy Tucker said those residents are not currently allowed to install solar panels because they would produce too much energy for the local grid to handle. But the new battery facility will store that excess energy, keeping the grid stable. Tucker said the company plans to officially announce the solar battery facility by the fall, then start installation 18 months to two years from now.

He called the facility a pilot program that DEC will use to decide if battery storage could be installed across the rest of the service area.

But DEC CEO Rob Book said right now, the batteries are too expensive to be worth the benefits to consumers. The Georgetown project is only able to move forward because DEC received state and federal grants to fund it, he said.

Delaware is in an energy “capacity crisis,” Book said, and it will need any power generation sources it can get.

“But it’s got to be reliable,” he added, “and it’s got to be affordable for our members.”