Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Middle townhouse units and per-unit solar power

[Bob Leigh (bobleigh]

Hi Bob,

You wrote:

"Don't assume that the owner of the end unit that has the utility meters
will allow a solar power company to attach to their unit the utility boxes
for the middle unit's solar power. They might not."

As Mabel already mentioned, here at Cornerstone the exterior of a unit is
common property, not just under the control of the unit owner.  Therefore
individual unit owners did not have the right to veto either attaching
panels to the roof or attaching utility boxes to the outside walls.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Bob Leigh
Cornerstone Village Cohousing
Cambridge, MA

On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 11:02 AM, Bob Morrison via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

>
>   I would like to talk about a pitfall with having per-unit solar power if
> you have a middle townhouse unit. Solar power requires mounting one or
> (usually) two boxes on the outside of the unit and a cable run from these
> boxes to the utility meter. In some cases mounting the boxes on the front
> of the unit isn't feasible and if the boxes are mounted on the back of the
> unit, the cable run from there to the utility meter might not be feasible.
>   I urge all forming groups that plan to have triplex townhouse units to
> design their residential buildings to accommodate this. That is, to have a
> solar power company go over the design and make sure the design
> accommodates wiring for per-unit solar panels on the middle unit. Don't
> assume that the owner of the end unit that has the utility meters will
> allow a solar power company to attach to their unit the utility boxes for
> the middle unit's solar power. They might not.
>   There is more to designing a coho to accommodate future solar power than
> having south-facing roofs and ensuring that the future solar panels aren't
> shaded by trees.
>
> Bob Morrison
> Mosaic Commons Cohousing
> Berlin, MA
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