The Red Barn in Westmorland
In November 2024, Cheshire County, New Hampshire issued an RFP that flipped the typical bidding process: instead of asking us "what will this cost?" they asked "what can you deliver for $77,630?"
This reverse-bidding approach for a 25-kilowatt solar array at the Red Barn in Westmoreland presented an interesting choice. We could have designed a system that met the specifications within budget, maximizing our profit margins. Instead, we decided to maximize the value for our client with an enphasis on the highest quality materials and workmanship.
We designed the best system we could, specifying top-tier American-made Silfab panels and high-efficiency Enphase microinverters. When we calculated the costs, our bid came in at $64,147—saving Cheshire County over $13,000 while delivering premium equipment that will perform exceptionally well in New England's climate.
This project is a good example of our business philosophy, which is centered on our customers, our employees, and our community. Here's the full story of how we approached this unique opportunity from an article in Green Energy Times.
George Harvey, May 2025, Green Energy Times
On November 18, 2024, the government of Cheshire County, New Hampshire posted a request for proposals (RFP) for a solar array at the Red Barn in Westmoreland. Bids had to be submitted by 2:00 PM on December 10. The date the contract would be awarded was estimated to be December 30, with an estimated starting date of January 13, 2025. Installation of the solar array was to be complete by December 31, 2025. It was to have a capacity of about 25 kilowatts. There were to be the usual statements about what businesses were allowed to submit bids and lots of other things.
There was one thing that was rather unusual about this particular bidding process. It was that the budget for the new solar array was already established. The array had to be installed at a cost not exceeding $77,630. That is not the way RFPs are usually structured in New England. What usually happens is that a statement of the array’s location and approximate size is given, and the bid is a statement of what it will cost, whatever that happens to be. In this case, Cheshire County was asking what could be delivered for the stated cost or less. The type of solar panels, inverters, and so on, were to be given in the bid, but were not specified in the RFP itself. The winning bid came from Southern Vermont Solar, which is not far from Westmoreland, across the Connecticut River in Dummerston, Vermont.
This is another place where the history of the Red Barn’s solar array gets unusually interesting. Where the budget is specified in an RFP, it is doubtless tempting for solar installers to design an array that meets the specifications, using the best products they can buy within the budget. That is an approach that is both honest and relatively easy. Southern Vermont Solar designed the system to maximize the production on the available space. Given the background and reputation of the company, that says a lot. They specified top-efficiency solar panels, made in America, with a thirty-year warranty. Included in the design were microinverters, also of high quality. In general, they decided on the best products that are currently available. Then they added up the cost and came to a quote of $64,147. And that was the bid they submitted. It saved Cheshire County $13,483.
Let’s look at some more of the specifics of the project. As we said, the RFP came from the government of Cheshire County, which owns the Red Barn. Though it is a county government, the project falls into the general category of municipal projects. The array was going up on the roof of the barn, facing south at a 36% slope, which is the slope of the underlying roof but is also close to perfect for its latitude. The project is made up of 48 Silfab 520-watt solar panels. These are American made and are commercial panels. Their thirty-year warranty guarantees that their performance will be 89.5% of what it was when they were new, at the end of a thirty-year period.
Erik Shifflett, the Strategic Director of Southern Vermont Solar, explained this a bit further. He pointed out that a large part of the degradation of solar panels is due to things like weathering of the glass, producing microcracks, scouring and other similar weather-related damage. The warranty is the same everywhere in the country, whether you install in New England or in Arizona. The difference is that the desert Southwest has sandstorms that can cause lots of degradation, but Vermont doesn’t. We don’t know how long well-maintained solar panels can actually last in New England. Clearly, the thirty-year warranty doesn’t mean we should expect the solar system to die in thirty years. The Red Barn array uses Enphase IQ8P three-phase 475-wattmicroinverters.
Shifflett said these are higher power than typical residential microinverters. We might pause here for just a short bit to discuss the importance of inverters. Solar panels naturally produce DC power (as do batteries, though this project has none). The problem is that the electricity on grids and microgrids is AC, so it is nearly always necessary to convert the DC to AC to connect solar panels with an AC grid. This is done by an inverter.
The final thing to mention here is that the way SVS does business explains its approach to the bid process in this instance. Shifflett said of this, “We try to do what’s right by our customers, our employees, and the community. In accomplishing that, everything else falls into place. This is the approach Southern Vermont Solar takes as a matter of business philosophy. Shifflett also noted that the staff and elected leadership of Cheshire County were a pleasure to work with. “They were responsive and helpful and in general, just great clients whom we would certainly bid to work with in the future, if they pursue additional projects.”
