There are 380 homes throughout Colorado paying less for their electricity this winter thanks to several Colorado electric co-ops and a low-income community solar demonstration project overseen by the Colorado Energy Office.
CEO awarded $1.2 million in 2015 to develop several solar arrays in the state that benefit low-income residents. Construction of these projects was completed last year in cooperation with Empire Electric Association in Cortez, Delta-Montrose Electric Association in Montrose, Grand Valley Power in Grand Junction, Holy Cross Energy in Glenwood Springs, Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association in Fort Collins, San Miguel Power Association in Ridgway and Yampa Valley Electric Association in Steamboat Springs.
A recent report by CEO noted that the original projects were designed to help reduce energy costs for low-income households while helping CEO and the utilities understand how these projects can be structured to benefit the ratepayers as well as the utilities. The projects demonstrated the feasibility of community solar models assisting lower-income households. It is expected that these will be replicated by other co-ops, municipal utilities and investor-owned utilities across the country.
Projects ranged from 3.2 to 5 kilowatts in size, and most projects can offset up to 100 percent of the subscriber’s electricity usage. These savings equate to, on average, $382 per year, per subscriber. For the 380 subscribers now benefitting from that program, that is a total savings of $145,160 for this first year and more than $3 million over the lifetime of the solar arrays.