By Anne Prince
Community solar projects are taking root across the nation
Interest in solar options for consumers is growing and electric co-ops across the country are meeting the demand through community “solar gardens.” This increasingly popular strategy means that the utility installs its own solar system and interested members purchase shares. This arrangement allows member-owners who could not otherwise install solar at their homes to take advantage of the solar offering afforded by their electric co-op. For co-ops, this community solar garden format offers the advantage of fulfilling customer demand while diversifying their fuel portfolio and cultivating new community partnerships.
Solar gardens take root
To date, not-for-profit electric co-ops have either installed or are planning 240 megawatts of solar capacity in 34 states. And this footprint is growing. In fact, more solar was installed in the United States during the last 18 months than in the previous 30 years.
While co-op community solar projects vary widely, each begins with collaboration. Electric co-ops partner with farmers and ranchers, schools, military bases, large industrial members, local governments and sister co-op organizations. Some community solar arrays are accessible through leasing programs, while others are owned jointly. Some are large with capacity measured in megawatts. This diversity points to one of the advantages of the community solar model: flexibility. The partnerships themselves illustrate the cooperative principles in action: cooperation, education, independence and concern for community.
United Power, a Colorado co-op, launches its Sol Partners Cooperative Solar Farm in May 2009 as the first cooperative solar farm in the nation.
In 2009, Brighton-based United Power was among the first electric co-ops in the nation to offer consumers the opportunity to lease solar panels. Participants in United Power’s solar garden received credit for their portion of the array on their monthly electric bill. In 2013, Vermont Electric Cooperative, located in northern Vermont along the Canadian border, announced the first-in-the-nation federal partnership for Next Generation Solar Energy. Once on line it will result in Vermont’s largest utility-scale solar project, making solar energy an option for more VEC customers and providing a model for cooperative utilities and their customers across the country.
When announcing the partnership, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said, “This is exactly the kind of innovation we need as Vermont leads the country in renewable energy development. We’re helping to address climate change, creating jobs and spurring economic development, and helping to bring down the cost of solar power in our state and across the country. This project is a win on all fronts.”
A grand idea
Chuck Watkins, executive director of GRID Alternatives (left), shakes hands with GVP General Manager Tom Walch for the GVP solar farm expansion. Standing in the background (left to right) are Lou Villaire, Alasta Solar, and Eldon Krugman, executive director of Housing Resources of Western Colorado.
On May 29 and 30, Grand Valley Power in Grand Junction hosted volunteers who helped build its new GRID Alternatives community solar array during a Community Solarthon dedication ceremony. The 29-kilowatt solar garden was created specifically for low-income consumers and will provide clean renewable power to six to 10 families in the area. Participants of the program each put in 16 hours of sweat equity during the construction of the solar garden and will pay 2 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity produced by the array. The solar panels can generate enough renewable energy to slice families’ electric bills in half.
“In the grand scheme of things, a 29-kilowatt solar farm serving six to 10 families is a small project,” said GVP General Manager Tom Walch. “But I like to think that this is a big idea. One that can be replicated at utilities across the state and the nation. If this does happen, our GVP GRID Alternatives partnership could indeed have a transformative impact for many downstream consumers and utilities.” St. Croix’s sunflower In Hammond, Wisconsin, St. Croix Electric brought its 103-kW community solar project on line in the spring of 2014. Plans for the 206-panel Sunflower 1, built at the electric co-op’s headquarters, were in response to member demand for a solar option. In fact, member support surpassed the original goal and resulted in the expansion of the project by an extra two rows of panels. “Members who subscribe to a local, renewable energy project receive energy credits for the electricity their unit or units generate, but the overall membership base is not burdened with the construction and ownership costs,” said SCEC member services manager Jerry Van Someren.
Farm fresh and made in the U.S.A.
In Iowa, Farmers Electric Cooperative-Kalona set a goal of meeting 15 percent of the co-op’s power needs using renewable energy by 2025. Despite FEC-Kalona’s small size, the co-op built the state’s largest solar farm, the 800-kW Eagle Point 2 in Johnson County. The installation, financed by the co-op through a third party, was built using all U.S.-made components. More than 10 percent of the membership participates in the co-op’s community solar garden, including the Farmers Hen House egg facility. Ryan Miller, one of the Hen House owners, was enthusiastic about the benefit of the solar power investment. “We’re very excited about it because being in the organic business, we like the idea of using renewable energy,” he said.
In North Dakota, Verendrye Electric Cooperative created a solar-powered stock well leasing program that exploits the unique characteristics of solar energy to solve a specific problem raised by members with cattle ranches: how to power remote wells used only occasionally. Other co-ops across the country, including several in Colorado, have had similar programs for their agricultural members for years. This collaboration is in keeping with the cooperatives’ member-driven business model and the co-ops’ historic connection to farmers and ranchers.
Energy security
Several co-ops serving military bases, including Mountain View Electric, which serves Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, help their federal co-op members meet mandated energy goals, including energy independence and security through partnerships on community solar gardens or solar arrays. For example, Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative in New Jersey is building a 750-kW solar array at Picatinny Arsenal. Sussex will own the solar facility and the base will receive the power and renewable energy credits. In the bluegrass state of Kentucky, Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative is working with Fort Campbell to install a 5-MW solar photovoltaic system sited on a landfill.
Spreading across the land
Across the country, often in places once written off as unsuitable for solar development, consumer-owned electric co-ops bring the benefits of solar energy to their members. Southern Maryland Electric Co-operative, a distribution cooperative, looked to the National Renewables Cooperative Organization for help with its long-term plan to deploy 60 MW of solar. NRCO’s mission is to facilitate the development and purchase of renewable resources, particularly for co-ops in regions with few options. NRCO, which includes Colorado’s Tri-State Generation and Transmission as a member, helped the co-op locate a solar developer and finalize an agreement. SMECO will purchase all generated energy, capacity and solar renewable credits of the solar installations for the next 20 years.
The community solar model is growing. By accessing community solar arrays through their local co-ops, members realize the best of both worlds: They own their own solar system without the burden of installation and maintenance and they are can to access a renewable source of energy. Co-ops expect solar to become a far more useful and valuable resource as technologies evolve and the industry’s knowledge and understanding increase. True to their tradition of cooperation and service to members, co-ops will play a unique role in this evolution by deploying, researching and sharing knowledge and experience with consumers, co-ops and the industry.
Anne Prince writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.