UK Company completes community-owned power station with just hours to spare - Solar Power Portal

Congrats to our friends in Britain! A bittersweet occasion with benefits being lowered, but still a time to hoist a pint of the Sunshine Ale.

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Non-profit IPS community energy company OVESCO has successfully completed the installation of the UK's first 100% community-funded solar power station. The Lewes Community Power Station was switched on today, Saturday 30th July, just hours before Government's new; lower feed-in tariff rates take effect. 

Ovesco successfully raised 100% of the £307,000 installation cost from local people and investors, providing it with the opportunity to install and grid connect the 544 solar PV panels on top of the warehouse roof of Harveys Brewery, which has created a commemorative beer, 'Sunshine Ale', to mark the occasion. 

http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/ovesco_completes_community_power_station_with_just_hours_to_spare_876/

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

BREAKING: Final Rules for Colorado Solar Gardens

An administrative law judge at the Colorado Public Utilities commission has issued a decision and redlined rules for community solar gardens.  The Solar Gardens Institute website has the scoop.

One way to learn more is to attend the event in Denver this August 5 sponsored by the Solar Gardens Institute and the Colorado Renewable Energy Society.

Thank you to everyone who helped bring us to this important milestone!

Joy

Cooperative South Dakota wind farm nets 600 local owners | Grist

With the right renewable energy policy, hundreds of individuals can have a stake in a renewable energy future.  That's what happened with a cooperatively-owned wind project in South Dakota, where 7 turbines from a larger wind project are shared by over 600 local investors.

Read more:

http://www.grist.org/article/2011-07-25-cooperative-south-dakota-wind-farm-nets-600-local-owners

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative finishes first round of membership drive

The Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative, the first community-owned solar cooperative in Washington state, has completed the first round of a membership drive to build and operate a 75-kilowatt solar power installation on the roof of the City of Edmonds-owned Frances Anderson Center, located at 700 Main St.

Read more:

http://myedmondsnews.com/2011/07/edmonds-community-solar-cooperative-finishes-first-round-of-membership-drive/

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

Reuters: Community solar gardens are starting to bloom

Unlike other sources of electricity, solar is a type of power that is flexible enough to fit into many kinds of spaces, from a sloping roof on a home to a field in the middle of the desert. The latest novel example of this is so-called "solar community garden," which are solar systems that are community-owned and shared.

Community solar gardens ideally are located within a town or city limit and serve a bunch of residents who either pay to own a piece of it or subscribe to the project without owning the equipment. Electricity from the solar panels goes to the grid and is sold to the local utility, which then credits the sale to the owners or subscribers of the solar garden. The credits then show up on each of their utility bills.

The goal is to allow renters, or anyone who doesn't or can't put solar on their rooftops, to still benefit from localized solar electricity generation, which is encouraged by federal and many state governments through rebate and tax incentive programs.

Read more:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS282339983220110722?irpc=932


Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

Community Power Gains Momentum | The Energy Collective

You may or may not have noticed, but a grassroots movement in community power is picking up speed around the country. What's community power, you may ask, and why does it matter?

The community power movement aims to decentralize electricity generation, which provides benefits to communities beyond local, clean, and more affordable energy -- though those benefits would be enough. Take the case of solar power. Solar is getting cheaper, and given the costs of coal and nuclear plants, it will at some point become cheaper than other options. But who will benefit? Organizations promoting community power want to ensure that the answer to that is the people who need the power, rather than big companies outside their communities. In addition, keeping power production local creates jobs locally, avoids destroying delicate habitats, and bypasses the need for inefficient transmission lines, which can take many years to put in place.

Community power also helps address the challenges many of us face in going solar. If you've read about my quest for solar at my condo complex, you'll have some insight into what this means for multi-family buildings. Condo dwellers aren't the only ones facing significant hurdles; renters are at the mercy of their landlords. And many single-family homeowners can't afford solar, even with rebates and incentives. In fact, fewer than 1% of U.S. homes currently have solar panels.

Read more:

http://theenergycollective.com/rosana-francescato/61003/power-community?ref=node_related_posts

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

EVENT: Denver, August 5 - Starting a Community Solar Cooperative

Solar Gardens Institute and Colorado Renewable Energy Society present

Connecting Communities Colloquium - Implementing Solar Gardens 


RSVP to joy@solargardens.org so we can get an accurate head count.

A Colorado Cooperative for Community Solar

Friday August 5, 2011 – 1 - 4 PM

Habitat for Humanity Building, 3245 Eliot Street, Denver, Colorado

            Learn about the latest developments in community solar in Colorado – newly built projects and a new cooperative to help local communities go solar.  Explore easy ways for your citizens’ group or solar company to get involved in Colorado’s growing community solar movement.

1:00 Becky English, Moderator - Solar Gardens Institute, CRES, Sierra Club

            - Greetings and introductions

1:10 RJ Harrington - Colorado Solar Energy Industry Association (Denver, CO)

– Update on XCEL / PUC Solar Gardens Program

1:20 Stanley Florek - Tangerine Power (Seattle Washington)

– Starting a Cooperative for Community Solar

1:50 Lauren Martindale, Clean Energy Collective (Carbondale, CO)

– Customer Owned Solar Gardens Toolkit

2:20 Break

2:30 John Covert - Colorado Harvesting Energy Network (Denver, CO)

– Distrubuted Generation for Agricultural Producers

3:00 Joseph McCabe, SRA International / Governor’s Energy Office (Lakewood, CO)

– The Renewable Energy Development Team

3:30 Joy Hughes, Solar Gardens Institute (Moffat, CO)

– Solar Gardens Development in Colorado

Suggested donation $10

Purchasing Power: Best Practices Guide to Collaborative Solar Procurement | World Resources Institute

When organizing a community for a solar group purchase, you'll find residents and businesses who'll need to join a solar garden. When organizing for a solar garden, you'll find rooftop customers. Best to do them both together in one swell foop.

http://www.wri.org/publication/purchasing-power

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

California PUC Approves Shared Net Metering for any Multi-unit Building

California's Multi-family Affordable Solar Housing program (MASH) has been very successful at bringing solar to renters. Now, the program has been greatly expanded, available to apartments and condos statewide.

Read more:
http://votesolar.org/2011/07/california-puc-approves-virtual-net-metering-for-multi-tenant-properties/
Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

XCEL Solar Gardens Standard Offer Program for Colorado

 XCEL energy proposed a standard offer program in its compliance plan for Colorado’s renewable energy standard.  Solar garden subscribers will receive a credit on their electric bill each month equal to the production of their solar panels multiplied by the rate in the table below.  Under this proposal, a residential customer (rate class R) would receive a credit of approximately 6.9 cents per kilowatt hour.

Figure 3 - XCEL Standard Offer Subscriber Bill Credits

            XCEL will also offer a production credit to the garden owner as a payment for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs).  A table of these payments is shown below.

Figure 4 - XCEL Production Credit for Solar Garden RECs

An updated white paper on solar gardens in Colorado is available here.

The complete RES compliance plan from XCEL is available here.

Investing in Solar: The Solar CD

The previous article I posted was on solar bonds issued by an Ontario, Canada cooperative.  This model could be viable in Colorado, due to a broad exemption for securities issued by co-ops.  This can help finance solar garden subscriptions for low and moderate income individuals.  (Not coincidentally, our group is in the process of starting a cooperative).

As we approach grid parity, it seems likely we will likely see more solar-backed financial instruments.

Here's what a Virginia company has done in partnership with their local credit union.  They are offering an above-market rate to their CD customers and a below-market rate to finance solar arrays.  I believe this model could be replicated just about everywhere, given willing credit unions.

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Secure Futures LLC, developer of the 104 kW solar energy system at Eastern Mennonite University, today announced that it has closed a $110,000 loan backed entirely by the nation’s first ever “Solar Certificate of Deposit.”

Sold through Park View Federal Credit Union, based in Harrisonburg, funds collected by the Solar CDs will secure a $110,000 loan from Park View to Community Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Secure Futures that operates the array of 328 photovoltaic panels hosted at EMU, the largest solar energy system in the state of Virginia.

Read More:

http://augustafreepress.com/2011/07/11/investors-support-solar-power-in-their-community-through-first-ever-solar-cds/

New Resource Bank in California offers a similar program.  It has a $25,000 minimum deposit (let me check my pockets!)

https://www.newresourcebank.com/content/solar-standard-cds

More Solar Gardens Sprout Up in Western Colorado

MONTROSE, CO - Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA) is once again offering its members leasing contracts for its solar photovoltaic panels.

"Our first two arrays were fully leased out in under two months," said Jim Heneghan, DMEA's renewable energy engineer. "There were some members who wanted to lease part of the first solar arrays, but were unable to do so until now. We're pleased to have this additional capacity to provide more members the opportunity to receive the benefits of solar power through our local power partnership."

Read more:

http://m.montrosepress.com/articles/2011/07/10/news/doc4e19219051561997120147.txt

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

Ontario Solar Shares

A very interesting model that might be useful for co-ops in Colorado and elsewhere.

"SolarShare is a not for profit co-operative that allows Ontario citizens and businesses to invest in community-based solar energy installations across the province. SolarShare members can purchase $1,000 community solar bonds, with a 5-year term and 5% annual return. These bonds are backed by a portfolio of solar power projects, including larger systems hosted on commercial and institutional rooftops and smaller ground-mounted rural installations. Current SolarShare projects total over 600kW of generating capacity, each backed by a 20-year power purchase contract with the provincial power authority, ensuring a low-risk, stable revenue stream."

Learn more:

http://www.trec.on.ca/generation/solarshare

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

The Solar P-Patch - Whidbey Island, Washington

Whidbey Island's first solar energy p-patch will be celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Port of Coupeville and Island Community Solar, LLC at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 13 at Greenbank Farm, 765 Wonn Road, Greenbank.

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The first solar panel began producing electricity at the port-owned farm on June 21. It has 25 kilowatts of capacity, and generates 26,000 kilowatt hours per year.

http://www.whidbeyexaminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=6254

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

Handy Solar Garden Proposal

Solar Garden Proposal for a Colorado Town

A number of people have asked for materials they could use to propose a solar garden to a town council or other body.  I have uploaded the proposal we gave to the Town of Saguache, which might be relevant for your town as well.  Here is the link:

http://solargardens.org/SolarGarden.doc

Enjoy, have fun, and may we have solar gardens for every town!

Many thanks,  

Joy
Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct