City hoping to hear from community solar investors
Published 11:36 am Tuesday, January 13, 2015
A large community solar installation proposed for City Hall is getting closer to becoming a reality.
There appears to be sufficient investor interest for the project building among Islanders, who would each fund a portion of the 273 panel, 75 kilowatt array.
Ross Freeman, city sustainability and communications manager, said the project has been deemed technically feasible after experts assessed roof condition and lifespan, and explored the necessary electrical connections.
Community solar projects provide a way for residents to support solar, even if they don’t have a suitable location on their own property. Several projects have recently been completed by Seattle City Light, and there are other examples across the state.
“We reached over 500 residents last summer with our popular Solarize campaign, leading to 45 new rooftop installations across the Island,” Freeman said. “But almost 100 people who wanted to install panels simply couldn’t, usually due to excessive shade. For about the same amount of money, they could still support clean renewable energy via the City Hall project.”
If it proceeds, the city’s project would be entirely paid for from private funds. Investors in turn receive a solar production payment from the state, set at $1.08 per kilowatt hour. Since those payments are currently scheduled to end in summer 2020, time is of the essence, Freeman said.
“For this to succeed, it must start producing no later than June 1 of this year, and right now we’d still like to hear from another dozen potential supporters,” Freeman said.
