Biggest US Community Solar Project Opens in Colorado

Biggest US Community Solar Project Opens in Colorado The biggest community solar garden in the US has opened in southwestern Colorado, the San Miguel Power Association Community Solar Array. At 1.1 megawatts (MW), covering 7 acres, it can serve over 200 customers that live in the territory of rural electric coop San Miguel Power Association. Solar garden pioneer Clean Energy Collective built and maintains the array. People can buy individual solar panels for $705 after rebates - they can buy just one panel or as many panels as they want to offset their electricity and receive credit for the power produced on their monthly utility bills. The price includes the same tax credits and electricity discounts as if the panels were installed on a customer's roof, and they don't have to worry about maintenance or repairs. Clean Energy Collective maintains the panels for 50 years. "We are leveraging scalability to the benefit of individual panel owners. You don't even need a roof to adopt clean energy today, says Paul Spencer, founder and CEO of Clean Energy Collective. This is Clean Energy Collective's 15th solar garden that's operating or under construction, representing more than 5.3 MW of community-sited solar PV. By the end of 2013, the group expects to reach about 10 MW and by 2015, 100 MW. In June, it began construction of the Kit Carson community solar garden in New Mexico, which will sit atop parking lots and a school. Community solar legislation failed in California after lobbying efforts by PG&E, but it will be re-introduced early next year. Last month, the world's biggest community solar garden came online in the UK - the 5 MW project serves 1500 households.

2-megawatt solar farm proposed in Grand Junction

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - The City Council of Grand Junction is considering whether to approve using city property for a solar energy farm. Xcel Energy and Ecoplexus would initiate and run the proposed 2-megawatt solar farm. Energy generated at the solar farm would be divided up among subscribers like School District 51 and Colorado Mesa University. The Daily Sentinel reports that according to a city report on the project, construction is expected to occur next summer for about three months and create up to 20 jobs if the propos

Colorado's solar industry continues to gather steam

Colorado's solar industry continues to gather steam The solar industry continues to gather steam in Colorado, even as many subsidies have been changed or reduced. Colorado was one of only five states to increase its third quarter photovoltaic (PV) solar portfolio more than 5 megawatts in the third quarter of this year, compared to last year’s third quarter, according to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research released on Dec. 11. Overall, the U.S. solar PV market grew by 684 megawatts in the third quarter of 2012, 44 percent more than in the third quarter of 2011. Neal Lurie, the Executive Director of the Colorado chapter of SEIA, attributed much of that growth mostly to reduced installation costs. Most of the growth appears to be coming from larger or third-party installations, especially after the changes to the Xcel Solar*Rewards program last year eliminated up-front rebates for residential solar PV installation. “Costs for solar modules have decreased up to 70 percent in the past three years,” said Lurie, noting that Colorado has been a top-10 state for solar PV & thermal for most of the past decade. Jesse Morris, a solar consultant with the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, said the changes to the Xcel Solar*Rewards program mean there are a better incentives for larger commercial and third-party installations that can take advantage of the federal tax incentive and business equipment depreciation. “In 2011, Colorado ranked 5th in the nation as far as solar installs go, although we've been leapfrogged by Arizona and Hawaii more recently thanks to a combination of large incentives and good sunlight,” Morris said. While Xcel continues to rebate much of the PV installation that hooks into its grid – small residential systems are given larger rebates than larger commercial and utility-sized systems – it no longer offers an up front rebate for residential installations. For a 4-killowatt residential solar system, that rebate was about $8,000 in the first year, a rebate that Xcel now pays out over a 10- or 20-year term with monthly checks or reduction to utility bills. “Essentially, that has stretched out the time it takes to get the return on that investment well beyond 10 years,” said John Shaw the sales manager for Solectria Renewables’ Mountain West office in Denver. “The average ROI time for a commercial installation that can take advantage on the federal incentives and depreciation is seven years.” But while incentives may not be as large as other states, Colorado has moved to create other means of increasing solar power, Morris said. Some of the most significant moves were placing a $500 cap on residential permit fees and creating the Solar Communities program, he said, which enables utility customers to participate in a solar program even if they can not place solar panels on their roofs. Through Xcel’s Solar*Rewards program, the Solar Communities program is designed to produce 4.5 megawatts of new solar electricity, by allowing project developers to build “solar gardens.” Developers could then sell shares in these systems, which are limited to a 500-kilowatt maximum, to utility customers. When the program opened its doors in August it had received applications for three times the power it was trying to generate within 30 minutes and applications were closed one hour after the program was opened. Many of these solar gardens will be built in the Denver-Boulder area. Denver has also been named the country’s first “Solar Friendly Community” in a program begun by COSEI and RMI. In fact, the program was essentially created by looking at the best practices initiated by Denver over the last four years, which includes a $50 over-the-counter permit fee for standard residential rooftop installation, said Jessica Scott, the city’s sustainability strategist. Homeowners who want to enjoy the benefit of solar power without the up-front costs also have options in third-party installers – companies that install, maintain and own a home’s solar panels and charge a fixed rate for the electricity they generate. That allows these companies to also take advantage over the tax incentives and depreciation. Ronald M. Abramson, chief executive and chairman of NexGen Energy Partners LLC, said the ability to “monetize” those incentives are a very important part of his third-party installation business, but not the only way to create profits in the renewable energy field. “If you look at incentives they really create some incredible cycles in business. You only have to look at what happened with all the layoffs in the wind energy field to see the negative consequences,” said Abramson, whose company also installs wind systems. “I think we can be competitive now. I’d rather see an elimination of subsidies for the fossil fuel industry so we’d all be playing on an even field.”

Colorado receives $4.2 million to make solar energy cost-competitive

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Friday that it is investing $4.2 million in a Colorado project "that will help advance affordable, reliable clean energy for U.S. families and businesses." The money is part of the department's SunShot Initiative. The initiative is a collaborative national push to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, based in Boulder, will research methods to understand cloud impact and develop short-term prediction techniques based on its work. The project will also work with the Energy Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association to improve the accuracy of solar forecasts and share the results of the work with industry and academia. "The price of solar panels has fallen dramatically in recent years, but we also need to reduce the cost and time required to actually install them in homes and businesses and help utility companies better integrate renewable energy into the grid," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "Projects like these can help reduce the cost of solar power and make it easier for American families and businesses to access clean, affordable energy." The announcement is part of a broader $8 million investment by the Energy Department to help utilities and grid operators better forecast when, where and how much solar power will be produced at U.S. solar energy plants. The department says enhanced solar forecasting technologies will help power system operators to integrate the cost-competitive, reliable solar energy into the electricity grid and provide clean, renewable energy to U.S. consumers. The Energy Department says that reducing the installed cost of solar energy system by about 75 percent will drive widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable energy technology and restore U.S. leadership in the global clean energy race