Consumer Outreach
Solar Success on Earth Day
What better way to celebrate Earth Day than showing off a successful solar story?
Consumer-members learn about a cutting-edge solar technology during an Earth Day tour sponsored by Delta-Montrose Electric Association. (Photo By: Tom Polikalas)
That’s what Delta-Montrose Electric Association did April 22 during an open house at its headquarters, where it announced that in two months it had fully leased 20,000 kilowatts of capacity, worth $75,000, in two community solar arrays.
The program, launched by the Montrose, Colo., co-op in mid-February, allows members to lease, at a small cost, a piece of the installations in exchange for a credit on their electric bills. Residents and businesses snapped up the leases, paying $3.75 per kilowatt.
About two dozen leases were in the $10 to $100 range for one-time payments, said Tom Polikalas, the co-op’s communications/public relations supervisor.
“However, we also had members buying in for much more: a local engineering firm leased for $500; a residential member went for $3,750, and one member even bought in at $10,000,” he said.
DMEA might offer more opportunities for members who missed out on the first offering. The co-op is scheduled to ask its board of directors for permission to install two panels, each with a total capacity of 10,000 kilowatts, at its offices in Montrose and in Delta, Colo.
“We think there’s a market for additional member leases,” said Polikalas, adding that the co-op has taken a “buy local” spin in its marketing and educational efforts. “We’ve branded the program as a local power partnership that keeps power and dollars local,” he said.
During the April 22 open house, the co-op showcased its other solar activities, including a 30-kilowatt installation at a field office for the Bureau of Land Management that serves DMEA and Tri-State G&T in Westminster, Colo.
Another stop on the tour was at BrightLeaf Technologies, a manufacturing facility in Montrose that uses a patented solar technology that’s smaller and possibly more efficient than traditional photovoltaics.
Tags: Consumer Outreach, Green Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy