Electric Co-op Today

For its electric co-op members, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative is smoothing the path toward a smarter grid by adding solar-powered electricity systems to its product line.

Bob Phillips (Photo By: Luis Gomez)

NRTC, Herndon, Va., signed a distribution agreement recently with tenKSolar Inc., a Minnesota-based solar photovoltaic manufacturer that has invented a new type of solar panel.

When it’s available later this year, the RAIS PV module will use a new technology that will increase reliability and enhance output, according to officials at tenKSolar Inc.

The agreement enables NRTC members to offer the product to their consumer-members. A large focus of the association’s recent work has been “working to bring tools that put our electric co-op members on the path toward a smarter grid,” said Bob Phillips, the association’s president and CEO.

A stop on this path, he said, “includes use of renewables like solar. With the innovative design and affordability of tenKSolar, electric co-ops can engage their consumer-members as partners in distributed generation.”

Joel Cannon, the CEO of tenKSolar, is a familiar figure in the electric utility industry. He invented Cannon Meters, an advanced meter that NRTC has marketed to members since 2004.

Cannon told ECT.coop that the new solar system “is very different” than those currently on the market. He compared a typical solar panel process to a string of Christmas tree lights: If one cell malfunctions, or falls under a patch of shade, “the whole system will stop working.”

Not so with the RAIS PV module. Cannon said it will boast “the lowest sensitivity to shading. It will also be able to turn reflective light into energy.”

The system will be available to commercial users by June and later to residences, said Cannon.

Tags: National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, Solar Energy, Telecom