The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Panels sell out this month
By Mark Reaman
The Gunnison County Electric Association solar garden located on the roof of a building in the Crested Butte Public Works yard is sold out.
The last panel was claimed on October 22 and GCEA chief executive officer Mike McBride said the co-op is now taking names for a waiting list “and looking for a location where we can build another community solar garden.”
The co-op has 72 panels that people could lease. McBride said when the board decided to allow customers to lease the panels monthly instead of having to sign up for a long-term lease, the panels quickly sold.
“The monthly lease option proved to be very popular. When we added the monthly lease option on October 1 we had 48 panels remaining out of 72,” McBride explained. “Prior to that we offered a 20-year lease option for $850. [Those who originally leased the first 13 panels paid $1,100.] As time went on, the term and lease price both declined. So for example, if someone leased a panel one year after the solar garden was first energized, they would sign up for a 19-year lease for $807.50. The new option is a month-to-month lease with no long-term commitment. The cost is $4.71 per month, which is added to the member’s bill. The monthly lease rate is simply recovering the cost of the array over 20 years with interest at 3 percent factored in.”
Those who lease the panels see a monthly credit on their electric bills. That credit is determined by how much electricity is generated that particular month by the solar panels. “Monthly production varies by season and weather conditions,” McBride noted. “For example, if during the month of October the solar garden produces 2,500 kilowatt-hours [kWh], then each panel is deemed to have produced 35 kWh [2,500/72]. Each lessee would then receive a bill credit of $4.52 [35 kWh x residential rate of $0.12918] on their November electric bill. Therefore, a month-to-month lessee would have a charge of $4.71 and a credit of $4.52 on their energy bill for a net increase in their power bill of 19 cents.”
August was the highest production month, with generation of 3,155 kWh and a bill credit of $5.68 that appeared on the members’ September bill. February was the lowest production month with 1,552 kWh and a bill credit of $2.80.
McBride said that as retail rates for electricity rise over time the bill credit will increase slowly. McBride said the offsetting factor, though, is that over time the panels degrade slowly and production declines, but the degradation is not terrible. “Over time the economics of the monthly lease option will change, possibly for the better, but we are not making any guarantees,” he said.
Of the 72 panels in the garden, 24 are under the long-term lease by 10 GCEA members. Sixteen members have the remaining short-term leases on the other 48 panels. The first 20 panels in the garden were installed in July 2014 and 52 panels were added in November 2018. It is currently the only such solar garden in the county.
“As a member-owned, member-focused organization, the biggest benefit comes from helping to meet our members’ needs,” McBride concluded. “Concern for Community is one of the seven cooperative principals and community solar also gives us a way to support our community and its efforts toward climate action. The one thing solar does not do for GCEA is reduce our peak demand, which normally occurs after sunset and occasionally before sunset, but when it’s stormy. So solar is never producing at the time of our peak demand and 45 percent of our wholesale power cost results from peak demand. Still, we feel that community solar provides benefits to our members and community and we are happy to provide it.”
McBride said given the interest and success of the solar garden, more such projects are likely on the way. “Additional community solar will help support the town of Crested Butte’s and other local climate action plans and there definitely seems to be enough interest on the part of members,” he said.
