Colorado Springs Council approves community solar gardens

Sep 27 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Andrew Wineke The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.

More people will be able to turn sunshine into dollar signs under a plan approved Tuesday by the City Council.

Council unanimously approved a new rate structure for Colorado Springs Utilities that will allow community solar gardens in which residents buy a share of a large solar project rather than installing panels on their own roof.

Under the plan, subscribers will buy or lease a minimum of two panels in a solar garden set up by an independent company, then they will receive a credit on their utility bill of 9 cents a kilowatt hour for the power those panels produce. The subscriber model allows people who rent their homes, live in a condo where they don't own the roof, can't afford the cost of a large system, or simply live in the shade access to the same rebates and benefits of solar power that traditional home installations have.

"It provides a lower entry point into solar," said John Romero, Utilities' general manager for energy acquisition. "Now, we're talking hundreds of dollars instead of tens of thousands."

SunShare, a local solar garden company, already has deposits for a quarter of its first, 500-kilowatt solar garden and is now planning a second development, said David Amster-Olszewski, the company's founder. SunShare charges $1,100 for the minimum two-panel purchase.

"We decided to double the size of the system," he said. "It was selling out so fast, we didn't want to run out of room."

Alicia Archibald, one of SunShare's first subscribers, told council that the program will vastly expand the number of people who can invest in renewable energy.

"I think it's the coolest thing," she said. "I'm a renter and I've been a renter for many years. This gives me the opportunity to get the solar energy I would like to have."

Councilman Bernie Herpin said the program was a big step for the Springs.

"This is an exciting project that I hope will bear fruit," Herpin said.

Paul Spencer, president of Clean Energy Collective, a company that has built solar gardens near Aspen and Rifle, sounded a note of caution. He asked council to require developers to put a deposit before starting and to keep money in escrow for maintenance, to expand the program to businesses -- it's now open only to residents and schools -- and to set a minimum rate that Utilities would pay for power from unsold panels. CSU pays nothing under the new rates.

"The concept is very exciting," Spencer said. However, he said, without those protections, it increases the risk of failure.

"You get situations where you can give community solar a bad name," he said.

SunShare had the same concerns, but Amster-Olszewski said none of those limitations would be a deal-breaker. Spencer said he would have to review the numbers and talk to his lawyers before deciding whether to launch a project in Colorado Springs.