Tucson Homeowners Can Pay Fixed Rate to Build Community Solar

August 3rd, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

A very innovative way to make it easy to put more solar on the grid is being pioneered by Tucson Electric Power (TEP) with The Bright Tucson Community Solar Program.

By buying $3 shares, individual utility customers can choose to own a portion of a 1.6 MW community solar project, a single-axis tracking PV array built at the future UA Science and Technology Park by a Tucson-based solar manufacturer and system developer, Solon. Renters as well as homeowners can participate.

[social_buttons]

Six of the $3 blocks, or $18 a month premium would cover the full monthly electric use of a typical household in Tucson, about 900 kWh a month. They can buy as many as they like, and, for now, it is added to their current electricity bill, as a premium.

But, unlike most electricity rates, the $3 rate they pay for each 150 kilowatt-hour block of solar power will remain fixed for 20 years.

Since each block offsets the cost of an equivalent amount of traditional generation, the price premium paid by program participants would effectively be reduced as those traditional energy charges increase.

Each block offsets the cost of an equivalent amount of traditional generation. So if they can reduce their electricity use, just like homeowners who put solar on their own roof, they would receive a credit towards future electricity use.

“Customers would have a chance to insulate themselves from the impact of new carbon taxes or other factors that could drive up the cost of power from traditional generating resources,” said David Hutchens, Vice President of Energy Efficiency and Resource Planning for TEP. “By locking in a slightly higher rate now for solar power, customers could end up realizing significant savings over the long term.”

Once the first 1.6 MW is fully subscribed, Tucson Electric Power will build more.

The utility has signed power purchase agreements with a dozen new solar power systems, and other renewable sources totaling 190 MW, enough energy to power nearly 40,000 Tucson homes. Those systems, which are being built by private developers, are scheduled to come online in 2011 and 2012, pending ACC approval, site selection and other contingencies. But one big obstacle is removed by this program. Local resistance. Some object to the size of solar projects which use about an acre a megawatt.

“Our customers will be able to drive past these arrays and know that they own a share of the energy they produce,” Hutchens said. “It’s a way to take ownership of solar energy in way that truly benefits our local electric system and the community as a whole.”

Susan Kraemer@Twitter

Source: Earthtechling

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: $3 blocks, Build, community, Fixed, homeowners, Rate, TEP, Tucson

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.