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City Approves Solar Panels First Step: City Hall Roof to Be Evaluated - Inside Bainbridge

INSIDE BAINBRIDGE
by Sarah Lane on October 13, 2011.

Last Wednesday, October 5, The City Council approved the first steps of a community solar project, authorizing an independent organization to evaluate the City Hall roof for potential installation of solar panels. The organization, Community Energy Solutions (CES), will at its own expense work with an engineering firm to determine whether the roof is structurally able to withstand the weight of hundreds of panels. The bill was approved by a 7-0 vote.

The bill was introduced in response to Washington legislation enacted in March. That legislation, which was championed by State Senator Phil Rockefeller, is designed to lower the state’s carbon footprint by using state and federal incentives to locate investor-financed solar projects on government property. The legislation is intended to generate rooftop lease revenue and electric energy savings for local governments and taxpayers.

itek Sun Pod (created by itek of Bellingham) on display outside the Library.

If panels are installed, the city will benefit from all of the electricity generated but will pay for only half of it. Council member Barry Peters explained how it will work. As a result of the state legislation, investors will be paid up to $1.08 per kWh generated by the panels (as compared to the current rate of $0.08 cents per kWh generated by PSE)—which is the highest rate available through the program. This rate is available because the panels are manufactured in Washington. Peters says there are likely to be 300 panels generating thousands of kWh per year. He explains that the legislation benefits homeowners who install solar as well: In four years, the rate has gone from $0.15  to $0.54 per kWh.

At the Harvest Fair, Community Energy Solutions had kids make water-color leaves as a way of understanding photovoltaics. The leaves were exhibited in October's Arts Walk.

Background
After the state legislation was passed in March, the City of Bainbridge approved a task group—Kim Brackett, Barry Peters, and Performance Manager Dave McCoy—to look into how to take advantage of this opportunity. The task group issued an RFP in May. Two teams responded to the RFP. The task group recommended one of the firms by a small margin, but negotiations failed. An agreement was subsequently reached with the second team, CES. This time, Peters says, they negotiated a three-page term sheet with the contractor that summarized the principal points of agreement and will make final agreement more likely.

CES is the nonprofit entity behind the installation of solar panels on Sakai School. In addition, CES worked with Habitat for Humanity of Kitsap County to complete two solar projects via fundraising and volunteer hours. And CES applied for the Department of Energy grant that was awarded to Bainbridge Island for the creation of the Repower Bainbridge initiative.

Potential Benefits
Tammy Deets, one of the founders of CES, summarized the potential benefits of the solar project if it goes through:

1. Investors will receive a financial benefit from the community solar project. Deets says, “That financial return is dependent on what the sun does, something far more predictable and reliable than what is going on in Wall Street.”
2. The City will get rent payment from an asset that, Deet says, “they never knew existed before and had no value until the Community Solar law.”
3. Local clean energy, in Deets’s words, “creates jobs, keeps energy dollars local, reduces stress on the grid, and lowers our carbon footprint.”

Next Steps

Solar panels being installed on a Habitat for Humanity house.

If a favorable opinion is secured from the engineering review of the roof, then the City will prepare legal documents to authorize CES to implement the solar project. Those documents will then be reviewed by the City Council later in the year. No additional steps will be taken on the project without the City Council’s approval.

After nine years, the City can decide if it wants to purchase the whole system. If not, the panels can be removed at no cost to taxpayers. Although the panels have a 20-year warranty and are unlikely to be malfunctioning after nine years, Peters explains that the nine-year term gives the city the freedom to adopt any potential new technologies in the future.

Peters says he is “very optimistic” that the plan will be approved: “I’m hoping this will all be worked out in the next few weeks.” One reason for his optimism is that the subcontractor working with CES to provide the panels, itek of Bellingham, makes lighter panels than the firm that the city had first opted to work with.

He compares the potential benefits to Bainbridge with the growth of solar in Germany. According to Peters, the solar efforts in Germany have been hugely successful, despite the fact that the number of sun hours per year is lower than the number here. He adds that the Seattle area has seen a growth in solar panels, explaining, “It’s more about people’s awareness about solar than about weather.”

Deets agrees. She excitedly opened a CES PowerPoint presentation to show one of the screens, a map of the United States highlighted by potential for solar energy effectiveness. Although the Southwest gets more sun than our area, it’s rated only slightly higher than the Northwest. This is because, if panels overheat, their effectiveness decreases. Tammy smiles and says, “That is not a problem we have to worry about here.”

Peters points out that the City Hall roof is completely unshaded and slopes to the south, the perfect configuration for solar panel effectiveness.

This Weekend’s Solar Tour

Solar Panels on Sakai Roof.

There are four sites featured on Saturday’s solar tour, which will provide interested citizens with a look at already installed solar panels and data on energy, costs, and financial returns (http://www.solarizebainbridgenow.com/). Deets emphasizes that people interested in solar or investing in solar can do a virtual solar tour any day of the week by monitoring the online Sakai School solar production tool (http://www.cenergysolutions.org/solar_for_sakai).

Also, itek traveling solar panels are on display in the Island Fitness parking lot from Thursday, October 13, to Sunday, October 23. And Go Solar Bainbridge is offering three free solar workshops. The next one is Saturday, October 22, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at OfficeXpats in the Pavilion.

Peters adds that the federal tax credit, making solar such a good investment right now, may not be renewed, and he urges people to act quickly: “There’s no better time for the city and its taxpayers to benefit from solar and no better time for businesses and homeowners to install solar.”

Photos courtesy of Community Energy Solutions. Featured photo by Sarah Lane.

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