Ellensburg Community Solar: Accessibility and Improvement

James KingGEOG 442

Winter 2016

http://www.slideshare.net/Didgeridiva/ellensburg-community-solar-3-4124

Outline: Research Problem Research Questions Introduction

Ellensburg Electric Utilities History of Ellensburg’s Community Solar Project

Impacts of ECS Analysis of Ellensburg Demographics Impediments to Solar Successes of the Project Plans for the Future Conclusions Suggestions for Improvement

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Research Problem

The Ellensburg Community Solar program seeks to provide the option of renewable energy to customers through investment in the solar park, but this access may not be evenly distributed In addition, customer and community involvement in the project may be

lacking in certain areas of the community including, but not limited to: Low-income communities Students living on-campus Businesses

Methodology The first stage of this research was to identify the impact on energy

costs and availability to customers, the energy sovereignty of Ellensburg, and relationships with other energy entities resulting from the establishment of the solar park

Then this research sought to identify impediments and roadblocks which may be resulting from the organization of the park itself, as well as the nature of solar energy in general and analyze potential improvements and solutions to reduce or eliminate these impediments

Data was a mixture of secondary data gathered from internet, journal and print publications, as well as primary quantitative and qualitative data provided by the Ellensburg Energy Services Department via public request

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Source: The Daily Record

Research Questions 1. How has the Ellensburg Community Solar Project (ECS) impacted the

cost and availability of energy to customers of Ellensburg Utilities? 2. How has this project influenced (or been influenced by) Ellensburg’s

energy sovereignty? 3. What groups (class, ethnic, geographic, etc.) may currently be

experiencing impediments and/or obstacles to participating in ECS? What are these impediments, and what might be causing them?

4. Can ECS expand and increase service to customers, especially marginalized groups with little or no current access, with no significant raise in energy prices or loss of availability? How might they do this?

Ellensburg Electric Utilities 1892: City of Ellensburg forms municipal electric utility

Oldest municipal utility in Washington State (City of Ellensburg 2016b) Municipal Utilities: “part of a local government unit. . . Usually, the municipally

owned utility serves only the town or city within its legally defined territorial boundaries. . . Municipal power systems are controlled by a local city governing board or council, either directly or through a city manager who reports directly to that board or council.” (Duffey-Armstrong and Armstrong 1979:11)

Serves 9,200 customers within city limits (City of Ellensburg 2016) Purchases and imports energy from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Current Energy Rate: $0.0593 per kWh (City of Ellensburg 2016b)

Source: City of Ellensburg 2014 Fuel Mix Disclosure

Ellensburg Electric Utilities (Cont.) Non-Profit: All income is used to pay for acquisition, distribution, and

maintenance of energy and energy-related infrastructure (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016)

Controlled and operated by the city (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016) All policies, rate changes, and so on are decided through the City Council These are all elected officials, so have responsibility to city residents All city council meetings are open to public comment, and city representatives

are also accessible via phone or e-mail Make effort to remain open and accessible to ensure local control

Ellensburg Community Solar First conceived in 2004 by Utilities staff during Northwest Solar Conference

(Hay 2006) After seeking and receiving extensive support, financial and otherwise, from

City Council, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Northwest SEED, and others, Phase 1 was completed in November 2006 (Farrell 2010) Needed $50,000 in community pledges, received $119,000 from 73 individual

investors (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016) Initially planned for 23 kW, but built to generate 36 kW (Nystedt 2012) These initial investors receive payback equal to investment percentage

(Northwest Community Energy 2009) Investor A contributed 3%, so receives credit for 3% of power generated from park

(Nystedt 2012) Key Point: NO STATE/FEDERAL RENEWABLE INCENTIVES AT THE TIME

(Johnston 2007) Began before a steep drop in cost of solar (Swearingen 2015)

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Ellensburg Community Solar (Cont.)

Total Cost of the Project: $1,002,520 $431,863 came from grants $409,090 came from community investors City Utilities covered the additional $161,567

Average investment of individual contributors: $3,845 (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016)

http://solarwa.org/tour/kittitas-county/ellensburg-community-solar-project

Ellensburg Community Solar (Cont.) Phase 2: February 2009, added 72 additional panels (Solar Washington 2016)

producing 21.6 kW (Northwest Community Energy 2009; Nystedt 2012) CWU provided $120,000 grant

Phase 3: December 2009, 180 thin-film panels installed, 24 kW produced (Northwest Community Energy 2009) $50,000 from Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Lights, $35,000 from Kittitas

County Public Utilities Department State and Federal Incentives added: $0.30 cents a kWh rebate 2010: incentives double for in-state manufactured solar panels

Phase 4: Began in late 2014, expected completion in September 2016 (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016)

2015: New Funding Method: Recommended to council in 2014 by Our Environment (Matarrese 2015), established voluntary $2.50 block purchases of renewable energy (Rowbotham 2014)

Phase 5: $500,000 expansion being planned with CWU (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016)

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Impacts of ECS Ellensburg’s Energy Sovereignty: All of the power produced by the solar park is consumed

within the city (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016) Produces less than 0.05% of the city’s energy use (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016)

111 kW generated, out of 185 million kWh consumed each year in the City of Ellensburg (Nystedt 2012) Thus has miniscule impact on energy sovereignty, as Ellensburg is still required to purchase and

import power from BPA (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016) Energy Availability also experienced little impact

No surge or loss in power availability, simply option to change part of the source Only effect on cost was to those who chose to invest: non-investors continue to receive

standard city rate Investors chose to pay premium rate, higher than standard rate (Ellensburg Energy Services

Department 2016) $2.50 buys a 100mWh block of renewable energy, about $0.065 a kWh, compared to the BPA rate of $0.03

per kWh (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016) Steep costs result of the park’s construction before cost of solar technologies plummeted (Swearingen

2015) Relations with other groups: Most were strengthened through partnerships

BPA, PSE, DOE, Ellensburg City Council, community groups, and many others

(Noll, Dawes and Rai 2014)

Analysis of Ellensburg Demographics Groups with potential lack of access to ECS:

Hispanic and Latino Communities: made up 9.7% of Ellensburg’s population in 2010 (United States Census Bureau 2016)

Renters: the percentage of people who live in the housing unit they own is only 30.1%, compared to the Washington State average of 62.7% (United States Census Bureau 2016)

53% of residents lived in the same housing unit as the year before; 82.6 State average (United States Census Bureau 2016)

Poverty and Low-Income Communities: 38.8% of Ellensburg residents are considered ‘in poverty’ [WA State: 13.2%], though the Census Bureau acknowledges this is geographically skewed, probably due to number of college students (United States Census Bureau 2016)

Elderly: 8.9% of residents are over the age of 65 (United States Census Bureau 2016)

Raises questions of retirement, social security and pension funds, ownership or mortgage status of their residence, reservations toward new technology, and so on.

University students living on campus: Residence halls handle utility payments, so there is no on-campus option to participate in ECS

7.9% of residents are disabled, possibly meaning lack of income and/or access (United States Census Bureau 2016)

Source: Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016

Impediments to Solar Fragmentation in business, residential and government sectors, preventing

effective organization and cooperation (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979) Social norms, perceptions, and public attitudes (Himmelman 2012)

Lack of confidence in potential of solar, i.e. Solyndra (Himmelman 2012; Williams 2014; Artale and Dobos 2015)

Controversy over aesthetic qualities of solar panel installments (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979)

Resistance to lifestyle changes (Duffey-Armstrong and Armstrong 1979) Legal issues of access, permitting, etc.

Land-use laws: many states lack regulatory policies for land-use regarding solar (Duffey-Armstrong and Armstrong 1979; Artale and Dobos 2015)

Permits for installment, maintenance, connection to the power grid, etc. (Benmar 2010; Himmelman 2012)

Financial Burden: large short-term costs create a deterrence, however returns-on-investment over a period of 10 years are acceptable by many (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979)

Current state and federal incentives can allow payoff in Kittitas County in around 4 years

Impediments to Solar (Cont.) Distrust of Utilities: many regions have shown a distrust of energy

distributors, especially large, private entities (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979; Talbot and Morgan 1981)

Resistance from Utilities: many utilities reluctant to support/allow solar technology (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979; Talbot and Morgan 1981) Fear losing economic strength: centralized solar technology is not efficient enough

to compete with other centralized energy generation methods Economies of Scale: individual installation of renewable technology, including

solar, is usually more expensive than centralized installation of the same technology (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979) Example: One 15,000 gallon water tank is cheaper than ten 1,500 gallon tanks Small-scale grids (community/neighborhood) are more prone to peak use jumps, so

require larger generators than usually necessary or may experience outages (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979; Boyle 2012)

Warranty Issues: most solar retailers offer warranties only up to one year (Duffey-Armstrong and Duffey 1979) Required long-term warranties of 5 years or more is being considered as incentive

Impediments to Solar (Cont.) Politics of energy production: electricity generated by solar becomes part of

the public domain once it enters the grid (Williams 2014) Subject to government and corporate control through regulation and

management regardless of whether utilities are investor or public owned (Talbot and Morgan 1981; Himmelman 2012; Williams 2014)

Lack of adequate building site: improperly oriented, heavily shaded homes are not effective sites for solar installation (Benmar 2010; Boyle 2012; Swearingen 2015) Renters, those who lease, apartment users, etc. lack control to modify homes The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that 49% of U.S.

households and 48% of businesses are not suitable for rooftop photovoltaic system (Artale and Dobos 2015)

Adequate and Inexpensive sources of energy are already available (Williams 2014)

Successes of the Project: Allows renters and others to participate and support renewable energy Allows low-bundle investment: $2.50 blocks instead of $250+ investments

About 20 new investors since project began in 2015 (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016)

Simplifies process: city handles maintenance, finances, etc. all the customer needs to do is sign up (Artale and Dobos 2015; Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016)

Uses land which was “marginal” with low economic use and value (Naheen, Subail-Bin-Alam and Debnath 2013)

Brought together community in a widely celebrated and enjoyed program, fostering trust and building relationships for future cooperation (Johnston 2007; Noll, Dawes, and Rai 2014)

Set example for other communities and organizations interested in implementing community solar (Johnston 2007; Benmar 2010; Farrell 2010; Swearingen 2015)

Continued advancement of solar technology, reduction of prices, and increased community support suggests solar power will continue to grow (Johnston 2007; Boyle 2012)

Keeps some energy-related funds within the city rather than channeling to BPA (Nystedt 2012)

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Successes of the Project (Cont.) As of 2010, had prevented 304,000 lbs of greenhouse gases into the atomosphere

(Benmar 2010) The nature of the municipal utility means the community maintains control,

enhancing democratic participation (Talbot and Morgan 1981) Created partnerships with entities including Ellensburg, environmental groups, BPA,

the Bonneville Environmental Fund, CWU, Northwest SEED, and others improving cooperation and efficiency

Brought together residential sector, businesses, energy companies, and others Project is independently funded through community contributions, ensuring funds do

not detract from other spheres (Ellensburg Energy Services Department 2016) Paves way for continued funding and expansion, matching the pace of community interest

and involvement Has contributed to the state economy by purchasing equipment from in-state sources Can be used as a source of tourism by attracting visitors, engineers, and others

interested in renewable and solar technologies (Benmar 2010; Swearingen 2015) Aids in benefitting from economies of scale by purchasing equipment in bulk

(Naheen, Subail-Bin-Alam and Debnath 2013)

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Plans for the Future:

Phase 5: Working with CWU on a grant to continue expansion Energy Services Department is hiring a marketing specialist to

publicize the project in the hopes of attracting more supporters City Council is highly supportive of further expansion and growth Plan is to continue to expand as funds are gathered The Solar Park (‘Renewable Park’) also has a wind component, and as

of 2012 were producing an additional 17.6 KW of renewable power (Nystedt 2012)

Conclusions: Overall, the ECS project has had little impact on energy costs, availability

and sovereignty in the city of Ellensburg ECS has provided a physical example for other communities to study and

improve upon ECS has set a valuable precedent within the city, as well as a symbol of the

City’s commitment to renewable energy and sustainable energy Certain impediments still exist within the system, though some are

unavoidable and result from the nature of solar energy itself Premium costs deter low-income users, small size of the park prevents significant

impact on energy production, based on incentives which are subject to change Certain groups are excluded or deterred from participation, but again some

of these are unavoidable or challenging to improve

(Noll, Dawes and Rai 2014)

Suggestions for Improvement: Create Solar Advisory Committee made up of individuals from City Council, local

organizations and groups, and representatives from utilities (Department of Energy 2009)

Establish solar installation targets, include solar in future city planning, pursue Feed-in Tariff legislation, etc.

Gather more data from the community to further understand what impediments people have experienced as well as what has worked

Offer incentives and/or discounts, especially to low-income groups and renters Encourage business investment and participation in the program Advertise: leaflets, community announcements, web page on the city website,

newspaper advertising, etc. Place a sign on the highway near the park to generate interest (Nystedt)

Continue to pursue rooftop solar Offer loans or partner with credit institutions to cover up-front cost of solar installation

(Himmelman 2012) Continue to improve efficiency and ease of permit and installation process (Department

of Energy 2009) Consider aggregated purchasing of solar equipment for the city such as a group of local

businesses or residential neighborhood

Suggestions for Improvement (Cont.) Implement construction methods such as passive solar designs to improve

energy efficiency of buildings Offer consultation advice or recommendations for developers/homebuilders

Lead by Example: install rooftop solar on city-owned buildings where feasible (Department of Energy 2009)

City Hall, Public Library, University, schools, post office, County courthouse, etc. Consider expanding ECS by allocating unused lands or areas with low economic

potential, and construct more solar parks Emphasize Community Participation in the ECS project

Community cleaning event: wash panels, enjoy snacks, listen to speakers, etc. Option to donate and have a plaque installed with your name in the park or on a panel Invite school groups [K-12 and College] as well as interested organizations such as

Rotary Club, The Oddfellows for tours and educational events Continue to bolster an overall sense of ownership for the park among the community

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