Solar gardens aim to bring renewable power to the people

David Amster-Olszewski looks up at the solar panels atop a dormitory roof at Colorado College and sees a garden.

Three years ago, as an undergraduate, he raised money to help the school install a 25-kilowatt system and it has been quietly generating power ever since. Everyone, Amster-Olszewski believes, should have a chance to buy into solar power, even if they own a condo, rent, can’t afford the high upfront costs of solar or simply have a roof that never sees the sun.

That’s the idea behind his new company, SunShare, which aims to build what’s called a “solar garden” in Colorado Springs beginning in October. In a solar garden, individuals or families pay for a number of panels in a large solar installation. SunShare is planning to build an initial 500-kilowatt system somewhere in Colorado Springs.

“The whole idea is to open this up to as many people as possible,” Amster-Olszewski said.

The electricity generated at the solar garden would flow into Colorado Springs Utilities’ power grid and Utilities would credit customers’ bills with the energy their panels produce, rather than having the panels tied into the homeowners’ electrical system.

For Alicia Archibald, who rents her home, it’s the perfect solution. She put a deposit down on two panels as soon as she heard about the idea.

“I wanted to be the first in line,” she said. “This way, they offer me the opportunity to get renewable energy.”

The solar garden’s size brings economies of scale, while also allowing people to buy solar with a fairly small initial investment (the minimum purchase is two panels, which costs $1,100).

“Everything gets less expensive for each person because you’re doing it as a group,” said Garrett W. Jacobs, SunShare’s sales manager.

Although SunShare is taking deposits already, it still needs approval from Colorado Springs Utilities to start putting up panels; the deposits go into an refundable escrow account. The Utilities board, composed of City Council members, is scheduled to consider the idea on Sept. 27. If approved, the program would be open to other solar projects, not just SunShare.

For Joseph Coleman, owner of The Blue Star, Nosh and La’au’s restaurants, a solar garden is just a simpler way of going green. He signed up for three panels for his home and would like to order 10 more for his businesses. The proposed program is only for homes initially, but small businesses may be added in the future. Utilities is working on a similar program for large commercial customers (see sidebar).

“It’s cheaper for me to do it (through the solar garden) rather than have all the installation put on my roofs,” Coleman said. “It’s cheaper, it’s more efficient, it’s a great idea.”

SunShare’s solar garden concept isn’t unique — the Legislature passed a solar gardens bill in 2010 with provisions similar to what CSU is considering that covers for-profit utilities like Xcel and Black Hills Energy, and similar projects are also already under way in the Roaring Fork Valley and Vail.

Amster-Olszewski had planned to pursue his idea in Denver or Boulder, but a chance discussion with Council President Pro Tem Jan Martin made him realize that Colorado Springs could move on the idea faster and get a jump on the other big cities in the state.

“She said, ‘Why not do something in Colorado Springs?’” he said. “It’s something I had never thought about.”

Martin said the idea instantly made sense to her, since she lives in a condominium complex.

“It’s a real fun idea,” she said. “As we continue to look at different renewable options, this is one more idea I was really pleased that Utilities was wiling to consider taking a closer look at.”

The knock against solar power is that it’s expensive compared to other energy sources such as coal, natural gas, nuclear or wind. Amster-Olszewski says that’s true today before federal and local subsidies, but solar power keeps getting cheaper while most other sources get more expensive, so securing a fixed energy price for 20 years can be a good investment.

Nick Hellbusch, SunShare’s finance manager, said it works out to be about an 8.9 percent annual return on investment and that customers can earn back the purchase price in 10 to 12 years.

“I think we can already offer energy from our solar panels that’s cost effective for our customers,” Hellbusch said.

Under the proposed guidelines, customers will only be able to buy enough power to offset their utility bill — if their share of the garden generates more power than they used, they would get a credit on future bills. SunShare keeps 14 percent of the price in an escrow account for maintenance and operations to cover the 20-year-lease customers sign for the panels.

SunShare is still investigating locations for its solar garden. Amster-Olszewski would like to put it on a commercial rooftop.

“Overall, it’s cheaper, because you don’t have to buy the land and (installation requires) less steel,” he said. “When I take off on an airplane, I always look down and see all those empty rooftops.”