Bella Energy and Boulder County are installing the largest municipal solar electric project in the Rocky Mountain Region. The project is part of Boulder County's Sustainable Energy Plan to reduce the county's impact on global climate change and to reduce costs by increasing energy efficiency.
615 kilowatts (kW) of solar electric equipment mounted on eight county buildings will be capable of producing 869,100 kW hours of electricity per year – enough power to offset approximately 6% of Boulder County's current electricity demand.
The project utilizes an innovative financial partnership that maximizes the county's return on investment and minimizes up-front costs. Solar energy company Bella Energy designed and is installing the systems using Conergy equipment, and a third-party financer will pay for the solar electric systems.
Because Boulder County is not eligible for federal incentives for renewable energy systems, the third-party partner owns the solar systems – collecting the federal incentives, credits and deductions for their installation – and sells the electricity generated to the county.
After seven years the county can buy the systems at a fair market value. Boulder County Commissioners have set aside $1.5 million for the purchase.
"Over the life of the system, the average amount of what the county will pay per kilowatt hour for electricity produced by the new solar systems will be half of what we currently pay to Xcel Energy," said Keith Ickes, Boulder County's Administrative Services Director.
The systems are projected to yield a 3.5% return on investment over 20 years. Via a program provided by Fat Spaniel Web-based monitoring systems, the public will be able to view online how much energy the systems produce, when buildings use the most/least amount of energy and how users can change their behavior to save energy.
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