[Pinball wizard]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

How do you propose to get the electricity from the solar field to the individual homes?

Just sell it to the electric company and credit those who bought in.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by Pinball wizard

Just sell it to the electric company and credit those who bought in.

Oh? How are you going to get it to the electric company?

& you do have any idea how much the electric company will pay, if they can figure out a way to get the electricity? Probably 1/10th of their Retail Electric Rates ... oh wait, maybe you can hold an auction among all the competing electric companies.

Electricity can't be loaded on a truck and delivered like bread or gasoline.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

Here is an off the wall idea, the CDD could offer some vacant land for the installation of ground based solar panels, and then CDD residents could purchase a piece of this installation to get the benefits of the solar installation. This would be basically a neighborhood solar installation. Also, there should be some savings based on the scale of the project. Note sure exactly how the sale of the electricity would be credited to the people that bought into the project.

What you described are referred to as solar farms and are common up north. The basics of how they work (the one I considered anyway) are as follows. A group of homeowners contractually agree to purchase power from the farm for a fixed term (let’s say 25 years) at a fixed rate. The fixed rate is set at approximately the current rate per kilowatt hour for electricity in that region. The homeowners purchase a fixed monthly amount of power calibrated to approximately 80% of their average monthly usage. Each homeowner has to pass certain credit underwriting criteria to sign up. Once enough homeowners sign up to meet the farm’s capacity, the farm’s developer finances the project using the pool of homeowners credit approved contractual obligations as collateral. The farms developer peels off their cut and typically also is affiliated with the installation company so gets that business as well . The farms power is actually purchased by the electric distribution company at a fixed cost for the life of the farm and is part of their green/sustainable energy sourced portfolio as mandated by regulators in that region. Homeowners get about 80% of their electric power at an inflation proof fixed rate for the life of the farm and pay current market rate for the balance of electricity used. Homeowners also get the benefit of feeling they are helping the environment without any up front investment or having panels on their property, if that floats their boat. The downside for homeowners is that they are locked into paying for the power regardless of whether they use it, or if they sell their home. Those were deal breakers for us. When we are at our Villages home (which hopefully will be at least half the year), we obviously don’t use much power. When we eventually downsize and sell our home, it’s our responsibility to find someone to assume our contractual obligation for the remaining life of the farm, and that party would have to pass the credit underwriting criteria of the institution that financed the farm. There are certainly lots of fine details I didn’t go over, buts that’s the basics.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

What you described are referred to as solar farms and are common up north. The basics of how they work (the one I considered anyway) are as follows. A group of homeowners contractually agree to purchase power from the farm for a fixed term (let’s say 25 years) at a fixed rate. The fixed rate is set at approximately the current rate per kilowatt hour for electricity in that region. The homeowners purchase a fixed monthly amount of power calibrated to approximately 80% of their average monthly usage. Each homeowner has to pass certain credit underwriting criteria to sign up. Once enough homeowners sign up to meet the farm’s capacity, the farm’s developer finances the project using the pool of homeowners credit approved contractual obligations as collateral. The farms developer peels off their cut and typically also is affiliated with the installation company so gets that business as well . The farms power is actually purchased by the electric distribution company at a fixed cost for the life of the farm and is part of their green/sustainable energy sourced portfolio as mandated by regulators in that region. Homeowners get about 80% of their electric power at an inflation proof fixed rate for the life of the farm and pay current market rate for the balance of electricity used. Homeowners also get the benefit of feeling they are helping the environment without any up front investment or having panels on their property, if that floats their boat. The downside for homeowners is that they are locked into paying for the power regardless of whether they use it, or if they sell their home. Those were deal breakers for us. When we are at our Villages home (which hopefully will be at least half the year), we obviously don’t use much power. When we eventually downsize and sell our home, it’s our responsibility to find someone to assume our contractual obligation for the remaining life of the farm, and that party would have to pass the credit underwriting criteria of the institution that financed the farm. There are certainly lots of fine details I didn’t go over, buts that’s the basics.

That's an interesting model. It seems like the homeowner/investors are more like "limited partners" or "guarantors" of a sort.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

Here is an off the wall idea, the CDD could offer some vacant land for the installation of ground based solar panels, and then CDD residents could purchase a piece of this installation to get the benefits of the solar installation. This would be basically a neighborhood solar installation. Also, there should be some savings based on the scale of the project. Note sure exactly how the sale of the electricity would be credited to the people that bought into the project.

Interesting concept, but for the electric transmission company to use their infrastructure to transmit the power, they would have to be incentivized to by some sort of government regulation that requires them add energy labeled as green to their portfolio of energy sources. Those mandates are definitely in place in some states, but I’m not sure about Florida. Unfortunately, those mandates tend to end up with ratepayers experiencing skyrocketing electricity bills. Our cost per kilowatt hour at our Massachusetts home is significantly higher than in the Villages, at least partially because of those regulatory mandates.

[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

How do you propose to get the electricity from the solar field to the individual homes?

Each entity that bought into the project would get a percentage of the sale of the generated power. The easiest way would be a check or direct deposit, then the money received could be used to offset the utility bill or otherwise.

[keepsake]

If you install solar panels on a roof, you block that summer sun energy from your attic space. Another measurable benefit.

[keepsake]

That sunflower might close up with a storm and have a small wind load spec. If it closes at night or when the sun is blocked, it's a given.

[Fastskiguy]

Sure appreciate the brainstorming guys, thanks!

Joe

[cjrjck]

Originally Posted by Pinball wizard

Just sell it to the electric company and credit those who bought in.

Might work with SECO or another CO-OP. Duke and other electric companies from my understanding, only offer a portion of what the electricity is worth.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

they would have to be incentivized to by some sort of government regulation that requires them add energy labeled as green to their portfolio of energy sources. Those mandates are definitely in place in some states, but I’m not sure about Florida.

I have no real clue about Florida, but I can give you some insight into how it works in MA.

MOST Electric produces are required to produce 10% (that was the number a couple of years ago, it may have changed, since) from "renewable sources". Smaller, municipal providers were exempt from the 10%.

If the power producer wasn't getting 10% of their power from renewables, they were essentially required to buy from private producers (home owners) at a rate comparable to what they sold (or produced) power for. Once they reached 10%, they weren't required to buy the power, so if you could talk them into buying it, you were at their mercy for pricing.

On top of "net metering", there are also Solar Renewal Energy Credits (SREC). I believe only 7 states have them. The average solar home generates 6-10 SREC Credits per year. A home owner will typical sell them to an aggregator, who then markets SREC's on the open market and they are sold to electric producers who need "credit to meet their requirement of producing a portion of their electrical power from renewable sources". MA also had SREC pricing controls in place.


That's a rough approximation of how it works. The rules change all the time, but that's the basic framework of how it works in MA and some other states that have adopted incentives for Solar power. (There are also federal incentives, including ACRS & Tax Credits, but they're also subject to frequent change.)

[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

I have no real clue about Florida, but I can give you some insight into how it works in MA.

MOST Electric produces are required to produce 10% (that was the number a couple of years ago, it may have changed, since) from "renewable sources". Smaller, municipal providers were exempt from the 10%.

If the power producer wasn't getting 10% of their power from renewables, they were essentially required to buy from private producers (home owners) at a rate comparable to what they sold (or produced) power for. Once they reached 10%, they weren't required to buy the power, so if you could talk them into buying it, you were at their mercy for pricing.

On top of "net metering", there are also Solar Renewal Energy Credits (SREC). I believe only 7 states have them. The average solar home generates 6-10 SREC Credits per year. A home owner will typical sell them to an aggregator, who then markets SREC's on the open market and they are sold to electric producers who need "credit to meet their requirement of producing a portion of their electrical power from renewable sources". MA also had SREC pricing controls in place.


That's a rough approximation of how it works. The rules change all the time, but that's the basic framework of how it works in MA and some other states that have adopted incentives for Solar power. (There are also federal incentives, including ACRS & Tax Credits, but they're also subject to frequent change.)

You are correct for the DEREGULATED states, Florida is not one of them, it appears to be tightly controlled by the electric utilities, so the only option appears to be "net metering" unless as I noted previously a community type project could get a better deal.