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The City of Ashland has been promoting the
use of solar energy since 1981, when it passed one of the first citywide
access protection ordinances in the United States.
In 1996, a net
metering law was passed which established a simple grid interconnect
policy that allowed net metering and committed the City to purchase at
full retail price up to 1,000 kWhs of excess electricity per month from
small wind or solar generation resources.
With funding from the
Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), we are about to embark upon a
new program to promote the use of locally produced solar power. The Solar
Ashland Pilot Program involves a unique partnership between BEF, the City
and some local public institutions who, together, will be installing 20-25
kW of grid connected PV systems.
The program involves the City and
BEF matching dollars provided by local institutions to install 5 kW
systems on each institution. These systems will feed directly into the
grid and the City will market the solar electricity to Ashland businesses
and citizens on a voluntary basis on behalf of the institution. Solar
power can be purchased in $4 monthly increments and this money will, in
turn, be repaid to the institution to help recoup their initial
investment. Also, each system will have a strong educational component so
visitors to each site will see and learn about the technology. It is hoped
that the institutions should be able to achieve a simple payback period of
12-14 years under this method.
If Phase I of the program is
successful and we are able to subscribe additional voluntary sales, we
hope to open up the program to residential and commercial customers. We
look forward to providing rebates and/or financing to Phase II
participants.
For more information, contact Dick Wanderscheid at
(541) 552-2061.
This Site Most Recently Updated November 10, 2000
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