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Solar Power on Vashon
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Solar Power on Vashon
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On Thursday Febuary 20th, about 25 people gathered at the Land Trust building to hear Mike Nelson speak about the potential of solar power for Vashon Island. Attendees were treated to pictures and stories about the solar industry world wide, solar powered planes and cars, and building-integrated solar systems installed around the world.
Mike Nelson of Western Sun (a solar co-op) explained that he had been working in solar power in the Puget Sound Region for 30 years, and that there was a huge potential to run our homes on solar power, especially when the solar systems are linked to the electric grid. Grid-linked solar systems need no batteries - the grid functions as the battery. During the summer, when we have lots of solar power, we feed energy into the grid and in the winter we draw energy from the grid. Washington State, like many other states, has a net metering law. This means that all energy fed into the grid runs the electric meter backwards, and at the end of the year, the utility gets paid only if one uses more energy than one produces.
Although we think of the Pacific Northwest as a place where there is little solar capacity, in actuality the solar energy here is actually quite good, only about 40% less than the solar capacity in southern California. Washington State has much more solar capacity than Germany, which is the country with the most installed solar.
Mike discussed the attempts in the Washington State legislature to develop and support a solar industry in the State. Current bills would pay solar producers $0.48 per kilowatt hour for solar energy produced. There are private efforts to support solar power, too. The Northwest Solar Co-op and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation will pay any solar producer $0.10 per kilowatt-hour right now, through their Solar Starters program. If you have a solar system, or plan to install one soon, you can contact them at 503-655-1617.
We spoke a bit about the potential for other funding approaches to solar on the island. The Wenatchee area has what they call their SNAP program. In this program, members of the community donate money monthly to support local solar projects. At the end of the year, the money is divided among the solar producers who join the program. The support has been terrific, and participants have received over a dollar a kilowatt-hour due to the generosity of the community. This program could work here, too.
The Institute for Environmental Research and Education (IERE) will be joining Western Sun, and will pass along the good pricing to anyone living on Vashon. Contact Rita Schenck at 463-7430 or rita@iere.org if you are interested in buying a solar system this way.
Mike Nelson's visit was sponsored by IERE and Sustainable Vashon, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.