ROOFTOP WARMING: From the sun's rays. |
The midcoast may soon be home to the state’s first solar power co-op. On December 28, about 40 environmental and energy activists from 15 communities met at the Bath United Church of Christ to discuss Maine Solar Momentum, the brainchild of 77-year-old Woolwich energy activist John Grill. The MSM co-op is based on the Citizens Energy Co-op in Waupaca, Wisconsin, which installs solar hot water heaters on businesses and shares the profits of the annual energy revenue among its members.“It started out like a virtual possibility, the examination of the idea,” says Grill of the three-hour meeting, “and towards the end of the evening people were starting to say ‘how do I become a member.’”
The co-op in Wisconsin began in 2005 and now has more than 200 members. The group secures a bank loan to purchase solar flat plate collector panels, which it then installs on the roofs of participating businesses. The co-op has installed its heaters on a half dozen businesses so far, and the panels work as long as the weather stays sunny, something which may be a concern for the Maine co-op. The co-op retains ownership of the panels and charges the businesses below market rate for competing electrical and oil energy. The revenue pays off the bank loan. Once the loan is paid off, which takes several months to several years depending on the price and size of the panel, the co-op can profit from the solar energy sales. Members pay $200 to join the co-op and can then buy dividend shares in increments of solar energy called “therms.” One therm is equal to about 29 kilowatt hours.
According to Debra Lundgren, an organizing member of Citizens Energy, not all co-op members invest in the solar energy dividends. Some are involved because they believe in promoting solar energy or because they intend to buy dividends in the future. None of the dividend members have made any money yet because the solar panels the co-op has installed have not been paid off yet. Co-op members also benefit from a team of advisors who help them find and pay for private solar hot water heaters.
Grill and state senator Paula Benoit (R-Sagadahoc County) hope the co-op works in Maine. Benoit attended the December meeting and believes the co-op could bring jobs to the area by encouraging solar panel manufacturing, something that isn’t currently done locally. Grill thinks the co-op is a good answer to global warming.
“We’d better start thinking collectively and start supporting each other and making things happen,” he says. “There are a lot of people that can’t afford Priuses and there are a lot of people that can’t even think about putting a hot water solar collector on their roof.”
Grill and other volunteers involved with Maine Solar Momentum plan to apply for a $2500 Bowdoin College business grant in early February. The grant would be used to hire a consultant to create a business plan to help the project prepare to accept members, apply for nonprofit status, and secure a bank loan to purchase its first solar flat plates.
