IID moves forward with community solar project
As part of an ongoing effort to allow low-income ratepayers to be able to have access to renewable energy without the installation of rooftop solar panels, the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors voted on Monday to move forward with the first prepayment for the community solar project.
As part of the power purchase agreement between the IID and vendor Regenerate Solar, the IID is required to make five prepayments each year of $5 million each for five years.
The board authorized the Chief Financial Officer to make use of the agency’s ECA funds to pay for the initial $5 million.
The current over-collection balance the district has is $6.9 million and will reduce to $1.9 million.
Although the remaining payments are still to be approved in the month of July of the subsequent years, CFO Belen Valenzuela told the board that in the future the intent is to use the public benefits fund in order to cover the prepayments that will be made in the following four years.
The Titan Solar I project will generate 60-megawatts of electricity and half of that power the district intends to use to allow low-income ratepayers to be able to access renewable energy for their homes without the need to install solar panels on the roof, the IID dubbed its program “eGreen.”
The process got underway last summer when Energy Manager Vicken Kasarjian initially told the board he was looking into the possibility of setting up a community solar project.
During the May 23 board meeting, staff estimated up to 14,000 customers could benefit from the project.
No decision has been taken as to how the additional 30 megawatts of energy will be used.
“Our goal is to provide all of our customers with an opportunity to support and benefit from clean, renewable, locally produced energy,” said IID’s energy manager Vicken Kasarjian in a statement following the July 18 meeting. “There can be many barriers to developing a solar project on your own — eGreen will make renewable energy obtainable for everyone.”
The power purchase agreement between the IID and Renova Solar is for 20-years with a levelized cost of electricity of $29.72 and a guaranteed commercial date for energy generation to begin on June 30, 2018.
Although the details of how the program will work have not been taken to the board for approval, General Manager Kevin Kelley told the board on Monday that in one of the next meetings, staff will bring a sample bill to which will indicate direct savings of the customers within their bill.
Board voted unanimously to approve the first $5 million prepayment and continue to move forward with the community solar project.
“I believe this is probably one of the best programs we can get into — this speaks volumes not just for this board but for the district itself in taking care of those that need it the most,” President of the board Bruce Kuhn said.