Solar Energy Opportunity for Aurora, Adams County Residents

By Dick Peterson

Own your share of local solar energy and save money on your Xcel electric bill.

Aurora Solar Garden 1 Now Open for Subscribers in Aurora and Adams County.

Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center in cooperation with Solar Power Financial, Namaste Solar, and the Solar Gardens Institute is now accepting Solar Garden subscribers.

Now every homeowner, business owner, or renter who wished they could have solar energy but their roof is shaded, it is too expensive, or their HOA won’t allow it – now they can!

Xcel Energy has just released the Solar*Rewards Community program and Namaste Solar is building one in your community.

How does it work? Subscribers like you pay an up-front cost, and then you receive a credit on your Xcel bill based on the energy generated by your share of the Solar Garden. Your investment will break even in about 15 years and the credit to your bill continues for another 15years – and the credit grows over time!

 Alternatively, you can commit to a monthly payment, called a power purchase agreement (PPA) which will provide a savings on your Xcel bill greater than the cost of the PPA – and you’ll be using solar electricity for 30 years.

Subscriptions are 100% transferrable within your county and you can sell them at anytime. It’s a no-hassle way to go solar.

Contact Tom Zwahlen (phone: 303 447-0300) at Namaste Solar for details and to learn about our Early Bird discount rate.

Below is some additional background on Solar Gardens and links to more information.

Governor Bill Ritter signed the Community Solar Gardens Act into law on June 5, 2010. In July 2012, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved rules allowing XCEL to open the program. Like a community garden allows people without their own gardens to grow plants, a solar garden allows people who don’t have a good space for solar panels to subscribe to a shared solar array located off site. Subscribers receive credits on their monthly XCEL bills, similar to the credit for a rooftop solar array. Residents, businesses, nonprofits, faith communities, and local governments can become subscribers and realize a savings on their electric bills.

In 2010, the City of Aurora hosted a meeting of 70 members of an ad-hoc solar gardens working group to discuss the PUC rulemaking process and to explore securities and tax questions. City officials later toured the development’s chosen site and were present at a lease signing ceremony at Aurora City Hall. Aurora Solar Garden One will be located just southeast of Denver International Airport on retired farmland. XCEL Energy customers throughout the City of Aurora and throughout Adams County may participate.

Said prospective subscriber and Colorado state Senator Suzanne Williams (D-Aurora), "After three years of work and conversation, Auroran’s now have an opportunity to enter into a new dawn of community owned solar.  Membership in a Community Solar Garden will not only help the environment by using a natural source of energy, but will save money for the subscriber." (In ancient Roman mythology, the goddess of the dawn was named “Aurora”.)

City of Aurora Environmental Programs Coordinator Karen Hancock said “The City of Aurora will do everything it can to assure a smooth process for this first of its kind project.

The Team

Solar Power Financial is owned and managed by Barry Ruby who has been a real estate developer and investor for more than 45 years. SPF is currently developing 5MW of PV Solar farms in Hawaii and an 800 kW PV system for a Colorado Charter School. On August 16th, SPF won Xcel Awards for two solar gardens totaling 1MW of a total 4.5MW program and is moving forward with developing both of these projects with its team members; Namaste Energy and the Solar Gardens Institute. SPF also is active in select markets that present development opportunities that meet and serve the needs of all of a project’s stakeholders.

“Our company feels privileged to be a part of a new and exciting initiative to help bring the solar gardens concept into reality,” said Solar Power Financial founder Barry Ruby. “Our goal is to offer our subscriber customers maximum energy savings. Our team members, Namaste and Solar Gardens Institute, have the ability to help reach that goal.” For more information go to http://Solar-Power-Financial.com.

Namaste Solar is the premier Colorado Cooperatively Owned solar Engineering, Procurement and Construction Company. They have been leading solar installations and corporate culture since 1995.

Said Namaste Solar co-owner Stanci March "At the heart of the community solar garden concept is the desire to provide access to clean, affordable energy to many people that are currently restricted from the market. We cannot imagine a better philosophical fit than this program with Namsate Solar's triple-bottom-line (people, planet, profit) and employee ownership business model. As such we are very committed to working with other likeminded groups in order to bring these projects to fruition, with careful consideration given to all of the many different stakeholders involved. We are excited to add this new chapter of community solar gardens to Namaste Solar's story of holistic business." For more information go to http://namastesolar.com.

The Solar Gardens Institute is a Colorado non-profit founded in 2010 with the mission:

• To educate and learn from the public about community solar energy.
• To promote good community energy policy at the federal, state, and local levels.
• To assist local organizations in organizing, developing, and managing community-owned solar energy projects everywhere.
• To provide a way for everyone to own solar panels, making clean energy affordable and available for all humanity.

For more information go to http://solargardens.org.