United Expands Access to Community Solar

After six years at full capacity, United is expanding its Community Solar Program. The expansion will create an opportunity for thousands more United members to participate and potentially lower their monthly energy costs.

The program allows members an opportunity to benefit from solar energy without purchasing or installing a solar system at their homes. Instead, participating members subscribe to a portion of the solar capacity available through United and receive a monthly allocation based on the amount of energy those solar resources produce.

Beginning Oct. 1, United plans to reopen the program to eligible single-phase members after adding new solar capacity to the cooperative’s power supply portfolio.

United recently entered into a power purchase agreement for an additional 40 megawatts of solar capacity. After United began receiving energy from the facility in June, the cooperative spent the following months reviewing its performance and costs before moving forward with the expansion.

Blake Beavers, United’s chief membership services officer, said the co-op has explored opportunities to expand the program since available subscriptions were filled about six years ago.

“We’ve been monitoring the market for the last five years through RFPs and conversations with market participants, however, rising solar costs made finding the right opportunity challenging,” Beavers said. “With the last RFP, we received favorable pricing and thought it was a good time to proceed.”

United initially plans to dedicate 20 MW of the added solar capacity to the Community Solar Program, providing 10,000 additional 2-kilowatt subscriptions. The remaining 20 MW will become part of United’s overall power supply portfolio.

Approximately 1,130 members are currently on the program’s waiting list. United will first enroll qualified members from that list and notify them by email. After accommodating the waiting list, United expects approximately 8,400 subscriptions to remain available to eligible members.

“We’re trying to maximize the number of members who can participate in this program,” Beavers said.

How United’s Community Solar Program Works
Participation in United’s Community Solar Program requires no panels or other equipment at a member’s property.

Each 2-kW subscription provides a member with an allocation of the energy United purchases from the three solar facilities supporting the program. Because solar production varies with conditions, the amount of energy allocated to each subscription also varies from month to month.

The addition of the added solar resource is expected to slightly increase the amount of energy allocated to each subscription because of newer, more efficient solar panels and advances in solar-tracking technology.

The solar resource adds more solar generation to the program, and it also changes the overall cost of the energy supporting Community Solar. The program’s base rate is calculated using the weighted average cost of energy from all three solar resources. With the addition of this solar, that rate will increase slightly from 4.201 cents per kilowatt-hour to 4.296 cents per kilowatt-hour. 

Despite the minimal increase, United expects participating members to continue realizing savings similar to those of members currently enrolled. Last year, participants saw average monthly savings of approximately $22.

The program is currently available to members in United’s single-phase rate class. Members averaging more than 500 kWh of electricity use per month may qualify for one 2-kW subscription, while members averaging more than 1,000 kWh may qualify for two subscriptions, representing 4 kW.

Participation does not require a long-term contract, and subscriptions can be transferred if a member moves to another United-served residence.

Following the Oct. 1 reopening and enrollment of members currently on the waiting list, United will begin accepting new participants for the remaining available subscriptions.

Members interested in participating can contact a United member service representative or search for United Community Solar at ucs.net to learn more and enroll.