Westar to push pilot centralized solar power project

Westar wants to know whether you are willing to pay more for solar power.

If enough people are, it will contract to build what’s called a community solar project somewhere in Kansas.

The way it works is this: A developer builds a utility-scale solar power installation. Westar customers sign a contract to buy solar power for between five and 20 years at the fixed price of $30 per month. That price would never change.

That entitles a buyer to the electricity generated by one panel, which varies day to day but will average 150 kilowatts a month, said Gina Penzig, a spokeswoman for Westar. Buyers don’t receive the energy from the panel directly, but instead get a credit on their bill.

Penzig said that as of this moment, that much electricity costs about $20 per month.

“Right now, they would be paying a little more for the benefit of having renewable energy,” she said. “But as prices fluctuate, in 10 or 20 years, if prices go up, you may be paying the same or even have a little bit of savings.”

A 1-megawatt installation would require 160 subscriptions, she said. The company opened enrollment earlier and so far has 24 subscriptions.

The company is soliciting solar buyers until the end of March. No location has been chosen, she said.

Go to www.WestarEnergy.com/communitysolar for information.

Westar has been aggressive about developing solar power in the past few years, but only in some ways. It has come out against policies that encourage “distributed energy” where individuals are able to generate their own energy at their homes and even sell it back to Westar on the grid.

Westar in 2014 supported a bill that would have eliminated net-metering, in which the utility would have to buy back an individual’s rooftop solar panels’ surplus electricity at retail rates. After a compromise, the state retained net metering but placed restrictions on it to make it less valuable for homeowners seeking their own solar panel system.

Aaron Cromwell, owner of Cromwell Solar in Lawrence, said that despite the changes, rooftop solar is less expensive in the long run than the community solar that Westar is proposing. He said the cost of installing the system will be paid off with lower electricity bills in about nine years, and the individual will own the system. The company has also developed a lease program to eliminate upfront costs, he said.

But community solar does have its supporters.

Midwest Energy, an electric co-op based in Hays, built a 4,000-panel solar farm near Colby in conjunction with Colorado solar farm developer Clean Energy Collective.

Individuals in the utility’s service area can buy a panel for $891 and pull the power off it forever. Each generates about 305 watts, and the power is credited to the owner’s account, said spokesman Mike Morley.

The farm started operating in February. Only 27 panels remain to be sold.

Morley and Penzig said their companies are doing this because the idea of solar is so popular and the costs have fallen so dramatically. Morley said it’s also a way of providing solar power supporters with a way of getting it without undermining the utility’s business model of centralized generation and distribution.

The benefit, he said, is that, unlike wind, solar generation produces electricity most when the demand is greatest.

“It has been surprising to us,” he said. “We found that it very closely matched peak load. The summer and afternoons are when solar does it best.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Westar to push pilot centralized solar power project."