Community Solar Spotlight: Solarize Rogue’s Project Is Live!
The community solar array (141.6 kW-DC) on top of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) production building in Talent, OR, has been operational since March 2022 and supplies power to 19 households from Rogue River to Green Springs.
Ray Sanchez-Pescador from Solarize Rogue spearheaded the three-year project in partnership with Sustainable Northwest, the Oregon Clean Power Co-op, and True South Solar.
Michael Hoch, SNW's Energy Program Associate, talked with Ray Sanchez-Pescador to reflect on his experience and plans for future community solar projects. "This all started with a basic concept to help people get solar. Then, Senate Bill 1547 allowed residents to pool their resources to build a solar photovoltaic system and share its power. Before that, this was illegal, and now this simple concept could become a reality." (Ray Sanchez-Pescador)
Senate Bill 1547 was passed in 2016 and created the Oregon Community Solar Program, enabling customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, and Idaho Power to own or subscribe to shared solar arrays and benefit from the generation. The community solar model has gained momentum in the United States and allows greater access, participation, and benefits from solar.
The OSF project is the first and only community solar project to go live in Pacific Power territory, the first participant-owned community solar array in Oregon, and the first "carve-out" project in Oregon (Carve-outs were established in the program to incentivize small and/or community-driven projects).
Solarize Rogue and its partners paved the way for future participant-owned community solar array projects. Ray and his team overcame many challenges using a new model, and he thanked the many organizations who aided in the project's success:
"OSF was more than kind to host the project – it wouldn't have been developed without their support. Sustainable Northwest has always been helpful to fill in the gaps, as we are not energy experts. Ben Dair (SNW Conservation Finance Sr. Manager) helped tremendously with financing. Lee Rahr (SNW Water & Energy Program Director) and Bridget Callahan (SNW Sr. Energy Program Manager) helped with Open Houses and have been great mentors and cheerleaders to help remove barriers for this project."
Ray also thanked the Energy Trust of Oregon, the Community Solar Program staff, the OPUC, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, SOCAN, and Pacific Power and applauded Rogue Climate for enrolling low-income households in the project.
Ray is already thinking about what is next for Solarize Rogue sharing "we have four projects in line to start this year or early next, of about 1 megawatt each! Please contact us if you want to know more or join the party!"
For more information about this story, please contact Michael Hoch or Ray Sanchez-Pescador via the Solarize Rogue website.
Michael Hoch
SNW's Energy Program Associate
mhoch@sustainablenorthwest.org
