City, Flathead Electric partner for potential community solar project
The City of Whitefish is interested in partnering with Flathead Electric Cooperative to construct a community solar facility on the city-owned property off Monegan Road where the wastewater treatment plant is located.
The city has previously identified this site as a location for a potential solar farm in the site plan for the property as well as in the city’s Climate Action Plan. Partly due to the high cost for the city to build a solar facility on its own, it began exploring the option of a community solar project which would lease land to Flathead Electric who would then construct and maintain the solar facility.
In a recent work session, Council gave the nod to city staff to further explore this potential project and create a draft agreement with FEC.
“Ultimately, not having the capital available based on the cost of the wastewater plant, we at least wanted to bring the option to council to look at starting to meet the goals of the climate action plan…” Public Works Director Craig Workman said. “It goes toward reducing the emissions of the energy required for the wastewater treatment plant, but it's not going to go directly towards reducing that energy bill.”
In the initial discussions with Flathead Electric, the project is estimated to produce about 200 kilowatts from 456 PV solar panels — this would power about one-quarter of the wastewater treatment plant. Although in the Climate Action Plan the goal is to power the entire plant from solar energy, the city believes this is one step in the right direction.
“It seems like its really a great step at working towards the goals of the Climate Action Plan at the same time as doing something that the community is very interested in, those panels will be available to the community (to purchase),” Karin Hilding, city senior project engineer, said at the meeting.
The facility would likely be a fixed panel system and would take up approximately 1 acre of land. Once a final agreement is reached and permits are obtained, the installation would take a few months to complete.
Flathead Electric Cooperative has also constructed two other community solar facilities over the past several years. In the most recent project, the company says 345-watt panels were sold to FEC members for $750 per panel. As community members purchase panels the energy produced is then deducted as an energy credit from their utility bill over time. FEC says the purchase of panels for the previous project sold out quickly and they currently have a waiting list of members interested in purchasing a solar panel as part of a community project.
In the meeting, FEC System Engineer Ashley Keltner said the cooperative is interested in constructing another community solar facility, but the current cost of land has been an obstacle. The cooperative did not have plans of building a solar array this year until this potential opportunity arose.
Council agreed that there are several details that need to be flushed out before they can give the full green light to construct, but were generally interested in pursuing the option.
“Quite frankly I was uncomfortable with us pursuing this on our own without Flathead Electric,” Councilor Frank Sweeney said. “I mean we don’t do electricity, they do. They’ve done solar arrays before, we have not. I think it’s an incredible idea for us to partner with them… I’d like to see us pursue it.”
The city’s Climate Action Plan that was officially adopted in the spring of 2018, was created to help Whitefish make the transition to a clean energy economy and points to steps to improve local resilience to climate change impacts.
The plan calls for the installation of a solar photovoltaic system on the property where the wastewater treatment plant is located. The future solar facility, which is planned to help power the wastewater treatment plant and reduce its emissions, is one of the four priority energy-saving actions identified in the plan to meet the city’s 2025 emissions reduction target.
A previous feasibility study considered a 500-kilowatt facility that would provide around 30% of the energy needs of the treatment plant at an estimated cost of $882,000.
This community project would generate less than half of that power, but would only take up about 1 acre of the 4.5 acres set aside for solar power generation on the property. The city could add to it or create another solar facility in the future adjacent to the community solar project.
Council expressed interest in city staff continuing discussions with Flathead Electric and the next step will be negotiating an agreement between the two parties.