Community Solar Project on Monegan Road gets go-ahead

Julie Engler, Whitefish Pilot, Mont.
·3 min read

Feb. 22—Last week, the Whitefish City Council voted unanimously to approve an agreement with Flathead Electric Cooperative that will produce even more clean energy.

The City of Whitefish's Climate Action Plan calls for the installation of a solar photovoltaic facility on the city-owned property near the wastewater treatment plant. City staff worked with FEC for over a year to craft the agreement that council approved unanimously.

The community solar facility will be managed and maintained by FEC. It will include 456 panels that will be installed this summer or fall, produce about 200 KW and take up about one acre of space.

The city will lease the land to FEC for the project and receive one panel's worth of power in return which will show as a credit on the city's electricity bill and will offset energy usage at the wastewater treatment plant, the staff report states.

"The current proposed project is for a 200 kilowatt Flathead Electric community solar project which will offset energy consumption on their grid," Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman said.

According to the staff report, FEC will apply for a USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant for about 30% of the project cost, approximately $140,000. To apply, the project must be designed, bid and a contractor selected before the application due date at the end of March.

FEC may also qualify for a 30% tax credit for solar projects under the federal government's Inflation Reduction Act. FEC would receive this federal credit as a direct payment and if they qualify, the credit would not be available for individual cooperative members.

With these federal programs, the panel cost per member would be significantly reduced from the originally estimated $1,000 to between $400 and $700. Due to the requirements of the federal grant program, FEC would sell the panel's energy output, rather than the physical panel.

With the purchase of a panel, the energy produced is deducted as an energy credit from the member's utility bill over time.

"While owners of the panels will ultimately be the ones who claim the rights to each panel, the land provided at the wastewater treatment plant will be used to generate about one-third of the annual power requirements of the facility," Workman said.

The Bonneville Environmental Foundation has expressed interest in purchasing several panels

and donating them to offset energy use of local low‐income residents. FEC would coordinate

this program with the LIEAP (Low Income Energy Assistance Program) run by the Community

Action Partnership of Northwest Montana.

Additionally, a Whitefish resident has committed to purchasing and donating $5,000 worth of solar panels to offset the energy use of low-income area residents.

Workman's report says that installation of a solar photovoltaic facility on the property of the wastewater treatment plant was identified as one of the city's four priority energy-saving actions to meet the 2025 emissions reduction target.

After an oversight in the agreement was corrected, Councilor Ben Davis made a motion to approve, it was seconded by Councilor Giuseppe Caltabiano and it passed unanimously.

"Glad we are building this," Davis added. "Hopefully, we can build some more."