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More than 600 sign up for Cedar Falls solar initiative
http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/more-than-sign-up-for-cedar-falls-solar-initiative/article_a613b792-a4e9-5f0b-84e5-a658259e52d6.html

An artist's rendering of the Cedar Falls Utilities solar project.
1 hour ago • By Pat Kinney(0) Comments
CEDAR FALLS | Many customers of Cedar Falls Utilities are getting a charge out of the opportunity to get a portion of their electricity from solar energy.

"We wanted to give our citizens and our business the opportunity to participate in this, and so far there's been an outstanding response from our citizens," General Manager Jim Krieg said. "Over 600 people have signed up in our marketing effort."

According to Krieg, CFU officials believe that interest has been there, untapped, for some time.

"We've got a lot of interest from our residents and identified our major key account users of electricity -- the top 50 business. We are approaching them. A lot of them, like the city (government), have established goals and would like to have either 5 or 10 percent of their electric usage come from renewable -- economic renewable -- sources. So we are going out to those folks and saying we believe we have an economical, renewable source of energy."

CFU is planning to develop a solar garden -- an array of solar energy panels -- on unused city property at the northeast corner of Prairie Lakes Park off of Hudson Road. The availability of tax credits, which can be passed on to customers, is making that possible, Krieg said.

Customers are being solicited to buy shares at $399 a piece, which can be paid in 12 installments as part of the monthly utility bill. According to CFU officials, each share is expected to generate 2.5 percent of an average home’s electric usage.

Once subscribed, a homeowner would receive a monthly CFU bill credit for the electricity generated at the garden. CFU would pay the monthly bill credits for 20 years, but officials with the utility estimate a subscription would be paid back within 15 years' time. Shares also could be sold back to CFU or transferred to someone else, provided they are a CFU customer.

CFU has decided to act on this project now due to a confluence of factors, not least of which is a federal solar incentive tax credit program set to expire in 2016 that will pay for up to 30 percent of the investment. The cost of solar panels also is coming down.

Now is the opportune time to make that investment, Krieg said, suggesting this initiative is more cost-effective for individual residential customers than installing panels at their residences.

The City Council is anticipated to discuss at what level city government wants to participate over the next month.

"There appears to be council support to participate, but the level will need to be debated," City Administrator Dick McAlister said. "To a degree, the city has already invested in the project by making the land available. We’ll need to evaluate the return on investment to determine the level that we buy in at. City staff will be making those calculations and then recommending a level of involvement."

Krieg and CFU spokeswoman Betty Zeman said the utility hopes customers will make decisions on solar participation within the month so CFU can enter into a contract this fall to install the solar array.

"Cedar Falls Utilities Simple Solar Home" yard signs are popping up around town on properties where customers have signed on.

For more information, go to cfu.net or call 266-1761.

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