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Buy a Ray of Sunshine

Stanley Florek is trying to get people to see the light.

His company, Fremont-based Tangerine Power, is looking to spark interest in “crowd-funded clean energy systems” — solar-panel arrays funded by local community members.

Florek is working on Tangerine’s first co-op project, a $40,000 solar-panel setup on the roof of the Frances Anderson Community Center in Edmonds.

To finance the solar system, Tangerine Power is selling interested parties $1,000 chunks of the project — Florek calls them SunSlices.

Once the system is running, the solar power will be paid for, and used by, the community center, replacing around $4,000 of traditional electricity purchases annually. Florek said the initial investment should be returned within 10 years, at a rate of about $100 a year per SunSlice.

Chris Herman, chairman of the group Sustainable Edmonds, initiated the partnership with Tangerine after looking into greener alternatives for city energy use. Sustainable Edmonds hopes to have all the necessary permits and agreements finalized by mid-February, he said.

The solar panels should last at least 30 years, Florek said. After the initial 10-year deal expires, investors could reach a new agreement with the city.

Florek and his team at 2-year-old Tangerine — CFO Andrew Boyd and Chief Customer Officer Marc Pollard — hope to facilitate more such deals.

Edmonds resident Carlo Voli was the first person to buy a SunSlice. Voli said that his interest in green power began with a few solar panels on his own roof to offset his energy usage. When he heard about Herman’s plans, he decided to invest in the co-op model, rather than adding more to his own system.

“The idea of combining renewable solar power with a cooperative model like this was extremely attractive,” he said.

PCC Natural Markets also pledged money for a SunSlice in the Edmonds project.

Although Tangerine won’t begin actively marketing the project until all of the arrangements with Edmonds are finalized, the Frances Anderson project has already raised $14,000 solely through word-of-mouth.

Voli said the chance to jump-start the effort was inspiring.

“I think it’s just a wonderful example that can be replicated by a lot of other cities and communities and organizations around the state,” he said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sundaybuzz/2014059511_sundaybuzz30.html

Tangerine Power in Sustainable Industries

Community Solar for Folks Without Sunny Roofs

By: Jonathan Hiskes, Sustainable Industries Magazine

Published: Jun 17 2011 – 10:18am

When Stanley Florek, an M.B.A. student at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, began considering new possibilities for solar-energy businesses a few years ago, he quickly made two discoveries. First, Pacific Northwesterners were surprisingly eager to put their money toward solar power. And second, few residents had both large, unshaded roofs and $20,000 or so available for a home rooftop array. (In Seattle, particularly, 50 percent of residents are renters.)

Florek researched community-scale solar projects that let neighbors add rooftop arrays all at once, saving through bulk purchases. But those didn’t help renters or others without a suitable roof.

What if neighbors, instead, could pool their money and invest in a collaborative project on the roof of a community center or government building? And what if they could gain an ownership stake while doing so?

He settled on the metaphor of a tangerine, divisible into “SunSlices” that would let residents pay $1,000 for an ownership stake in a larger project, earning a return of $100 a year until the investment was paid off. After that, the community could decide what to do with the project.

He launched Tangerine Power (originally Tangerine Solar) on that concept two years ago. Now, with its first project underway in the Seattle suburb of Edmonds, he’s hopeful he’s got a scalable new model for distributed solar.

“We’re very interested in giving people not just a sense of ownership, but actually control over their local energy future,” he told me this week in his office – on a tugboat on Seattle’s South Lake Union. “There are a lot of people will to sell you stuff, but not as many people willing to help you get empowered.”

In Edmonds, Tangerine Power partnered with the local group Sustainable Edmonds to put a $40,000 array on the Frances Anderson Community Center. Having a local partner has been so helpful that Florek says he’ll try to do the same on all projects. (He compares the projects to barnraisings that work only with a lot of help.)

The hardware comes from Silicon Energy of Marysville, Wash., since the state offers incentives for projects that use Washington-made equipment. Tangerine is now hashing out terms for a second project on the City of Bellevue Service Center. It’s in the midst of an angel funding round and hopes to expand throughout the nation in the coming years.

In Edmonds, investors should have their initial investment of $1,000 returned in about 10 years. After that, they’ll vote on whether to keep the array, sell it to the local utility, or dismantle it. Until then, they have a way of investing that’s closer to home than most stock purchases but more lucrative than a pure donation.

“If they’re watching news and tearing their hair out over it, this is something they can do in their community that has a concrete impact,” Florek said. “They’re bringing green energy to their community.”

Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative pioneers new Cooperative Solar Model

36 Snohomish County residents + 7 organizations join forces for a solar “Barn Raising”

Community Solar legislation, passed in 2009, made it possible for renters, condo owners, forest dwellers and thousandaires to share in the triple bottom line of solar energy use. We can: reduce our carbon footprint (good for our planet), provide discounted power to the cities and schools (good for our community), and receive federal, state and utility incentives (good for our wallet). 

Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative is a 100% locally owned enterprise set up to make more clean energy under Washington's Community Solar program. 

Key Stats on Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative

  • 4.2 kilowatts of Made in Washington solar equipment installed on the Frances Anderson community center in Edmonds, Washington.
  • 36 charter members each bought between $1,000 and $3,000 in SunSlicestm to launch phase one of the project.
  • 100 watts of solar power owned in each SunSlicetm holder’s name.
  • 100% of each SunSlice holder’s original purchase amount is expected to be returned out of the project’s revenue from energy production.   
  • One of the first Citizen-owned Solar Energy Cooperatives in the United States.
  • 4 City Council meetings attended to educate community leaders about the costs and benefits of community solar.
  • 3 days for Sunergy to construct the system (on time and under budget.)
  • 30 media mentions worldwide for this groundbreaking project – from Edmonds all the way to Germany.

How we got here

In spring of 2010, Sustainable Edmonds began investigating the possibility of installing community-owned solar arrays in their town. In particular, Chris Herman, owner of Winter Sun Design and a longtime solar activist, led the determined charge that made this project happen. Along with Mark Mays, an engineer at Outback Power Systems, Chris worked with City of Edmonds to identify appropriate sites for rooftop solar and received preliminary approval from Edmonds City Council to lease roof space. The site chosen was the Frances Anderson Center, a longtime community institution hosting the arts, recreation, and special events for the surrounding area which would provide great visibility to the community solar array. 

Sustainable Edmonds wanted this project to be open to EVERYONE in the community. After consulting with Tangerine Power, a Seattle solar developer, they settled on a Cooperative form of shared ownership for the solar array they were going to construct. The Cooperative allows people of modest means to band together in unlimited numbers to fund solar power in their community. Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative was established in December 2010 for this purpose.

As we developed the project, we heard a lot of fears and concerns that the proposed solar array didn’t make sense for the City of Edmonds.  Here are some of the ways we addressed those concerns and completed the project.
 

They told us “Solar is best delivered by big development companies”. To meet the challenge of building a municipal-scale solar array, we built an all-star team of local small businesses: 

  • Tangerine Power (One of the first Community Solar Developers in Washington)
  • Sunergy Systems (The top volume installer in Washington)
  • Silicon Energy (The first certified Solar Module and Inverter maker in Washington, HQ'd right in Snohomish County)
  • Lloyd Lynch Construction (Original installer of the Frances Anderson Center Roof).
  • Mark Codispoti, PE (Delivered a thorough report demonstrating how the roof can hold the weight of the panels.)

They told us “Solar is too expensive”. While solar is still often seen as an upscale purchase, we pooled our money in affordable $1,000 chunks called SunSlicestm to reduce the cost of going solar for any one person.  We found support for the array within our own community:  PCC Natural Markets, Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church, and 36 individuals each bought one or more SunSlicestm to fund Phase I of this project to completion. Each of these members will share in energy payments and incentive payments from the state and federal government.

They told us “Solar is a bad deal for local government.” Actually, the Cooperative’s agreement with the  City of Edmonds will save them money on all solar-generated energy they use from the day the system is flipped on. 

 

They told us “Solar will void our roof warrantee.”   We worked with Lloyd Lynch Construction and Soprema, the roofing material manufacturer, to put down protective pads under the solar array. We also built the first ballasted solar system in Edmonds to eliminate the need for roof penetrations. 

They told us “Solar is incompatible with historic property.” We earned the trust of the Edmonds Historic Preservation board, who agreed with our argument that part of historical preservation is keeping a building functional and relevant into the new century.

Next Steps

The phase one solar array began making clean power for the City of Edmonds in September. There is plenty more room on the roof to install solar now that the basic groundwork is done. Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative will open phase 2 of the Frances Anderson Center project to new members throughout Snohomish County in late October 2011. Breaking news on the project is always available at www.tangerinepower.com/edmonds.

Tangerine Power in Photon Magazine

Tangerine Power was featured in a full-color spread in Photon Magazine, the leading Solar Industry trade magazine in the world. See the attachment for photos and info on the state of Solar in Washington!