© Copyright 2013 Clean Energy Collective ® 1 Community Solar Power Overview Prepared For: Talking Green member owned. nature operated.

© Copyright 2013 Clean Energy Collective ® 1

Community Solar Power Overview

Prepared For: Talking Green

member owned. nature operated.


®Agenda

• Current Energy Challenges• Advantages of Community Solar Arrays• Who is Clean Energy Collective (CEC)?• How It Works• Summary


®Current Energy Challenges

• Rising energy prices• Increasing Environmental Awareness• Many obstacles to going solar may exist– Aesthetics– Roof design and orientation– Maintenance– Price– Building lessee


®The Solution - Community Solar with the CEC

Tom & Tina Smith

Colorado Mountain CollegeAlpine Bank

The Jones FamilyRoutt County

SOLAR POWER Reinvented


®Advantages of Community Solar

• Energy Savings– Monthly electric bill credits

– Power credit rate that protects against inflation

– Tax savings from depreciation expense (commercial customers)

– Short payback period of initial investment

– With financing, can acquire with little money down and still achieve immediate savings



• Offsite Solar Benefits– Anyone can participate, regardless of roof design,

direction, shading, etc.

– Allows lessees and lessors to participate – anyone who pays a utility bill.

– No aesthetic or structural integrity issues

– Comprehensive operations and maintenance program included

– Lower costs from economies of scale



• Flexibility– Bill credit can easily be transferred to any meter on the

utility’s network.

– Can be sold to another user if owner moves outside of the area, or has a reduced energy need.


®About CEC

• Clean Energy Collective (CEC) was founded in 2009

• CEC provides easy access to locally produced solar energy

• We pioneered country’s first “community-owned solar arrays”

• Over 90 power producing solar systems online or under development, representing 160MW of capacity

• Currently serving customers of 25 utilities in 11 states


®How Does it Work?

• YVEA Community Solar Array – 577kW of clean power capacity

• Clean Solar Power is sold to YVEA under a 25-year agreement with the option to extend the program

• Any YVEA residential or commercial customer can purchase panels in the YVEA community solar power array

• Customers receive monthly electric bill credits on their YVEA bill

• CEC maintains the community solar array for optimal performance and savings


®How Does it Work?

• Array located on City of Craig land

• Approximately 4 acres

• Panel type: primarily 305-watt Jinko Solar modules

• Panel #: approx. 2,000

• Price: $2.56/watt


®How It Works

• Monthly Bill Credits– YVEA charges Customer for the actual energy usage under

its prevailing tariff rates.

– YVEA credits Customer for the amount of energy produced by its portion of the solar array at the program’s credit rate.

– Initial credit rate is $.10/kwh, higher than the retail rate charged, and will rise with the retail rate once the retail rate equals the credit rate.

– Excess credits are rolled over and applied to future electric bills.


®How It Works

• Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Trust– CEC is responsible for the ongoing operations and maintenance

of the solar array.

– To ensure that maintenance is provided over the life of the array, CEC establishes a separate O&M Trust and Trust account.

– The Trust holds all of rights to the PPA, lease, insurance and manufacturers warranties

– The Trust account holds the funds necessary to pay for the maintenance, insurance, property taxes and lease costs.

– The Trust account is funded with an initial contribution by CEC and ongoing contributions from the production of the array.


®Summary

• Lock in low energy costs for a long time (50 years)

• No need to install anything on customer premise

• Professionally Maintained

• Rebates, Discounts and Credits are instantly included in purchase price

• Optimal Production & Longer Life

• Transferable to Other YVEA Utility Customers

• If customers move within YVEA service area, the credits move with them

• Everyone can OWN clean energy and save money!

© Copyright 2013 Clean Energy Collective ® 1 Community Solar Power Overview Prepared For: Talking Green member owned. nature operated.

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