WES Engineering installed Literacy Network's Racking System

Literacy Network of Dane County

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LOCATION: Madison, Wisconsin  |  CAPACITY: 19 kW  |  PROJECT COMPLETED: December 2018

SOLAR CONTRACTOR:
Logo_WES Engineering

 

 

 

Founded in 1974, the Literacy Network teaches reading, writing, communication and computer skills to approximately 1,000 low-income Dane County adults each year (90% are people of color; 67% are women). A staff of 28 and nearly 900 annual volunteers help participants achieve financial security, well-being and deeper engagement with their families and the community.

In fall 2016, after renting for more than 40 years, Literacy Network purchased and renovated the building at 701 Dane Street, with nearly four times more space than their previous location.

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Wisconsin bond program helps nonprofits afford solar

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The upfront costs of solar panels are sometimes too high for small organizations

(Reposted from the Yale Climate Connections article on 6/6/2022)

Many nonprofit organizations would like to install solar panels. But the upfront costs can be prohibitive for groups on tight budgets.

So an organization in Wisconsin has created a financing model to help community groups go solar.

Elise Couillard is with Legacy Solar Co-op. Through the group’s Slice of Sun solar bonds program, co-op members can invest in 12-year bonds that help cover the cost of solar arrays at nonprofits and community groups.

Bond holders earn interest while supporting a cause they believe in.

“Our members are some of the fiercest supporters of solar,” Couillard says.

In 2021, the program helped finance solar arrays at a chapter of the Humane Society, a Boys’ and Girls’ Club, an elementary school, a senior community, and several other organizations.

Couillard says the solar helps these groups lower their utility bills and direct more funds to their core missions.

“So any money that they’re not having to spend on their electrical bills can go towards a new staff member. It can go towards care for their residents,” she says. “We know that these nonprofits and these community organizations are doing such amazing work, and we can help accelerate that amazing work by freeing up more funds for them to do so.”

Willy Street Co-op Solar Array

Project Comes Full Circle: Willy Street Co-op

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In 2016, the Willy Street Co-op partnered with Legacy to install 212 LED lamps and 90 solar panels at their east location. They provided the roof-top; Legacy provided the technical assistance and tax financing; Full Spectrum Solar installed the panels. This energy efficiency and renewable energy project has saved over 200,000 kilowatt-hours and over 120 metric tons of carbon emissions so far. And, this month the Willy Street Co-op purchased the array outright from the tax sponsor and bondholders. Not one LED lamp has needed replacing yet, and there are still 19 years of warranty on the solar panels. It has already been a good investment and proves to get even better as time goes on.

Watch for a case study on Legacy’s first project involving tax equity financing, coming full circle. As more projects are purchased by their hosts, we can really amplifying celebrate the benefits of tax equity financing.

Congratulations to Willy Street Co-op on taking full ownership of their solar array!

Neshkoro Fire District

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LOCATION:  Neshkoro, Wisconsin   |   CAPACITY:  14.8 kW   |   COMPLETION DATE: November 2021

SOLAR CONTRACTOR:

All Sky Energy Logo

The Neshkoro Fire District serves the Village of Neshkoro, the Town of Neshkoro, the Town of Crystal Lake (all in Marquette County), and a portion of the Town of Marion in Waushara County.  They provide fire suppression, emergency first response, and SCUBA dive team support to this area along with mutual aid to neighboring areas.

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Cashton Elementary

Cashton Elementary School

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LOCATION:  Cashton, Wisconsin   |   CAPACITY:  65.86 kW   |   COMPLETION DATE: August 2021

SOLAR CONTRACTOR:

 

 

 

Cashton Elementary School is a Wisconsin public K-12 education organization located in La Crosse County, Wisconsin.

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Kathy’s House

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LOCATION:  Milwaukee, Wisconsin   |   CAPACITY:  77 kW   |   COMPLETION DATE: March 2021

SOLAR CONTRACTOR: Arch Electric

 

Kathy’s House is a hospital guest house committed to providing affordable lodging and caring support in a “home away from home” environment for families who need to travel to Milwaukee, Wis. for medical care. We serve approximately 3,000 patients and caregivers annually who are receiving advanced care at local hospitals. Most guests have a loved one with cancer.

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Solar panels on Art Ventures Retreat Center at Bethel Horizons, Dodgeville

Bethel Horizons

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LOCATION: Dodgeville, Wisconsin  |  CAPACITY: 40 kW  |  COMPLETION DATE: October 2018

SOLAR CONTRACTOR:
Logo_WES Engineering

 

 

 

 

The Prairie Center and the Venture Arts Retreat Center will each be generating about 50% of their own power.

Bethel Horizons is located on more than 548 acres bordering Governor Dodge State Park. Our mission is to develop and perpetuate a physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual environment which will strengthen and enhance the understanding of a person’s proper relation to nature, to self, to others and to God.”

(From Solar for Good grant)

Horizons is affiliated with Bethel Lutheran Church, Madison, Wisconsin and Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, an association of ELCA camps across the country.

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Sawyer County Non Profit Housing Development

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LOCATION:  Multiple locations in Sawyer County, Wisconsin   |   CAPACITY:  153 kW   |   COMPLETION DATE: May 2020

SOLAR CONTRACTOR: Carlson Electric

 

Sawyer County Non Profit Housing Development (Galaxie Apartments) provides affordable housing for seniors and disable people at four locations in Sawyer County, Wisconsin.  The apartments are run by a full-time manager and a full-time maintenance man, with a Board of Directors overseeing the total operation.

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Christ Lutheran Church Spring Green: View from the Road

Christ Lutheran Church of Spring Green

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LOCATION: Spring Green, Wisconsin   |   CAPACITY: 18 kW   |   COMPLETION DATE: December 2018
SOLAR CONTRACTOR:
Logo_WES Engineering

 

 

 

Christ Lutheran Church has served the Spring Green, WI community for 135 years. In 2018, the co-op began planning another phase of their history: generating power from the sun. The resulting project should generate roughly 60% of the church’s electricity and set a great example of environmental stewardship for the community and for other congregations. Read more

First Unitarian Society of Madison

First Unitarian Society (FUS) of Madison

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LOCATION: Madison, Wisconsin   |   CAPACITY: 83 kW   |   COMPLETION DATE: October 2019
SOLAR CONTRACTOR:
Full Spectrum Solar logo

 

The First Unitarian Society (FUS) of Madison is a community of spiritual and ethical seekers that inhabits a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. FUS is one of the largest Unitarian Universalist congregations in the United States, totaling over 1,400 members.

The Story

Over the years, FUS staff and board, the Sustainability Ministry Team, with the support of the FUS community, have developed a sustainable, carbon neutral vision, which now includes a 83kW solar panel system that was added to its campus in October of 2019. The new array was placed on the flat-roofed portions of FUS and outside the green roof on the Atrium addition and has the capacity to generate about 90,000 kW-hours of electricity annually – more than a quarter of the electricity it consumes, or about nine average-sized U.S. homes worth of energy. The system, designed by Full Spectrum Solar, maximizes the energy the building can generate with the roof space available.

The solar project is a major step toward the ministry team’s sustainability goals. Together with the solar project, the efficiency improvements will save money and get FUS toward the team’s goal of carbon net neutrality or better. FUS hopes its efforts will inspire its members to be more sustainable themselves.

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Camp Shalom (Jewish Federation of Madison) Solar System2018

Camp Shalom Youth Center (Jewish Federation of Madison)

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LOCATION: Verona, Wisconsin  |  CAPACITY: 10.8 kW  |  START DATE: December 2018

SOLAR CONTRACTOR:
Midwest Solar Power

 

 

 

Camp Shalom has been in operation since 1954, making it the oldest (and its the largest) day camp in Dane County. Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Madison and residing within the Goodman Jewish Community Center, it, along with Camp Shalom Noar-Bogrim, which has educational and engaging programming from 6-9 grades, serves over 1,000 children at its beautiful location in rural Town of Verona. Camp Shalom has a track record of never denying a child a camp experience because of financial need.

The Goodman Jewish Community Center has long had a commitment to sustainability. Legacy Solar Co-op was happy to expand the Federation’s sustainability goals by adding a photovoltaic electric, roof-mounted system on the roof of a smaller building behind the main camp structure, as well as the pergola in front of the building.

The system, which consists of 72 cell mono-crystalline solar modules, will produce a minimum of 12,000kWh annually, or about 40% of their energy usage. After 25 years, the system is still expected to produce at least 80% of current, installed capacity. This project lowers the camp’s utility bills making more money available for outreach to families in need and summer programming and camping experiences for our youth.

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