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Project Updates

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Legacy Solar Co-op Team, 12/20/19

Legacy Solar Co-op’s solar bond program provides financing to help pay for up-front costs. The following projects are well on their way, but some still need your support to be completed.

A few ways to get involved:

  • Purchase solar bonds: Available in increments of $250, help support this project by purchasing bonds and earn up to 5% interest yearly. Only LSC members are eligible to buy bonds. Join today!
  • Become a tax sponsor: Provide the major sponsorship needed to make these projects happen. If you are interested or have questions, please reach out to us by contacting info@legacysolarcoop.org.

Some of our current projects:

  • Lakeview Lutheran Church (Madison) — A congregation serving Madison for over 150 years. We provided a solar assessment for this roughly 20-30 kW project.
  • Solon Springs School District (Solon Springs)— Located in Douglas County (northwest Wisconsin), this school district will soon benefit from a solar array with up to 100 kW capacity. Early winter delayed project completion into 2020, but we eagerly anticipation spring solar power for Solon Springs. Read more
Update from Nick

If I’m Getting Free Electricity from the Sun, Why isn’t my bill lower? It may be your demand peaks.

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Nick Hein, 12/20/19

If you’re a commercial electric customer and you’ve just installed solar PV on your roof, you’re probably expecting to see a lower monthly electric bill.  If you don’t, it’s probably due to peak demand charges and there’s something you can do about it.  Electricity doesn’t always cost the same.  Depending what tariff schedule (rate plan) you’re on, the electric bill may have any or all of these components: 

When you install solar, you’re saving yourself money in the usage charge.  That means the utility is making less money, so they try to make up for it by increasing the connection charge and the demand charges.  Before solar, these charges didn’t even exist.  To some extent they are justified.   Connection charges cover the cost  to maintain wires and transformers that carry the electricity, and this rate is negotiated with the state Public Service Commission and can’t be changed.  Peak demand rates are also fixed, but you can reduce your peak usage.  When there are peaks the provider has to pay more for electricity on short notice.  It makes good sense to level out your usage so you don’t get peaks because it reduces the wear on your electrical equipment.  It can also save you money on your monthly bill.  Here’s how. Read more

Logo for LSC

2019 Annual Meeting

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Annual Meeting 2019

The purpose of the co-op annual meeting is 3-fold:

  1. Meeting is required by Chapter 185 governing Wisconsin Cooperatives (quorum is at least 10% of membership);
  2. Find out what’s been up with your Co-op in 2019 and what is in store for 2020 (and join the discussion!);
  3. Vote for Board Members and any other motions or resolutions from the business meeting.

The meeting took place at Madison Brassworks in the Bea Christensen Room (214 Waubesa Street, Madison) starting at 6:00 PM, food at 6:30 and business meeting at 7:00.

Thank you to everyone who attended! It was great to see so many friendly faces and to get a chance to talk with other members.

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.

Read more

Drone view

Project Updates

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Legacy Solar Co-op Team, 10/10/19

First Unitarian Society Rooftop

First Unitarian Society Rooftop

The First Unitarian Society in Madison is hosting a ribbon-cutting on October 13 (at 12:30pm) to commemorate their new rooftop solar system (installed by Full Spectrum Solar), which, combined with energy-efficiency measures, will reduce their electricity demand from the grid by more than half. Read more about this project.

Blackhawk Church Fitchburg‘s system was switched on in September – Installation by H&H Electric.

  • Humane Society of Burnett County (HSBC) launched their new system with a ribbon cutting on September 29, the largest solar array in Burnett County! Installation by Carlson Electric. Read more.
  • Solon Springs School District is being installed in October. Installation by Carlson Electric.
  • St. John’s Lutheran Church in Oregon voted overwhelmingly to install within the next six months.
New York Roadtrip 2019

Road Tripping in a Rented EV: How we spent our Summer vacation while taking climate action.

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Nick Hein, 10/6/19

1. The Call to Action

A good friend of ours spends her summers in the Adirondacks at a family-owned wilderness camp north of Utica, NY and invited us to come and visit. As the summer was nearing an end, my fiance’ and I realized that we hadn’t taken a vacation and decided to go a few weeks after Labor Day when most of the vacation travel had settled down. However, this was also the week of the climate strike Day of Action and we wanted our travel to align with it even if we would be far away. We began considering our options for low-impact travel. Read more

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.

Read more

Oregon Ice Arena Ribbon Cutting Celebrates a Project Completed

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Legacy Solar Co-op Team, 8/1/19

On June 20, Legacy Solar Co-op, member installer Full Spectrum Solar and Renew Wisconsin helped Oregon Ice Arena celebrate the completion of its rooftop solar array. For over a month, the arena has been generating about 25% of its energy from its rooftop solar array. The irony of it is that energy from the sun powers the heat pumps in the building, which help keep the ice as close to freezing as possible. The mere existence of the 560 panels means less sun exposure and helps the arena save dramatically on cooling costs during peak demand.

Oregon Ice Arena Ribbon Cutting, June 20, 2019

Turn Sunshine into Money with Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs)

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Jackie Harrison-Jewell, 8/1/19

Solar electricity is worth more than just clean power.  It has externalized benefits that are worth money, so the concept of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) was created to credit producers for those benefits.  Every time 1,000 kWh of electricity is generated, it is recorded as an (SREC).  The SREC is sold separately from the electricity and represents the “solar” aspect of the electricity that was produced. Why bother doing this?  Several states have a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for solar – a mandated percentage of total energy that must be generated by solar energy.  In states that have this mandate, the value of an SREC is determined by the market subject to supply and demand constraints. SRECs can be sold to electricity suppliers needing to meet their solar RPS requirement.  Read more

Legacy Solar Co-op events placeholder graphic

Free Community Film Screening – Paris to Pittsburgh

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When: August 15, 2019 @ 6:30-8:30pm

Where: Sequoya Branch Library (4340 Tokay Blvd, Madison, Wisconsin 53711)

Legacy Solar Co-op joins the Mount Horeb Area Citizens’ Climate and other energy-minded folks to view Paris to Pittsburgh, a film that celebrates how Americans are demanding and developing real solutions in the face of climate change. As the weather grows more deadly and destructive, they aren’t waiting on Washington to act. Learn more about the film here.

* 6:30 pm – Community Organizations Introductions and Info Sharing
* 6:45 pm – Paris to Pittsburgh Film
* 8:00 pm – Discussion and Action Opportunities

RSVP Here.

Paris to Pittsburgh Movie Poster