Albany County Commission proposes 50kW solar project
Albany County Commission proposes 50kW solar project
Commissioners hope the combination of a Blue Sky grant and a new federal incentive for renewable energy development will significantly defray the cost.
Albany County Commissioners are aiming to install a $367,000 solar project near the Search and Rescue building south of Laramie — but they’re hoping to leverage a utility grant program and newly available federal dollars to avoid actually paying most of that price tag.
The project would add a pair of 25 kilowatt solar rigs, capable of providing more than 80,000 kilowatt hours a year to the Search and Rescue building and the Road and Bridge building next door.
A solar installation consultant told commissioners during their meeting Tuesday that a typical solar project might break even in 10-14 years — when energy savings are compared against the price of installation. But a heavily subsidized installation will pay for itself even sooner.
“As soon as that system’s installed, you no longer have to pay that electric bill, except for the monthly interconnection fee,” said Leo Pueblitz of Creative Energies Solar.
Commission Chair Pete Gosar was enthusiastic about the project and the potential for a significant chunk of it to be covered by outside sources.
In theory, the project could break down like this:
$200,000 from Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program
$110,000 from the Federal Investment Tax Credit
$58,000 from the county’s state distributions.
Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program allows ratepayers to donate a little extra on their monthly electric bills to support renewable installation projects for local governments, nonprofits or schools.
In Laramie, the program has funded solar installations at the Downtown Clinic, the Laramie Community Recreation Center and Laramie Fire Station 3. Laramie Interfaith, the local food pantry, will soon draw 60 percent of its annual energy from a solar array funded by Blue Sky.
Gosar said the local community has given a lot to the program and the City of Laramie has benefited greatly.
“Albany County is among the most prolific of these donations to the Rocky Mountain Blue Sky program,” he said. “The county has not been an applicant but hopefully that will change here very soon.”
The total amount of payments the program is willing to make at this time, to this corner of Wyoming, sits at $200,000, according to county staff. The commissioners are planning to apply for all of it.
While the county must temporarily put up that money, nothing will be spent before the county knows whether it’s getting a Blue Sky grant, and thus whether it will be reimbursed.
The county is also confident it will be reimbursed for another 30 percent of the total project — about $110,000 — by qualifying for the Federal Investment Tax Credit. The Inflation Reduction Act created this tax credit to encourage renewable energy development — one of the many credits and incentives it established to move the United States toward carbon neutrality.
The county, as a division of government, does not pay taxes. But the Inflation Reduction Act allows tax-exempt entities — like local governments, tribes and nonprofits — to receive the credit as a payment.
The remaining $58,000 — plus anything not ultimately covered by the tax credit or Rocky Mountain Power — would come out of the county’s state aid.
Gosar said that was a small price to pay for a project that would ultimately save the county money.
“I could justify that to any taxpayer on a return of $314,000,” he said.
Commissioner Terri Jones wasn’t so convinced. She said she was worried about obligating the county to such a project, given that the Blue Sky grant, if awarded, could be less than $200,000 — and given that the tax credit would not be secured until after the fact.
“As soon as you get into a worst case scenario, things begin to fall apart; they just do,” she said. “When you stretch yourself thin, more and more and more things happen. That’s what my concern is.”
But Gosar reiterated that the county will not move forward with the project if it doesn’t receive the Blue Sky grant — so if the project’s happening at all, it will be because the county knows it has $200,000 guaranteed to be reimbursed.
“Well we’re not going to spend the money, Terri, unless we get the grant,” Gosar said. “We’re going to front it only with the successful grant.”
He added, in the worst case scenario, where the county misses out on the tax credit and has to pay that $110,000 on top of the $58,000 it’s already planning to spend, the county will still make its money back.
“It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “We never buy one thing here that returns double the money.”
Following this discussion, the commissioners voted to hire Pueblitz, the consultant, at a rate of $200 an hour to help the county draft its application.
Ah yes, Jones the master logistician who also thinks that making sure we have clean water is raping land owners 🙄