Currently solar customers can sell any excess solar energy they have back to the power companies for the same price that the company sells the energy. However, the power companies are proposing that they pay solar customers a lower “wholesale” price.
Mon Power and Potomac Edison filed a proposal with the Public Service Commission to change the cost of energy for solar panel owners, changing the net metering system as it is now.
Currently solar customers can sell any excess solar energy they have back to the power companies for the same price that the company sells the energy. However, the power companies are proposing that they pay solar customers a lower “wholesale” price.
They said this adjustment would make the cost of energy more equitable for non-solar customers because solar customers do not pay to store electricity, maintain the grid, or distribute the electricity that they sell. They said then those costs are passed onto other customers who do not have solar panels.
However, Leah Barbor, from West Virginians for Energy Freedom, said the idea that non solar customers will end up paying more because of solar customers is a myth.
“Ultimately, this myth serves utility interests,” Barbor said. “So, they will use it to push for policies that unfairly target solar owners. Either by raising fixed costs and demanding charges on utility bills, which will then lengthen the time it takes for solar investment to pay off, or they’ll weaken or eliminate net metering policies — which is the case here in West Virginia.”
She said that solar can make the cost of energy cheaper, especially during natural disasters, extreme weather events, and high energy demand. She also said that because solar users do not use the grid as often, they do not put much wear and tear on it, making it last longer.
“Rooftop solar really benefits everyone. And this is true for whether people have solar or not,” Barbor said.
On this West Virginia Morning, Randy Yohe continues with our radio series “Help Wanted: Understanding West Virginia’s Labor Force” by looking at the state government’s job creation and retention plans.
On this West Virginia Morning, the state government has been successful in attracting national corporations to set up shop in West Virginia and they say tourism jobs are ready to explode. The challenge now is filling thousands of positions that demand a wide variety of skill sets. Randy Yohe continues with our radio series “Help Wanted: Understanding West Virginia’s Labor Force” by looking at the state government’s job creation and retention plans.
Also, Emily Rice looks at advocates that held a press conference to discuss resources available to West Virginians on the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, Curtis Tate learns the creative way Toyota of West Virginia keeps the vegetation under control around its solar array in Putnam County, and more.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
The panels will generate an estimated 67,000-kilowatt hours of power a year, according to Jeff Groff, an associate professor of physics at Shepherd and the chairman of the Department of Environmental and Physical Sciences.
Groff said that amount of power is equal to about 10 percent of the library’s annual energy consumption. Or enough energy to power six and half average American homes for one year.
Groff said these are just estimates, though, and it will take some time to know the full impact. Monetarily, the library estimates it will save at least $120,000 over the panels’ 20-year lifetime.
The installation was made possible due to a $100,000 grant from a Massachusetts-based company called EBSCO Information Services. All the panels were paid for through the grant, except for one that was donated by a Shepherd alumnus. The installation took about three weeks to complete.
“I thought, why not try to apply for this? It seemed like there was nothing to lose,” Rachel Hally said. Getting the solar panels was Hally’s idea.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Rachel Hally and Jeff Groff.
Hally is the coordinator of collections at the Scarborough Library. She learned about the grant after receiving an email from the EBSCO company. This particular grant is only for libraries that want to install solar.
“This state has such a strong culture of coal and other extractive sources of energy, so to bring this forward and to get people excited and interested in solar, it’s a wonderful way for us to promote renewable energy within our community,” Hally said.
Hally and Groff worked together to write and apply for the grant. Groff said the installation won’t just save the library money, but it also creates a tool he can use in his classroom.
“One of the concepts I like to get across to students is just the idea about how much energy we actually consume; the vast quantities of energy we consume. So, when you have some energy production that’s local, and you can monitor it, it really drives home the point about how much energy that we are consuming,” Groff said.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Dan Conant is the founder and CEO of Solar Holler.
Solar In West Virginia
The solar panels on Shepherd’s library were installed by a West Virginia company called Solar Holler.
Founded in 2013, this company of 40 employees is one of the first solar installation companies in the state. It’s headquartered in Shepherdstown but has a larger office in Huntington.
Dan Conant founded the company to give people more options when it comes to their electricity.
“People have never had a choice in West Virginia. They’ve always been locked into one single utility that they had no say over. They have no say over what the rates are, or what they pay, and all of the sudden here along comes solar, which is giving them an option to lock in their utility bills to protect themselves from rate increases year after year,” Conant said.
For most people, solar doesn’t replace your normal utility bill, just helps to reduce the amount of electricity you pay for from your local electric or natural gas company.
Conant said while homeowners and businesses have access to a federal tax credit for 30 percent of the cost of their solar panels, nonprofits like Shepherd’s library don’t. That’s why the grant was so important.
On the state level, in West Virginia, there are no incentives for homeowners, businesses, or anyone to go solar.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Solar Holler is headquartered in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The company’s slogan is “Mine the Sun.”
But this doesn’t discourage Conant. He said despite the lack of incentives, solar is growing in West Virginia.
“Solar is cheaper. And so, as a result, I think the industry is going to continue to grow for the foreseeable future, as more and more folks understand that,” Conant said.
Conant said so far in 2019, his company has worked with 200 families in West Virginia to install solar. Since Solar Holler was founded six years ago, he said the number of their projects in West Virginia has increased every year, and Conant said many of their installations are in the southern part of the state.
According to the nonprofit Solar Foundation, in 2018, solar installation was up 17 percent in West Virginia. But nationwide, the state is ranked 49th in installed solar capacity.
Hally said she hopes their solar installation demonstrates that solar is possible in West Virginia.
“We’re probably not going to stay the largest nonprofit installation for long, and I think that’s a good thing,” she said. “So, I hope that it kind of has a snowball effect where people hear that we were able to do this, learn about how we did it, and then hopefully try to figure out their own path to get more installations up.”
Hally hopes more homeowners and businesses recognize the cost saving opportunities offered through solar, and she encourages folks to seek out their options if they want to install their own panels.
A Catholic Charities social services building serving residents of West Virginia and Ohio is installing solar panels in response to Pope Francis’ call for caring for the environment.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston says in a news release that the Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center in Wheeling that after the panels are installed, the building will use one-fourth of the power currently being used.
Shepherdstown-based Solar Holler is leading the project.
Catholic Charities West Virginia program development director Elizabeth Paulhus says the project was a way to reduce the agency’s utility costs, which will in turn free up funding for key services.
In September, Pope Francis proposed that caring for the environment be added to the traditional seven works of mercy that Christians are called to perform.
Last month the Coalfield Development Corporation and Solar Holler announced they would expand an already existing partnership to help transition miners from coal jobs into a new industry. The announcement meant a new training facility at West Edge in the Westmoreland neighborhood of Huntington, but will work with laid off miners throughout the state’s southern coalfields.
Credit Coalfield Development Corporation
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Conceptual drawing of the Solar Training facility.
The Huntington solar training institute is just one of many training programs that the Coalfield Development Corporation offers to coal miners looking for work outside of the industry. The non-profit also trains laid off miners to work in hazmat and asbestos removal. Workers in the different programs also take classes at local community colleges.
Shepherdstown-based Solar Holler works to install solar panels at businesses and organizations around the state.
Deacon Stone is the President of Rediscover Appalachia and a Project Manager with the Coalfield Development Corporation. Workers who deconstruct and renovate housing units in the southern part of the state will also help renovate the new training space this winter.
Until then training continues in places like Mingo county, where students are taught the ins and outs of hanging solar panels.
“We have Solar Holler playing a developer role churning up business that our young people will get to educationally and experientially benefit from when they do the actual installs and we’re doing all of that work already,” Stone said.
Credit Coalfield Development Corporation
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Conceptual drawings of the Solar Training facility.
The partnership between the Coalfield Development Corporation and Solar Holler began in 2015 and has already led to some installations around West Virginia. One is at Edward Tucker Architects. The group recently bought and renovated a new space in Huntington and decided to add the solar panels to their facility. Ed Tucker is the President of Edward Tucker Architects. He said it just made sense to work with the budding relationship.
“We’re really excited about Coalfield’s program and the ability to put local folks to work cause we understand that spending in our community and keeping the dollars at home and investing in the people at home is a good thing,” Tucker said.
Tucker said they qualified for a USDA grant to help fund the project and are doing a leasing program for the 51 panels that sit atop the building. He said it won’t be long before they see the benefit in their electric bills. He says it’s expected to cut their electric costs in half.
Dan Conant is the Founder of Sollar Holler. He said it’s projects like these and more that are in the works that make the development of a training facility in Huntington all the more exciting.
“It’s going to mean that we can build out our facilities so that everything they could possibly see out in the real world, they will have experienced first,” Conant said. “It’s going to speed up all the installations because they will have seen it before.”
The partnership choose projects based on a triple-bottom line. They look for projects that are good for people, good for the planet and good for profit to help the program continue to function as a hands on experience for laid off workers who need a new career.
A group of Ben Franklin Career Center students has been assembling solar panel kits that will bring electricity to Navajo homes.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the six students spoke at a presentation Thursday at Ben Franklin about the kits.
Student Traevon Isabell says each kit includes a panel that charges a detachable battery, which can light up the LEDs included in a light panel when the sun isn’t shining. The battery also has a USB plug that can charge devices like cell phones.
Isabell says the kits will be sent to the Navajo Nation, which is in Arizona and New Mexico and has about 18,000 people without power.
Mountaineer Power and Energy has raised money to put together 16 kits. The state Department of Education has provided $7,500 in funding that will build 60 more kits.
