Tag Archives: ecodistrict

CHS Community Post | EcoDistrict solar project is part of an energy (counter) revolution

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screenshotWe’ve asked Joel Sisolak, project director for the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, to contribute to CHS about the district and the environment on a semi-regular basis. If you’re an expert and want to share with the community in a recurring CHS column, we’d like to hear from you. This is his first post for CHS.

Last week, construction wrapped up on the 25-kilowatt community solar project at the Holiday Apartments (10th and E John) and the system went “live” just before Thanksgiving. While many of us enjoyed turkey dinners, electrons from the sun began spinning the Holiday’s electric meter backwards as clean power flowed out onto the grid.

Why should we care about a little solar project? 90% of the electricity we use in Seattle is from hydroelectric dams, including City-owned dams on the Skagit, Pend Orielle and Cedar Rivers.  As energy sources go, hydro is already low carbon and renewable. You might say, “90%, that’s great!  A solid ‘A-minus!’”

But where does the other 10% come from? Some of it is wind power, but about half is nuclear and coal fired energy purchased from Bonneville Power Administration by City Light. Nuclear and coal power bought and sold by the “nation’s greenest utility?!” Continue reading →

Capitol Hill crowd-funded solar project ready for sign-ups

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Capitol Hill Project Details Single site project 25.92 kW Made-in Washington Itek modules & inverters A "ballasted" system on the flat roof of the Holiday Apartments, located at 1001 E. John Street on Capitol Hill After system ownership passes to CHH, the electricity it generates will lower the operating costs for the Holiday Apartments and other CHH properties, directly benefitting low-income tenants.

Capitol Hill Project Details
Single site project
25.92 kW
Made-in Washington Itek modules & inverters
A “ballasted” system on the flat roof of the Holiday Apartments, located at 1001 E. John Street on Capitol Hill
After system ownership passes to CHH, the electricity it generates will lower the operating costs for the Holiday Apartments and other CHH properties, directly benefitting low-income tenants.

That Capitol Hill Ecodistrict project we told you about to create crowd-funded solar generation?

Capitol Hill Housing recently solidified plans to install community funded solar panels at its Holiday Apartments property at 10th and E John by the end of October.

It’s ready for you:

Seattle City Light has two projects in which customers can participate in the fall of 2014. Each has a limited number of units, and the paybacks are very similar, so whichever you choose (or if you choose both!) you’ll be helping bring new, clean, renewable energy to our electric grid while benefitting both yourself and an organization that is dedicated to conservation, sustainability and community. As with our previous Community Solar projects, the upfront costs will be paid by Seattle City Light, but ultimately the cost of the project will be paid for by customers who enroll in the program and participate by buying one or more solar units. These customers will in turn be paid back as they receive Washington State production incentives and City Light “virtual net metering” payments that currently total $1.16 per kilowatt hour of electricity generated by a community solar project. As City Light’s rates rise (very slightly) over time, the total payment will also rise as that increased rate is reflected in your payment.

City Light customers can sign up here to buy a unit here:

Starting at $150, anyone with a Seattle City Light account can participate in the Capitol Hill Community Solar program. Made possible by the state’s Renewable Energy Cost Recovery Incentive Payment Program, participants will receive reimbursement for their contribution as a credit on their electric bills through June 2020. Those credits should pay back the cost of a participant’s original investment and then some.

Extending power of the super green Bullitt Center, Capitol Hill EcoDistrict plans community-backed solar project to help light up E John affordable apartments

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E John's Holiday Apartments had a sun clock installed as part of its 2010 grand re-opening (Image: CHS)

E John’s Holiday Apartments had a sun clock installed as part of its 2010 grand re-opening (Image: CHS)

Holiday Apartments community solar rendering

Rendering of the solar panels on the Holiday Apartments (Image: Bonneville Environmental Foundation)

In the coming weeks, Capitol Hill residents could have a unique opportunity to directly fund a large-scale, rooftop solar panel project going up right in the neighborhood. And if saving the planet isn’t enough of an incentive, you’ll also get a rebate on your Seattle City Light bill to sweeten the deal.

Capitol Hill Housing recently solidified plans to install community funded solar panels at its Holiday Apartments property at 10th and E John by the end of October. The solar panels are the result of nonprofit’s efforts to create more tangible projects under the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, which CHH launched last April.

The solar panel project, which is benefiting from the state’s Renewable Energy Cost Recovery Incentive Payment Program, should be up and running by the beginning of November. At that time, SCL ratepayers who invest in the project will begin to receive credits on their electric bills. Around 1,200 solar panel units will be available to invest in at around $150 each.

“We hope most (participants) will be based on Capitol Hill. This is about engaging people in the ecodistict in solar energy,” said Joel Sisolak, who spearheads the ecodistrict at CHH. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Capitol Hill ecodistrict pedals to a start — And where it’s going next

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IMG_0539Joel Sisolak’s reign as czar of the Capitol Hill ecodistrict began Thursday with a forced bike ride. In the rain. Soon, green jackboot thugs will come for your unsustainable niece.

We kid. Thursday’s bike tour of the sites and opportunities for creating a district measuring and incentivizing green development and infrastructure improvements around Capitol Hill was 100% voluntary. And Sisolak doesn’t see his role in the greenest job on Capitol Hill in terms of forcing behaviors or being the sustainability police.

Right now, the job is about metrics.

“We’re trying to find out what is measurable,” Sisolak said in a conversation with CHS about the role he’s filled for a month with Capitol Hill Housing, the organization selected to shepherd sorting out exactly how the framework for creating the ecodistrict will work. Continue reading →