Solar settlement boon to installersNov 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Randy Wilson The Arizona Daily Sun, FlagstaffWhen it comes bringing electricity to far-flung homes on Arizona Indian reservations, it's not just a matter of hooking them up to a power line. Many are far off the grid, which until the advent of solar power meant gas-fired and battery-operated appliances were the closest thing to power on the Rez and elsewhere. But five years ago, a $5 million settlement in a dispute over pollution controls at a coal-fired power plant in Springerville resulted in a windfall of solar power on the Rez -- and plenty of business for solar installation companies. One of those is Westwind Solar of Flagstaff, which has done about a dozen installations financed in part by the grant. "We're a small company, so we've been very busy," said owner Daniel Snyder last week after returning from one of his projects in Kykotsmovi on the Hopi Reservation. In all, the settlement has paid in whole or in part for about 200 projects by eight different companies, with only $300,000 left to distribute. Roger Clark, program director at the Grand Canyon Trust and administrator of the fund, said sites on four reservations -- Navajo, Hopi, Zuni and Hualapai -- were selected for solar projects because of their off-the-grid needs and locations in the fallout zone of power plant pollution. "It's been the most rewarding work I've ever done for the Trust," said Clark, adding that he has traveled to most of the installations. The projects initially were focused in the Bennett Freeze area of the western Navajo Nation, where a land dispute between the Navajos and Hopis caused a judge to freeze all construction and repairs for nearly a half-century. In addition to homes, recipients of the grants have included schools, chapter houses, community buildings and shade structures in parking lots. St. Michael's School in received a solar hot water system and a wind turbine linked to photovoltaics. The grants paid for only for the hardware -- the labor has been funded by a mix of tribal money, chapter funds and voluntary labor. One of the projects has been not on the Rez but in Flagstaff, where American Indian students housed during the week at the Kinlani Bordertown dormitory in Flagstaff will benefit from new solar roof panels. Snyder said the project took about a year to complete, in part because it involved floating the panels on beams placed atop the roof. "It was a fairly high-tech job," Snyder said. The total cost was $200,000, with $170,000 coming out of the grant and $30,000 from the Kinlani board. The system will generate nearly 76,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year -- about a fifth of what the dormitory normally uses. That means the system will lower Kinlani's annual electric bill by $10,600 a year. Clark gives credit to Salt River Project and Tucson for agreeing to the innovative settlement that also resulted in new pollution control on the two remaining units costing close to a billion dollars. City of Flagstaff out front on solar The Kinlani dormitory is one of more than a dozen large solar installations in Flagstaff on government, educational and private buildings. Following is a table that reflects the city's most recent installations and the percentage of electricity use that each system offsets: Site kW kWh Usage % Renewable Wildcat Hill 799.59 1,557,112 5,040,720 30.9% Aquaplex 364.1 576,123 1,153,440 49.9% City Hall 200.5 321,085 745,760 43.0% Rio de Flag 310.2 504,133 2,007,200 25.1% Source: City of Flagstaff Sustainability Program Note: The biogas cogeneration unit at Wildcat also generates power -- last year's total was 1,265,408 kilowatt hours of electricity. Westwind Solar Electric 4 N. San Francisco St. Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (928) 779-4556 westwindsolar.com http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=30667806& |