Central Electric Cooperative Inc. is making solar power an option for anyone interested in green energy.

Next Thursday, Central Electric will host a ceremonial panel hanging, a groundbreaking of sorts to celebrate the near-completion of the co-op’s first community solar project.

The power company is constructing a small solar array that will be capable of producing up to 200,000 watts of power a month. For an upfront fee, co-op members can buy full, half or quarter shares of one of the 704 solar panels Central Electric is putting on 1.7 acres of land near its service center in southeast Bend.

“Not everyone that wants to get involved in solar energy can,” Jeff Beaman, Central Electric’s member service director, said Thursday. “People can’t afford the upfront costs, their house isn’t oriented the right way or maybe they’re renters. This is an opportunity for those people to financially support solar energy.”

For example, say a Central Electric customer wanted to sponsor an entire solar panel. That customer would pay a one-time fee of $1,100 for a 20-year sponsorship. Each month the customer would receive an electric bill credit for 1/704th of whatever the solar project produced. According to Beaman, that credit would equate to approximately $35 a year.

“On a pure economic basis, it doesn’t pencil out,” he said. “A person does need to be motivated to do the right thing. … But you look at the benefit of putting out a little extra of your own funds, it’ll support the growth of the solar industry. The more projects like this that incur in society, the more (solar) costs come down.”

Central Electric’s community solar project was born from the suggestions of its own customers.

“We survey our members every two years,” Beaman said. “And what we heard from members is that dams and coal plants are fine for now, but we need to look at other sources of energy for the future. When you hear that from enough customers, well, that’s how we arrived at this idea.”

Central Electric customers can also support the solar array through the co-op’s green power program in which members pay 1.8 cents more per kilowatt hour for their power.

“This is purely voluntary,” Beaman noted in reference to the green power program and sponsorships of the solar panels. “It’s only supported by the members who want to do it.”

With the first panel going up next week, Beaman said Central Electric hopes to begin generating power through the array by mid- to late December. If the project is well received, the co-op could add more panels in the future and produce up to 500,000 watts of solar power a month.

“The infrastructure’s in place so that we could more than double our (solar power) production if we want,” Beaman said. “Our site’s designed so that we have room for more panels.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829,

beastes@bendbulletin.com