County Officials Are Trying To Shed Light on Solar Panels
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Unused 13,000-Square-Foot Project Is Obsolete
Sunday, April 19, 2009
As the Franklin Park Arts Center prepares to celebrate Earth Day this week, Loudoun County officials say they are trying to figure out what to do with a 13,000-square-foot array of solar panels that has sat unused in the middle of the center's lawn for the better part of 10 years.
A smaller solar array of 625 square feet, housed on the roof of an equipment shed in the complex in Purcellville, has been a success: It feeds an average of 1.1 kilowatts per hour into the Dominion Virginia Power grid, helping to reduce the center's energy bill.
But the larger array, built more than nine years ago by volunteers, has never been hooked up to anything.
The center will host a discussion about the technology Wednesday as part of an Earth Day celebration.
One of the lead volunteers on the project, solar engineer Alden Hathaway, made a YouTube video in 2006 accusing Dominion Virginia Power of blocking efforts to make the larger array operational.
Hathaway said that the volunteers' goal was to generate enough renewable power to help meet the region's energy needs, far beyond the needs of the arts center, but that they could not persuade Dominion to let them connect the array to the grid.
"We've had, every step of the way, hurdles . . . placed in front of us by Virginia Dominion Power and the state to get this solar array connected . . . because they don't benefit," he says in the video.
County officials say the problem isn't opposition from Dominion but rather the age and condition of the panels that Hathaway's team installed.
They say the practice of connecting solar panels to the power grid, called "reverse metering," is relatively common now but was rare when the panels were built. Dominion did not have a system for reverse metering at the time, and the solar energy could be fed only directly to individual facilities, said Najib Salehi, the county's energy manager.
And by the time the center opened last year, after years of delay caused by funding problems, the large array was not connected to the building because the panels had become obsolete, Salehi said.
"Our preference was to go ahead and somehow use those panels to make it operational," he said. But he said a recent study showed that the panels had degraded and that their efficiency had deteriorated.
"The cost to bring it back to life would have been a lot more than making new panels," he said, adding that the large array had been "kind of ahead of its time."
Hathaway could not be reached for comment. Jeff Stern, the arts center's manager, said Hathaway has moved out of state.
As for the smaller rooftop array, which was built three years ago and hooked up in November, people can go to a Web site to monitor how much energy it is generating. So far, it has produced an amount equivalent to the energy required to power 29 houses for one day or six computers for a year, Stern said.
County officials said that they don't know what to do with the unused panels on the lawn or the land under them.
The county attorney's office is trying to determine who owns the panels so that a plan can be devised, said Lewis Rauch, Loudoun's director of capital construction.
Salehi said that county officials hope to confer with the volunteer organizations that worked on the original fundraising and construction. "Maybe some of them will come up with a solution that we never thought of," he said.
Tagged: energy, environment, Franklin Park Center, solar power
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Excellent article.
Here is a link to Hathaway's YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzipu0I2o...
and there is a trove of them.
Apparently it was not purely GREED that prevented the reverse metering and hookup years ago when this was built (was there county funding involved, and is that why the county is involved?), but the fact, as the article states, that there was no mechanism for doing it.
Hathaway's video details the "hurdles" as years worth of getting the laws enacted to allow it, but characterizes it as GREED from Dominion in "placing the hurdles", i.e. the fact that a mechanism needed to be CREATED to do what was apparently built (and paid for?) in a regulatory vacuum.
I think it begs the question: why was so much time and money spent on the cart before there was a live horse?
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on April 19, 2009 at 11:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ok, here's a question. Do the panels work? There is a reference to old, outdated technology. Fine. But, if the panels work and will produce energy, shouldn't this be pursued?
Posted by teden (anonymous) on April 19, 2009 at 2:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
teden, read the article: the large array is obsolete, degraded, and their efficiency has deteriorated.
It's never been hooked up to anything.
A smaller array has been functional and reverse metering for three years.
Some initial research shows that the Myers board put a quarter milltion toward it back in early 99, on the recommendation of the finance committee, and an article in 2005 already shows deterioration (referring to the project as a "solar train wreck") and notes the need for extensive repair before any connectivity can be sought, a full year before the you-tube videos on "greed" were so widely publicized.
Maybe we should step back and see what it will cost to make any of this work, before more money and effort goes toward this particular white elephant.
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on April 19, 2009 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Instead of wasting a lot of energy on who did what to who, perhaps Dominion Power would want to entertain a pilot program for a new solar array at the Park. Since LCPS and others are owners of building with acres of flat roofs, there is quite a good opportunity to invest in alternative energy. The pilot program could provide a cost benefit analysis of whether or not it is worth proceeding with.
Posted by LoudounModerate (anonymous) on April 19, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
loudoun mod, it appears we will be "wasting some energy" determining who owns the array, and the land underneath it that the slab is on--an additional "waste of energy" tacked on top of the whole sadly wasteful (so far) project.
The PEC has already spent over $3M fighting powerlines, and Dominion has announced a proposed rate increase.
I see your point on a pilot study, but wonder whether Dominion being gently strongarmed into "donating" one ends up ensuring the rate increase, while the whole wasteful struggle continues.
I'd like to see how much has already been spent to do nothing, and what it will cost to update, modify, or scrap.
As to who pays for it...that's why I'd like to see what's already spent before we spend more.
It obviously "sounded great" the first time, and was "outside the box" and "proactive".
Let's not "feel good" into another long extravagant waste; at least the smaller one is working!
It appears from the dates that the smaller one may have been an answer to the "train wreck" assessment of 05?
Which for me doesn't nullify the question of why something already surpassed became an advocacy marketing tool in 06, with heavy emphasis on emotion, re "greed".
That may be the hardest thing on any pilot program out here--sorting out the real from the personal leverage emotion.
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on April 19, 2009 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Obviously as is it is scrapped. Dominion's rate increase is more related to their forgoing rate increases due to fuel costs more than anything else. The array itself is on County property and untangling the ownership may take a little time. Time, however, has evolved with new laws that overwhelmingly passed with bipartisan support that make alternative energy projects in VA somewhat more attractive. There seem to be plenty of opportunities. With BP Solar just over the river in Frederick, MD and others nearby it looks like a good opportunity to actually do something that you can have measurable results with as opposed to the original project.
Posted by LoudounModerate (anonymous) on April 19, 2009 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Any measureable results with county money wouldn't start until after the total of any money already spent(wasted, apparently), at least in my opinion, before any further public money goes toward it.
No matter how attractive the climate (ouch! "Earth Day" pun) has become for something like this if it actually had been done in such a way and manner as to be useable.
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on April 19, 2009 at 6:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
According to the article the solar array was built by volunteers, not with County resources. All the reason a similar effort could be undertaken with Dominion and/or other partners.
Posted by LoudounModerate (anonymous) on April 20, 2009 at 2:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks, Barbara, I did read the article. My question is still left unanswered. Take for example, a 1965 Ford Mustang. It is obsolete by today's emission control standards. If I had one, would I throw it away, if it still ran and passed inspection? Even if it only gets 12 mpg?
Posted by teden (anonymous) on April 21, 2009 at 7:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't underestimate the power of the utility interests in Richmond to complicate moves towards renewable resources. Virginia is falling farther and farther behind behind Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina in offering homeowners and businesses incentives to generate some of their own electricity. How long will it be before enough people in Loudon, Faifax, Arlington and Alexandria speak up and are heard about this?
~Jim Pierobon
Standard Solar, Inc.
Gaithersburg, MD
Posted by jimpierobon (anonymous) on April 24, 2009 at 3:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
These type panels usually have a 25 year warranty. Since they are already installed, just hook them up and use them as is. Although not as efficient as new ones, they will still do the job. There are many installations in use in California with panels much older than these.
Posted by davetex99 (anonymous) on July 22, 2009 at 6:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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