Hastings Community Solar Farm
Thank you for your interest in Hastings Community Solar! We are excited to be able to offer our customers the ability to participate in renewable energy. Community solar is when solar electricity is owned and shared by multiple customers while being produced in one location. A community solar farm's primary purpose is to give customers the option to participate in renewables who cannot or don’t want to install the solar panels on their own property.
Check out the Hastings Community Solar Farm Energy Generation!
Ready to participate in the solar farm? Click here for Customer Community Solar Service Agreement.
What are the benefits of a Community Solar Farm?
Community Solar has many benefits for customers wanting to participate in renewable energy. The benefits of community solar include:
- You do not have to be a property owner to participate
- Avoids building codes and zoning restrictions
- Avoids factors than can reduce power output such as trees, adjacent building, and roof configuration limitations
- Benefits from economy of scale. The average cost is lower due to being able to spread the fixed cost over more units.
- All maintenance and insurance requirements are handled by Hastings
Who can participate and what are the options?
- Anyone who gets their electricity from Hastings Utilities can participate.
- Hastings will be offering 2 ways customers can participate; Ownership and Subscription.
- Ownership gives customers the ability to purchase and own the panel. The panel will stay in the solar field and be maintained by Hastings.
- Subscription allows customers to purchase solar shares each month to offset some of the energy they use each month.
What is the cost of each option?
- Panel option
- The cost of each panel is $355. The monthly maintenance charge is $.0062/kWh. You will also receive a fuel cost rebate of $.0348/kWh for fuel that was not purchased to generate that power.
- Solar Share option
- Each Solar share is 150 kWh at $.0301/kWh or one share will cost $4.52 a month. You will also be credited a fuel cost rebate of $.0348/kWh or $3.20 a month for fuel that was not purchased to generate that power. The net different is $1.32 per solar share.
Additional Cost Resources
SOLAR RATE ORDINANCE 4596
Examples of bill calculations can be found in the Solar Farm Board Presentation.
Electric consumption history can be obtained by enrolling in Customer Connect. Once enrolled, you can access your personal electric usage history.
If you have additional questions or need assistance on how the Panel and/or Solar Share option will impact your utility bill, send an email to Solar Energy Questions and a representative will respond to your email.
When can I start participating?
A customer can be enrolled in the Hastings Community Solar once the Community Solar Service Agreement has been completed and an enrollment fee of $50.00 has been paid. The $50.00 enrollment fee will be refunded to the customer's utility account after one year of participating in the Hastings Community Solar Farm.
Customer Community Solar Service Agreement
Solar Farm Gallery
Looking to see what the Solar Farm looks like or the construction process, take a look at our Solar Farm Photo Gallery.