Seattle City Light is making solar power more accessible to customers through our Community Solar pilot program, which will launch later this year. Beginning in June, on a first-come, first-serve basis, up to 500 City Light customers will be able to purchase a portion of the solar energy generated by three new solar picnic shelters at Jefferson Park. Customers can buy into the community solar project for $600 per solar unit (limit two units per participant). Participants will receive an annual bill credit for the electricity generated by their portion of the Community Solar project. They may also be eligible for production incentives over the course of the nine year project term.

In partnership with Seattle Parks and Recreation, City Light has designed innovative picnic shelters with roofs made of solar panels to be installed at Jefferson Park later this year. The new solar picnic shelters will provide park goers a place to enjoy the park while generating approximately 24,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean electricity annually for Community Solar program participants. The solar shelters are funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar America Cities program, and customer enrollment in this first project will go into a revolving fund to build a second community solar project.

Stephanie Bower, Architectural Illustration.  Sketch of one of the solar picnic shelters to be installed this year at Jefferson Park as part of our first Community Solar project.

Program launch details, including enrollment and a community celebration are being finalized. If you are interested in receiving updates on the Community Solar program, please sign up for our Community Solar email update list here. 

Click the image to watch a video of the installation

Woodland Park Zoo received a $70,000 grant from Seattle
City Light to install a 9 kW solar electric array on its historic carousel pavilion early this year. The grant was funded by City Light voluntary green program customers who support renewable energy demonstration and education projects. Energy from the sun will create enough electricity to power 100,000 rides per year. The solar carousel shows that solar works in Seattle and is an example of how the zoo is adopting sustainable practices. 

In celebration of the solar carousel, rides will be free on Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1. The zoo is also offering a coupon (located at the end of the e-newsletter) for $2 off admission for up to four people through the end of May. 

Solar works in Seattle

City Light customers have now installed more than
one megawatt of renewable energy production capacity on their homes and businesses. Last year, these customers generated more than 1,000 Megawatt-hours (Mwh) of clean electricity.  Almost all of these customers produce their own power from the sun but there are also a few who harness the wind. As federal and state policies have encouraged the adoption of renewable energy technology on a small scale, we've seen more customers install solar electric, or photovoltaic (PV), systems on their homes and businesses. Our first "customer generator" installation was in 2000. Currently we have 325 such customers. Fueled in part by a 40% drop in the price of PV systems, more than half of those customers have come online in the last two years! 

In upcoming editions of this e-newsletter we want to share stories about our customers and why they started generating their own electricity. If you're one of these customers, and want to share your story, contact us at SCL_Renewables@seattle.gov. 

Want to 'go solar'? Visit our website to learn how!

Last year, customers enrolled in Green Up in record numbers, and the response far exceeded our expectations. More than 3,000 new customers chose to support the development of new renewable energy generation throughout the Northwest! Green Up customers purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) through small payments added to their electricity bills.  By creating a strong market for RECs, also called green tags, energy project developers are able to produce and sell clean electricity at market prices.  This year, Green Up participants are supporting the following Northwest renewable energy generation projects: geothermal from the Raft River project in Idaho, dairy biogas from Idaho and Washington, and small hydro from Idaho.

If you'd like to Green Up your home, business, or event, visit our website for more information. Thank you for supporting Green Up!