As local communities increasingly seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and respond to public demand for clean energy, customers of the Fayetteville Public Works Commission will soon be able to purchase affordable solar power thanks to a groundbreaking project that will increase access to locally produced clean energy.
The Fayetteville PWC today officially opened its Community Solar Farm, the first municipal community solar project in North Carolina. Although there are community solar projects elsewhere in the state in communities served by co-ops, the Fayetteville project is the first to pair community solar with a 500 kW on-site battery, lowering costs for all customers by enabling low-cost clean energy to be deployed at peak periods.
Starting Nov. 1, Fayetteville PWC customers will be able to subscribe to power generated by one to five solar panels at the 3,384-panel farm and will receive a credit on their electric bills. The program has a modest one-time subscription fee, but subscribers are expected to recover that cost in a year or two.
The PWC estimates that each panel at the 1.12-megawatt facility will produce an average of 39 kilowatt-hours per month; the average residential customer uses 1,017 kilowatt-hours each month. Annually, the farm will generate 1.5 million kWh - enough energy to power 100 homes for one year. The monthly electricity produced by five solar panels is the greenhouse gas equivalent of taking a car off the road for 340 miles.
“We applaud the Fayetteville Public Works Commission for its leadership. With the Community Solar Farm, the commission is charting a course for other utilities,” said Molly Diggins, the N.C. Sierra Club’s State Director. “We hope that more North Carolina utilities will follow the Fayetteville PWC’s lead and supply their communities with community solar.”