Installation of solar panels has begun at 16 properties on the city’s West Side, in a first-of-its-kind, large-scale green energy project created by the West Broadway Neighborhood Association (WBNA) and supported by the state Economic Development Corporation (EDC).
A program of the WBNA, West Side Solar is the first community-designed, community-run mass solar panel project implemented in a historic, urban setting in Rhode Island. The program, funded by the EDC and federal tax credits and contracted to Real Goods Solar, makes renewable energy affordable and accessible to West Side property owners through a neighborhood group purchase program.
“This project has been a remarkable collaboration between the West Side community, EDC, and our local and state historic preservation offices,” said Julian Dash, former Director of the EDC’s Renewable Energy Fund. “This is truly a unique partnership and endeavor, and can serve as a model for other Rhode Island communities, both urban and otherwise, that seek to utilize renewable energy alternatives on a large scale.”
All but one of the participating properties are historic, and represent a variety of building types on which solar panels will be installed — from a single-family home on Marshall Street to a former firehouse turned three-family residence on Harrison Street to a small business, Healing Paws, on Westminster Street.
Implementing a green energy program in a largely historic neighborhood posed a worthwhile challenge to the WBNA, an organization known for protecting and valuing the West Side’s historic character. The Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission reviewed all properties in its jurisdiction and found that, by Real Goods Solar carefully selecting installation locations that are not visually prominent, the solar panels would have “no adverse effect” on the National Register District. The local historic district reached a similar conclusion.
“This program has been extremely gratifying because it shows that historic preservation and renewable energy projects are not mutually exclusive,” said Kari Lang, WBNA’s executive director. “West Side Solar has allowed the WBNA to combine its commitment to protecting historic properties with its efforts to save energy and promote the use of alternative energies.”
Pam Elizabeth, owner of a single-family cottage in Federal Hill, has already experienced the pleasure of watching her electric meter run backwards. “I am thrilled to be the first in our neighborhood project to be generating my own electricity,” she said. “My solar panels are working, and they look mighty fine.”
Last fall, the WBNA, in partnership with the EDC, invited residents and businesses of Federal Hill and the West End to participate in the solar panel project. The response was overwhelming, as more than 125 property owners applied. The WBNA since received a $500,000 grant from the EDC’s Renewable Energy Fund that, paired with federal tax credits and start-up deposits from participating neighbors, made it possible for West Side Solar to move forward with its first round of solar panel installations.
Total project completion is expected by Aug. 1, according to the WBNA. To date, installation is complete at nine sites, with work currently underway on the remaining properties. The WBNA hopes to announce a second round of project sites before year’s end.
This article is republished with permission from ecoRI.org.