Chatting with students Thursday at Academy 360 in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood, Mayor Michael Hancock made a little confession: He shared in their wonderment regarding solar energy.
“When I was your age, I used to see these magical solar panels on houses, and I wondered what they did,” Hancock said. “They were very expensive to have then, and they still are. But because of this project, we’ll all be able to share in affordable energy.”
Colorado was the first state to give people the option of moving past the individual panels and receiving solar energy via shared electric systems. Now, a Denver-based company, SunShare, is partnering with Xcel Energy to bring the technology to Denver.
SunShare is building community solar gardens in Adams, Arapahoe, Denver and Jefferson counties to go along with two that have been online in Colorado Springs for the past two years.
On Thursday, Hancock, City Council president Chris Herndon and other officials were at the school to celebrate an agreement in which the families of each of the 125 charter school students will receive six-tenths of a kilowatt of free solar energy in their homes.
According to SunShare CEO David Amster-Olszewski, that will mean about a 20 percent reduction in those families’ monthly home energy bill.
“That will have a big impact — it means they’ll be able to put healthier foods on the table or buy more sports equipment for their kids’ health,” he said.
“Four years ago, this was illegal. … That’s why we’re partnering with Academy 360 — solar energy is the future, and these kids and this school … are the future, too.”
Colorado passed the Community Solar Act, allowing the solar/electrical partnerships, four years ago. Now, 16 other states have passed or are in the process of passing similar legislation. Denver’s first solar garden, near Denver International Airport, is expected to go online early next year; when that happens, Amster-Olszewski said, he’ll be spending a lot more time with the Academy 360 students.
“We’re going to bring all the students and their families out to it, and they’ll be able to place their own panels on the grid,” he said. “Today is really cool, but that will be the cherry on top.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292, acotton@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ anthonycottondp
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