KEARNEY — Stan Clouse said Wednesday he’s ready to go green at home by signing up for solar-generated electricity, and he’s betting many of Kearney’s residential, commercial and institutional energy consumers also will want to do the same when Nebraska’s largest solar energy array is online in the fall.
“I’m not overly concerned about getting it fully subscribed,” Clouse said. He is fielding questions about the $11 million solar project SoCore Energy of Chicago is planning here.
When it’s complete, the solar array in northeast Kearney will be Nebraska’s largest. On perfect sunny days it will generate 5.8 megawatts of electricity — about 5 percent of Kearney’s peak demand.
Formal signing ceremonies were planned today at city hall by solar project partners: SoCore, Nebraska Public Power District and the city of Kearney.
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Although the SoCore panels won’t come close to meeting Kearney’s power demands, they will allow people and companies who are environmentally minded to fill at least some of their electrical needs with green energy.
“We have some large energy-using customers that have a renewable standard in their portfolio, and this will be of interest to them,” said Clouse, an account manager in Kearney for NPPD.
Clouse believes having green energy will supercharge Kearney’s recruitment of high-tech firms.
Kearney came close in its bid a few years ago for a $1 billion Facebook data center. An extremely low electrical rate was offered, but Facebook opted for an Iowa location because wind energy was part of the bid.
Clouse and other Kearney leaders believe the availability of green energy will be an attraction for Kearney’s Tech oNE Crossing, bringing jobs and broadening the local tax base. Xpanxion already is planning to build at Tech oNE and was scheduled to formally commit to that project today.
Clouse said the solar energy rate in Kearney will be very competitive. His all-electric home uses about 1,000 to 1,200 kilowatt hours per month. Consumers could buy up to 80 percent of their electricity from the solar array at 150 kilowatt hours per share at 86 cents per share per month.
For Clouse, buying 900 kilowatt hours of solar energy per month will add about $5.15 to his monthly bill, which is $157.
“If I buy six shares (of solar power) my bill would go up by $5.15,” he said.
About 84,000 shares of capacity will be available from the SoCore project. Clouse said consumers would pay an upfront enrollment fee of $50, and each share would cost 86 cents per month. Clouse said that because the solar rate isn’t much more than NPPD’s standard rate, he anticipates a lot of interest, so much so, he said, that the challenge could be deciding how to reserve some solar capacity for businesses that want to be in Tech oNE Crossing.
“How much do we set aside so we can use it as a recruiting tool?” Clouse said.
Today’s signing ceremony was planned for 11 a.m. at city hall.
Participants were to include SoCore President Rob Schuermann, NPPD President Pat Pope, Xpanxion Vice President Kelly Barnes, Kearney City Manager Michael Morgan, Economic Development Council of Buffalo County President Darren Robinson and Kearney City Council Vice President Randy Buschkoetter.
“Xpanxion is getting ready to build, and Darren Robinson is going to be recruiting the heck out of things,” Clouse said. “Xpanxion brings in big companies to Kearney. When they’ve seen Kearney, we may have some companies who want to move here to be closer to Xpanxion.”
Tim Polz of SoCore Energy worked with the city and NPPD on the Kearney project. He anticipates construction will begin in late March and conclude before September.
SoCore operates solar projects in 17 states, including Kansas, and is developing other projects in Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and South Dakota.
