Nonprofits assist others to gain solar traction 

Some of the most remote areas in the United States were the last locations to access electricity. When President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration, things changed. Roosevelt’s era created 900 electric cooperatives (co-ops) that power homes. These non-profit, member-owned electricity companies cover 70% of U.S. geographic territory  ensuring that all rural communities have access to affordable and sustainable sources of electricity.  
 

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) explained

Americans in cities and suburbs are power  with clean and renewable solar electricity as the cost of  solar  systems has declined. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is working with the co-ops it represents to spearhead a national initiative to make going renewables cheaper, faster, and easier for Americans in rural communities.
 

About utility networks 

Solar Utility Networks: Replicable Innovations In Solar Energy (SUNRISE), NRECA has partners with 17 co-ops, Power Secure, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), and Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange to create, experiment, and deploy the “PV System Toolkit.” This is a ready-to-use standard engineering designs, financing models, templates, tools, and plans, and its suite of materials provides best practices to decrease solar adoption prices and help co-ops navigate the methods  to  integrate solar into their asset portfolios. NRECA  supports the deployment of more than 23 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale PV in 15 states. They supply rural communities with answers to leverage the advantages of cost-competitive and reliable solar generation. 

NRECA deployed one of its community clean energy projects with CoServ Electric. It installed a 2 MW system on a 16-acre peanut farm in Krugerville, Texas. You can buy kilowatt-hour blocks of power from the site.  NRECA continues to work with co-ops to deploy solar projects that expand accessibility and complete the  needs of each co-op. Demand for NRECA’s PV System Toolkit grows. NRECA interacts with hundreds of co-ops and thousands staffers as they contemplate offers of clean power as an option for their members. From 2015 to 2016, 3,000 representatives from 347 co-ops participated in NRECA’s PV System Toolkit webinars. Due to the program’s success, NRECA plans to reach every member cooperative and ensure they have the information about going solar. 

NRECA’s project  also works with private investors to provide more insight about issues co-ops face when financing new projects. Since Co-ops are nonprofit entities, they can’t take advantage of tax and accelerated depreciation incentives for renewable energy projects. NRECA has assisted Cooperative Finance Corporation, CoBank, and other private equity firms create new offerings that allow co-ops to fund projects. Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation, and Green Power Electric Membership Corporation used these new offerings to make their solar co-op projects. NRECA’s work is critical to the deployment of clean energy since electric co-ops serve large   areas and bring electricity to over 12% of all electricity customers.  

If you want to join the solar revolution, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years. For more information about solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for guides and articles.