<\/p>\n
New solar panels built over the weekend at Empire Electric in Cortez will give some low- and moderate-income households a break on their electric bills.<\/p>\n
Volunteers from various groups converged on Empire\u2019s campus to install the panels, which can generate up to 21 kilowatts of energy. Between five and 10 families who qualify will get a reduced rate on their electric bills, which will be subsidized by energy produced from the panels, said Empire general manager Josh Dellinger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re concerned with the best interests of our members,\u201d Dellinger said. \u201cThis is a project that will bring a positive impact to community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Colorado Energy Office invested $1.2 million to install solar arrays in areas around the state to benefit lower-income energy customers. The focus is on rural cooperatives, such as Empire Electric, which have proven to be early adopters of community solar panel systems, said Colorado Energy Office representative Adrienne Dorsey.<\/p>\n
The solar panels at Empire are the first in the state to be installed as part of the agency\u2019s program, Dorsey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really great to see this on the ground,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The agency also is partnering with GRID Alternatives, a California-based nonprofit that helps build community solar arrays to benefit low- and moderate-income households.<\/p>\n
Each program subscriber household will be allocated a certain portion of the arrays that volunteers built over the weekend, Dellinger said. Depending on how much energy the arrays produce, the subscribers will pay a reduced rate for electric service, he said.<\/p>\n
Cortez residents Lloyd Gallion and Jim Hannah volunteered Friday to help build the panels. Gallion said the program would be beneficial, especially for seniors who need to save every penny.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to save on energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hannah, a retired park ranger, said renewable energy sources such as solar panels should get as much exposure as possible. Lots of remote areas are using renewable sources, including Monticello, Utah, which has a wind farm, he said.<\/p>\n
Hannah said solar energy is the way to go in the Southwest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get more people thinking about this,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sold on solar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montezuma-Cortez High School seniors David Gonzales-Overton and Kaleb Gideon Burris also helped out Friday. As students in Adrianna Brungardt\u2019s earth science class, Gonzales-Overton and Burris volunteered to help in order to learn about community and land resources, they said.<\/p>\n
Burris said all the volunteers worked well together, despite the unseasonably cold temperatures over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody\u2019s in a rush, and everything is organized,\u201d Burris said. \u201cThere\u2019s no negative energy here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzales-Overton said much of the public perception of solar energy is that it\u2019s a big chore, but that isn\u2019t true. Solar energy systems don\u2019t take up too much land, and the panels don\u2019t take much effort to set up, he said.<\/p>\n
The volunteer group gained applause from Gonzales-Overton, too. He said he hoped this would be just the beginning for solar energy in southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all working toward the same goals,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope Cortez continues to be involved with this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Students join Empire Electric effort to aid low- and moderate-income residents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[489,227,875,13,36,1426],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-105640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-alternative-energy","tag-empire-electric-assoc","tag-energy-and-resource","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-renewable-energy"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105640"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=105640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}