HomeMy WebLinkAboutConfidential Memo - Mail Packet - 03/18/2025 - Memorandum from Brian Tholl and Leland Keller re Upcoming Riverside Community Solar Project Restoration
Energy Services
222 Laporte Ave
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522
CC: Joe Wimmer Director, Utilities Finance
MEMORANDUM
Date: March 11, 2025
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Travis Walker, Utilities Light & Power Director
From: Brian Tholl, Energy Services Director
Leland Keller, Sr. Energy Services Engineer
Subject: Upcoming Riverside Community Solar Project Restoration
BOTTOM LINE
This memo serves to provide a status update on the restoration and participant engagement
efforts for the Riverside Community Solar Project. On August 20, 2023, the Riverside
Community Solar Project experienced an inverter failure and stopped generating electricity.
Currently, Utilities staff are in the final stages of replacing the inverter and restoring solar power
generation. The Project is expected to be operational in the next week or two, by the end of
March, if final testing goes as planned. The panel owners will soon begin receiving solar credits
on their utility bill.
PARTICIPANT ENGAGEMENT
During the restoration process, Utilities staff have actively and frequently engaged Riverside
Solar Panel Owners, who are also Utilities customers. Engagement efforts have included seven
in-person meetings. Five of these meetings held were with a recently formed Riverside Owner
Advisory Group, a subset of approximately 18 owners. Staff’s goal in forming the Advisory
Group is to provide more detailed updates on the project’s progress to the most engaged
owners, gain their general feedback, and answer their questions. The formation of the Riverside
Owner Advisory Group was motivated largely due to the panel owner’s regularly expressed
frustration with the repair timeline and the desire to receive additional communication about the
Project. Additionally, monthly updates to our website and emails to the entire panel owner group
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provided project updates and summaries of the Advisory Group meetings. Updates can be
found at fcgov.com/RiversideUpdates.
BACKGROUND
The Riverside Community Solar Project was established in 2015 under an agreement with
Clean Energy Collective to develop, own and operate Riverside. Community Solar provides
Utilities electric customers the opportunity to own solar generation assets without installing solar
at their home. Utilities acquired the Project, including all responsibilities and assets owned or
controlled by Clean Energy Collective, in 2020, and adopted Program Rules as approved by
Council (Ordinance No. 141-2020).
The electricity produced at Riverside not only benefits the participating solar owners but also
benefits the broader community in our pursuit towards delivering 100% non-carbon electricity.
City Council supported repowering Riverside (Ordinance No. 058, 2024), by making
supplemental appropriations of the 2050 tax on May 21, 2024. The approval to use the 2050 tax
funds was a timely funding solution that reaffirmed the City’s commitment to advancing the Our
Climate Future goals through supporting local solar generation at Riverside and improving
relationships with the participating solar owners.
The replacement project resulted in a new design at the site. The significance of this new design
is its ability to enhance reliability of the array by not having one point of failure that was a
consequential flaw of the previous central inverter design. Additionally, the parts to repair the
site are more readily available with the new design, so if there is an equipment failure in the
future, re-powering the array will likely be quicker. Overall, the new design will make the project
more sustainable and will enhance the site’s functionality long-term.
NEXT STEPS
Utilities staff and customer-owners look forward to returning to regular operations. To achieve
this, staff must do the following:
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•Finalize site repowering and commissioning activities to optimize solar generation.
•Communicate progress in the repowering project to Riverside Solar owners.
•Resume bill credit operations for energy produced by Riverside Community Solar
Project.
•Continue with site operation and maintenance with our selected vendor.
Docusign Envelope ID: 258F8EEF-BC41-4791-95C0-E365B69E7271