Jan 5 2010
Solar financing has been introduced in Colorado by Bella Energy, a Colorado-based solar integrator. Solar financing for faith communities and non-profits is now made available by Community Solar Partners, which is a solar financing program that took almost 3 years to be fully established. This program enables the faith communities and non-profits to make vital infrastructure investments while reducing the price of solar investments by about 30 percent. The 21-kW solar energy system that was recently completed at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, of Denver, CO was the first project that was financed under this program.
Pastor Paul Carlson expressed his gratitude on the solar financing provided by Community Solar Partners for Our Savior’s Lutheran Church that was unable to install solar three years ago due to high costs without the advantage of tax credit provided by the federal government.
Community Solar Partners was developed by Diane Dandeneau, former Director of Colorado Interfaith Power and Light. Dandeneau stated that appropriate financing partners for this solar financing program were selected after many years of proper understanding of various details. Dandeneau, who now owns the post of Special Programs Manager with Bella Energy, is looking forward to helping the non-profits and faith communities to generate their own power.
Community Solar Partners functions like a traditional power purchase agreement (PPA) and it is available only for a limited period. A third-party investor owns the solar power system and collects the federal tax credit for it. The non-profit can purchase this solar energy system at a cheap price finally. The solar financing method that is mostly available for large scale solar energy systems and not available for small scale solar systems is now made available to non-profits wanting to invest in green energy thanks to Bella Energy's Community Solar Partners.