As of 2021, Solarize the Kenai has moved to its own website. Visit solarizethekenai.org for up-to-date information. Sign up to be included in the current campaign here.
Solarize the Kenai is a cooperative buying campaign that aims to make purchasing solar power cheaper and more convenient for home-owners, businesses, community centers, churches, and other building owners on the Kenai Peninsula. Community groups in the Lower 48 have successfully used the Solarize model since 2009. In Alaska, Solarize Anchorage is in its third year and Solarize Fairbanks in its first.
Solarize the Kenai pools the buying power of peninsula communities by gathering as many people with an interest in home or small business solar as we can, then inviting local solar installers to bid for the job of serving them all in the coming season. For the installer, filling out their schedule with a known group of customers lowers their logistics and marketing costs, letting them offer services for less. And because the installers are competing against one another for the pool of customers, they’re incentivized to offer even more of a discount.
For quick reference, here’s what you should know about Solarize the Kenai in one easy-to-share page:
2020 Campaign
In 2020, Solarize the Kenai partnered with Midnight Sun Solar to offer discounted solar installations to home and business owners in the Sterling, Kenai, Soldotna, Nikiski, Kasilof, and Clam Gulch zipcodes.
The discounted Solarize contract offered a “tiered pricing” system with discounts that vary based on how many kilowatts of solar capacity individual building owners order, as well as on the total capacity that all participating building owners have ordered. Depending on these variables, Midnight Sun offered solar at prices from $3/watt to $2.70/watt.
For reference, Alaska’s average cost of solar is $3.13/watt, according to SolarReviews.com, and the average residential system on the Kenai Peninsula is 4.9 kilowatts, according to Homer Electric Association’s net metering data.
Here is a full table of the 2020 price tiers (PDF):
Solar/Solarize Resources
- For business owners considering a solar installation, the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Renewable Energy for America Program grant may cover up to 25 percent of the cost. The deadline to apply is March 31. For more information, contact Energy Coordinator Misty Hull at misty.hull@usda.gov, and read this USDA information sheet.
- The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Solarize Guidebook is packed with information on the cooperative buying model we’re using.
- Previously, the Solarize model has been used in Alaska by the Solarize Anchorage and Solarize Fairbanks campaigns.
- The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s solar calculator can model the monthly and yearly energy production of a given solar system in a given location — a great resource for building owners calculating costs and benefits.
- For DIY solar, the University of Alaska Fairbanks created this solar design manual specifically for Alaska.