Response to Saipan and Rota solar power

Well were glad to see everyone now agrees the price of solar has come down since 2011. Note the last letter to the editor entitled Saipan and Rota solar power appears to have been written by an Ace representative.

No matter how you look at the proposed solar project, the numbers just don’t add up. Let’s take another look.

A 10-megawatt project in the States will cost you around $2.25 per watt or 22.5 million. Add some stabilizers to meet the 2009 International codes required by the islands, (hurricane winds 175 mph) add another 50 cents per watt. So the Saipan/Rota solar project should cost $2.75 per watt or 27.5 million and certainly not the 40 million claimed in the Ace contract award.

Let’s take a look at what was said about the cost of a PPA (purchase power agreement). In a PPA scenario the client (in this case the CUC) is never asked to pay anything for construction of the solar project because the system will be owned by someone else. In this case owned by Ace or a private investor. Once the project is complete the investor charges the utility so much per kwh (kilo watt hour).

PPA’s are always turned key and include engineering costs, panels, solar mounting equipment, electrical components, inverters (for converting the DC power to AC power), transformers, grid interconnection costs, financing fees. In other words includes all costs associated with the solar project.

In a PPA the financing is done over 20 years and that’s how a cost per kwh is determined. Twenty years is a long time and can easily include finance charges just like buying a home. Especially with today’s low rates.

We ask you to consider the following. We know the total and overall cost of solar dropped more than 60 percent since 2011 (panels, inverters, racking, company margins) which equates to more than a $1.00 per watt. This is well documented in the SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association) and articles all over the internet. Doesn’t it make sense we can do this for less today than a contract awarded in 2011? If there is any doubt don’t we want to know?

Another issue you should know regarding the Ace contract award, the kwh price goes up every year and it only starts at 18 cents per kwh. So you the rate payer will pay more each year.

Look, this is a 20-year commitment and over 33,000 solar panels, let’s get this right. We all have to live with this project for a very long time. It’s really not the CUC’s fault, nor Ace’s for that matter, it’s just been too long. There has been extraordinary changes with lower costs associated with all aspects of solar, very similar to the significant drop and devastation seen in the housing markets.

The CUC under the terms of the of the original RFP (request for price) is not obligated to move forward with this solar contract and the original RFP process only took six months back in 2011. Let’s do it again, should only take four months this time and for a 20 year commitment, we think that’s a fair and reasonable request. We want to be sure that Saipan and Rota get the best solar products and the lowest cost per kwh.

We would like to hear how the ratepayers feel about this issue. Do you think the CUC board should rebid the solar project for Saipan and Rota. Please comment below, thank you.

Dave Hood
Coldwell Solar