This crowdsourced campaign will make solar panels cheaper for Columbia homes, businesses

Columbia resident Emily Piontek, who in her every day life is a clean energy policy professional, came to the Columbia City Council on July 1, 2024 with an idea.

“I had heard about Solarize Kansas City and I knew some of the (Columbia) nonprofit partners already and that they were concerned about clean energy, climate change and ways to mitigate it,” she said in an interview this week at the launch of Solarize Columbia on July 10.

This is a new campaign aiming to get homeowners, businesses and nonprofits to install solar panels at reduced costs, making solar energy accessible to a wider swath of the community. The campaign website notes that nearly 50 people, businesses or nonprofits already have signed up to get solar and the campaign is encouraging the wider community to consider solar panel installations as well. The more people that sign up and install, the cheaper it is.

Piontek had met with local chapters of the Sierra Club, League of Women Voters and Mid-Missouri Peaceworks, along with Renew Missouri, about the solar panel incentive program for residential, commercial and nonprofit customers. They encouraged her to go to the city council about the idea.

The council took her idea to heart and formed a public-private partnership through the Columbia Office of Sustainability and the aforementioned groups.

This led to a connection with Solar Crowdsource, which coordinates on Solarize campaigns and helps with community group-purchasing of solar power equipment — the end result is that residents, businesses and nonprofits get a deal on pricing through a combined request for proposals from solar panel installers.

A meeting space at the Boone County Electric Cooperative was nearly at capacity, filled with people interested in Solarize Columbia, which Piontek felt encouraged by. The opportunity is open to Boone Electric and Columbia Water and Light customers. Those with Ameren for electricity still could work with Solarize Columbia, but the incentive might not be as good.

“I almost cried, actually, which surprised me,” Piontek said about the crowd that came to learn more at Boone Electric. “Coming here and seeing all the people that have shown up for this and knowing this all started from a few casual conversations a year ago — I think we have 60-plus people who came here tonight. We might actually get something done.”

Solarize Columbia is aimed at getting renewable energy into as many places in the city as possible at crowdsourced prices. The more residential customers buy-in, the cheaper the installation costs per kilowatt and for commercial or nonprofit customers, the per kilowatt costs is determined by how large of a solar array is bought.

All solar panel installations will be conducted by Columbia-based Dogwood Solar. There is an extra cost if a person opts to do a battery system, rather than putting excess solar production back onto the power grid.

Representatives of Dogwood Solar and Solar Crowdsource encouraged those interested to sign up through the Solarize Columbia website as soon as possible, especially to take advantage of a federal solar energy tax credit that ends Dec. 31 due to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The enrollment deadline for residential, commercial and nonprofit customers is Oct. 31. A solar evaluation is done after a sign-up, financing and and installation agreement is then signed ahead of installation.

While the enrollment date is the end of October, residential, commercial and nonprofit customers still have a couple months in which to sign contracts with Solarize Columbia/Dogwood Solar. The residential contract deadline is Jan. 31 and the commercial or nonprofit deadline is April 30. If the contracts are signed on those dates, those customers are not able to take advantage of the federal tax credit.

From 2023: Renters in Columbia will soon have access to solar energy benefits. Here’s what to know

Financing is available through either Dogwood Solar or a person or business could also get a solar loan from the city of Columbia, which has slightly better interest rate options. Rules on when the federal tax credit would apply are not yet clear — after installation or system turn on, so Solar Crowdsource errs on the side of using the permission to operate date, i.e. when the solar panel system can be turned on, from their respective utility provider. In other words, the solar panel system has to be installed and on by Dec. 31 to get the credit.

Solar Crowdsource also recommends homeowners and businesses get a roof evaluation done to see if it is feasible to conduct an installation now. Roofs older than 10 years may need replacement first.

Solarize Columbia is different than the City of Columbia’s Community Solar Program, in which people reserve a block (1.5 kW) of solar. This is then part of net metering on a utility bill. Solarize Columbia also utilizes net metering to determine cost savings to customers with solar.

Solarize Columbia is where a person or business owns their own solar panel system, while the city’s Community Solar Program is where a person buys solar from someone else’s system, such as the city’s. The Community Solar Program means renters can take advantage of solar energy since they cannot install panels on their building.