Orcas Power & Light - MORE Green Power Program

Summary

Orcas Power and Light (OPALCO), an electric cooperative serving Washington’s San Juan Islands, provides a performance-based incentive for residential and commercial members who generate energy from photovoltaics, wind, micro-hydroelectric and other small-scale renewable energy sources. The Member Owned Renewable Energy (MORE) Program is funded by voluntary member donations to provide a production credit to local renewable member generators. 

Incentive payments will be paid per kilowatt hour (kWh) of production, with a rate based on the year in which the system is interconnected. In 2014, incentive rates were adjusted to accommodate faster growth in MORE installations than voluntary contributions. 

Systems interconnected in Year 1 receive bonus payments of $0.10/kWh for two years, and systems installed in Year 2 receive the $0.10/kWh bonus for one year. The maximum generation eligible per member generator is 10,000 kWh for commercial members and 4,000 kWh for all others.

The fund balance and payments will be reviewed by OPALCO on a quarterly basis. Each July, OPALCO will collect kWh production data from each member generator participating in the MORE program, and will make annual payments to eligible members. OPALCO may curtail new applications or revise incentive rates should funding become insufficient to sustain the program.

Member-owned renewable generators applying to be tied to OPALCO’s system must be pre-approved by OPALCO through the interconnection application process prior to installation. Members may choose either net metering or a buy/sell arrangement to receive compensation for the system's excess generation. While MORE generators are eligible to also participate in Washington State's Renewable Energy Cost Recovery Program, applications for these incentives have reached their cap as of June 30, 2014, and payments are now being decreased.