||| FROM AMY LOVELESS-WHITNEY |||
Whether we live on Shaw, Orcas, Lopez, San Juan, or an outer island, we share an interest in OPALCO’s spending, reliable electricity, and accountable decisions.
The proposed Decatur solar expansion raises questions that belong to every cooperative member.
What will members pay over the project’s life, and what purchased-power costs will it actually avoid?
OPALCO should publish an independent financial review, including financing, maintenance, equipment replacement, grants, and downside scenarios. Subscriber credits and savings for the cooperative should be explained separately.
What will the project deliver when electricity is most needed? Additional solar can reduce daytime power purchases. But annual production is different from dependable winter supply. OPALCO says no additional battery is planned. Members deserve measured performance from the existing array and a clear explanation of the expansion’s winter contribution, outage capability, and which islands could receive backup.
How does this investment fit alongside maintenance and replacement of the mainland cables we depend on?
We need a coordinated infrastructure plan, with priorities, costs, and schedules.
Finally, are sites being selected on their merits? OPALCO has documented efforts to preserve grant funding following Bailer Hill’s permitting delay. It should disclose current grant terms and explain why the chosen project is preferable to alternatives, independently of previously purchased equipment or deadlines. Every island also benefits when energy projects undergo credible environmental and emergency-response review, with meaningful public participation.
I ask the Board to pause further discretionary commitments to the Decatur expansion while independent review addresses these questions. Supporting renewable energy and demanding careful stewardship of cooperative funds go together. Members deserve public answers before further commitments.
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Thank you, Amy for pointing out reasonable expectations from our power distributor. The first mistake OPALCO made was not reading the title report.
The second mistake was thinking the residence of Decatur Island would sit still while they bulldozed and railroaded their solar array through our forests. The third mistake. Was closing on the property without any discussions with the residence of Decatur and members of the Opalco co-op.
Management seem to be chasing a Grant that was slipping through their fingers because they’re first child, the Baylor Hill property, was being stubborn and non-cooperative. So what does any good parent do? They went to the child that had always been cooperative and helpful. Little did they know that that child had grown up in the meantime and realized there were things that were more important than an ill conceived idea of solar power in the northwest. So that second child started to ask questions and made it known that 87% did not want their forest clearcut for solar. So the parent dug themselves deeper and continued forward with their plan. They generated.a fire mitigation plan that is so absurd that a school child could see that it would not mitigate anything.
Well, the parent kept trying! They visited with the County planning, and after much discourse (apparently) convince them that it was OK to set aside a County demanded recorded wildlife corridor (County demanded in the first place) Iit was recorded!, How is it possible that without any public input that that recorded wildlife corridor easement was broken up into pieces and distributed throughout the subject property
Can anyone besides the people on Decatur Island who are protesting this project see how wrong this whole idea is?
Thank you, Amy Loveless-Whitney for asking for transparency and consideration for the members who pay and pay and pay the management and all of the other operating costs of this co-op..
Thank you for these thoughtful questions and for reframing it in a way that lets ALL OPALCO members know that this concerns ALL of us not just Decatur. I am as guilty as anyone for just seeing this as it affects me on Decatur. WE may have to look at it but we all will be paying for it and this is not the time to squander money on a low yield project that members will be paying off for years. Don’t continue to move forward in a way that disregards the financial concerns we have.