Letter to Editor | Solar power just doesn’t work here; doesn’t make sense

||| FROM RIKKI SWIN |||

Solar power works well in many places — but NOT HERE  The San Juan Islands have some of the lowest solar potential in the continental U.S. due to latitude, persistent clouds, fog, and rain — among the most difficult and lowest output in the lower 48.  For site-specific estimates, use www.GlobalSolarAtlas.info/map or NREL’s PVWatts tool. This is not NIMBY it is NITWP (Not In The Wrong Place)

If a Submarine Cable goes bad – OPALCO solar will not help. A damaged cable will take days or longer to repair, solar microgrids will only supply power for a few hours (and not everyone).

Solar grids here will not help the environment one bit! OPALCO power is already carbon-free! BPA is hydro power which is renewable and carbon free.

Solar expansion on Decatur Island will increase our carbon footprint. When you cut down trees you increase carbon in the atmosphere. Living trees absorb carbon dioxide so when you cut them down less carbon is absorbed.

Did OPALCO Members (not solar subscribers) purchase 2 million $ of solar panels BEFORE approval for Bailer Hill? And now they must force those panels onto Decatur Island? Who paid the cost of these panels? YOU?

Member Funded Solar is smoke and mirrors! Solar subscribers pay up front but in return they receive monthly bill credits. The lost revenue translates to everyone paying for the solar microgrids – not just the subscribers.

OPALCO says microgrids are needed for resilience against increasing mainland outages. BPA is not warning of any such thing. BPA is also not encouraging OPALCO to build anything. (This surprised me,….BPA supplies 12-14 million people across Idaho, Oregon, Washington, western Montana and parts of California and Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and eastern Montana)

Critical facilities (healthcare, fire stations, water treatment) already have on-site backup. This is standard practice and required by law.

Solar microgrids are ugly! Yes – Subjective – but I can’t find anyone that thinks they are beautiful. And what about the animal habitats they destroy?

We don’t need ANY solar – we are a retirement Community- No vital factories or major businesses. Local residents have individual options 1) Wait 2) Generator 3) Rooftop solar (no payback) 4) get a battery backup for your computer ($500). I lived in Victoria for about 10 years and we had power failures every so often and we waited until they fixed it. That’s how it was in Chicago when I lived there years ago.

OPALCO is planning many solar microgrids San Juan, Orcas, Lopez, Shaw, Blakely, Decatur . Current focus: expansions like Bailer Hill (San Juan Island) and Decatur additions.

Total project costs estimates of 50–60 million $ for all planned microgrids. Examples: Decatur (~$ several million, partially member-funded); Bailer Hill has secured ~$2.4M in grid modernization grants + $1M for low-income assistance. Local renewable generation—which directly supports microgrid expansions through solar arrays, energy storage systems (ESS), and tidal pilots—is estimated at $56.9 million total per OPALCO

OPALCO planned microgrids will consume 100’s of acres. Decatur current: ~3.6 acres; proposed expansion: up to ~8–19 acres (cleared second-growth forest). Bailer Hill: 19 acres. Hypothetical larger visions (e.g., offsetting future demand) discuss 135–218 acres per ferry-served island!

Website: www.OurOpalco.com