The sun understood the assignment and shone brightly over Monegan Road on Wednesday, Sept. 16 as Flathead Electric Cooperative, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the city of Whitefish and several citizens celebrated the completion of a new solar project.

“This is an exciting day for us because it reflects the kind of community driven project that this board wants to support – one shaped by local ideas, strong partnerships and meaningful benefits for our members,” said Stacey Schnebel, Flathead Electric Cooperative board president. 

The solar array, built on city land near the wastewater treatment plant, is made up of 448 solar panels that each generate about 700 kWh per year. The project is expected to generate enough power for 21 average homes. A battery system on site stores energy for peak demand. 

People may purchase a panel’s power generation for $700 per panel, which will result in a reduction on their power bill by about $43 per year, per panel. 

The solar array in Whitefish is the third community solar project Flathead Electric Coop has built. The first was built in 2015 off Whitefish Stage Road and the second, in 2018 in Kalispell. 

“This project came online earlier this year and also marks an important first for the cooperative,” Schnabel said. “This is our first community solar project that is paired with a utility-scale battery [that] allows us to store electricity and release it when it can provide better value to our electrical system, including during those periods of higher demand.”  

The energy generated by approximately 80 of the panels will offset the usage on the bills of low-income families in the area, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and a $5,000 donation from YeTI Photovoltaic, Inc. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a $463,307 Rural Energy for America Program grant, known as a REAP grant.   

“Partnerships are really how we get things done in Whitefish,” Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman said. 

Whitefish worked with Climate Smart Glacier Country in 2018 to develop the Climate Action Plan which has central themes like using energy more efficiently, conserving water, and producing more of the things we need locally,” he said, adding that creating a community solar project was an objective of the plan. 

"We wanted to help create a facility that could produce energy that is shared among many households and allow property owners to obtain solar power without having to bear the expense and the land burden to install the equipment on their own property,” Workman said. “This expands access to solar power for residents, business owners, commercial property and institutional property owners.” 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.

    Whitefish CIty Manager Dana Meeker and Stacey Schnebel, president of the board of trustees of Flathead Electric Cooperative cut the ribbon at the new community solar project on Monegan Road. (Julie Engle/Whitefish PIlot)