The Cooperative Finance Corp. (CFC), Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange and the National Renewables Cooperative Organization recently marked the first anniversary of their landmark Solar Cooperative Community Projects (sCOOP) program. The organizations created the program in response to growing interest among electric cooperatives in deploying small-scale solar generation resources, allowing members to purchase part of the output of the solar arrays on a voluntary subscription basis.
“Over the past year we’ve seen a significant amount of interest in solar on the part of electric cooperatives,” CFC CEO Sheldon C. Petersen said. “The collaborative efforts behind the sCOOP program have enabled those co-ops interested in solar to pursue projects in a more cost-effective way.”
To date, more than 20 cooperatives have either completed or are actively developing projects through the sCOOP program, which allows cooperatives to own the solar assets while using the investment tax credit and accelerated depreciation for projects – incentives typically not available to not-for-profit cooperatives.
Source: CFC Solutions Newsbulletin