The Board of Directors at the Hospitality House of Boone, NC just met yesterday to approve a proposal to work with AIRE in developing a solar thermal project on the roof of their new facility. For more than 30 years, the Hospitality House has provided food, temporary shelter, and other assistance programs to individuals and families in the High Country that have fallen on hard times. The decision of the Hospitality House Board of Directors culminated after months of conversation about the feasibility of a project at their new, beautiful facility that was recently completed. The shelter is home to dozens of people, 25% of whom are under the age of 12. The shelter is more than just a place to sleep, they offer life counseling and support services to help people get back on their feet and triumph through challenging economic circumstances.

The solar thermal panels will help offset the energy demand used for heating water, saving the Hospitality House money from day 1. AIRE will assist in organizing empathetic investors from the community, as well as utilizing a $25,000 grant from Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp (BREMCO), to pay for the installation. Empathetic investors will engage in AIRE’s tax-equity project development process to finance the panels and potentially make their money back, before donating the system to the Hospitality House. The plans for the new solar installation is considered part of a broader vision for the shelter, to be an example of the relationship between sustainability and community well being.

Our primary objective at AIRE is to foster the development of community-owned renewable energy. From time to time, a public policy issue comes up that AIRE must weigh in on to honor its mission. One such current policy battle involves the big electric utilities in North Carolina asking you, us, a collective “we” the ratepayers to cover their financial risk.

Two of the groups leading the effort to stop this possibility, North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light (a project of the NC Council of Churches) and NC WARN have been working together for over a year trying to prevent Duke and Progress Energy from getting legislation passed in the General Assembly granting them authority to raise rates for construction of large power plants without first going through the approval process at the NC Utilities Commission. They already have CWIP (Construction Work in Progress) authority under SB 3 – the REPS law. In 2011, Duke and Progress didn’t push this in the GA because of the Fukishima (Japan) nuclear disaster, but these groups expect them to try to get it in the short session.

The issues are framed in economic terms mostly, and as issues of fairness.

In Florida, ratepayers have been paying for pre-construction costs for 2 reactors that now have been cancelled by Progress Energy of Florida, and it looks the consumers will be paying for those costs for years. The fact is that Duke and Progress can’t build nuclear reactors without this form of public financing. They have admitted as much. If they get SCWIP, we can kiss any chance of getting a reasonable and fair playing field for renewables for decades.

Please consider signing the petition and contacting your representative.