Lewes citizen seeks citywide solar panels

William Ullman, a University of Delaware College of Marine & Earth Studies professor, will present the Board of Public Works (BPW) with a plan to use flat-roofed buildings in the city as the mounting platform for large arrays of photovoltaic cells.

Ullman will discuss the proposal with the BPW at the panel’s 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 22 meeting at Lewes Public Library.

Ullman said it would be the board’s first exposure to the proposal. “I hope people will come out and ask questions,” he said.

Ullman said the Community Solar Utility for Lewes – CSUL (pronounced Sea-Sul) would be funded by a pool of individuals and community investors.

He said he thinks the proposal is a cost-effective and fast way of getting a large-scale alternative green energy production up and running. Ullman said money from individual investors – BPW customers – and community resources such as tax rebates and subsidies – could help pay for centralized solar arrays and other equipment.

“The value of the electricity generated by these arrays will be split between the investors, the owners of flat-roofed buildings and CSUL, operated by the BPW,” Ullman wrote in a draft proposal. He said the existing Green Energy Fund program has a high rate of participation by Lewes homeowners but because of the way it’s funded and structured the benefit to homeowners is long delayed.

Ullman said the BPW is uniquely positioned to create and manage CSUL because it has electric utility management experience and also acts semiautonomously.
He said a feasibility study could be completed quickly and the first array could be operational in about a year.