Coldwell Solar, Inc., a solar energy company based in California with plans to expand operations to the CNMI, has protested the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.\u2019s recent decision to push through with a contract with American Capital Energy for the development of a solar power system on Saipan and Rota. Under the contract, ACE would sell power to the CUC at a per kilowatt hour charge for 20 years.<\/p>\n
The project itself is a good one and needed, said Coldwell Solar chief executive officer Dave Hood, but it could be done at a much lower cost to the public. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe contract award is based on 2011 pricing for the project,\u201d Hood said. \u201cSolar costs have dropped dramatically since then, up to 60 percent in most cases. If CUC were to bid out this project now, at today\u2019s prices, the cost to CUC and to the public would be much lower. Based on today\u2019s lower pricing, we could save an additional million dollars each year for 20 years. That\u2019s a $20 million additional savings.\u201d<\/p>\n
CUC first announced the solar power project back in 2011. After a request for proposals, ACE was selected for award of the contract. However, the project was then put on hold for nearly three years while a feasibility study was conducted. Finally, late last month, CUC announced its intention to finalize the contract with ACE.<\/p>\n
Over that same three-year span, however, the cost of solar panels, like those that would be used in the project, has substantially decreased. According to a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association, the average price of a photovoltaic solar panel dropped by 60 percent between 2011 and 2013, and Hood noted that in 2014 the decrease has continued even further.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the cost of solar is so much lower now, it only makes sense to re-bid the project at today\u2019s prices,\u201d said Hood. \u201cNot only our company, but many other local companies, including ACE, could effectively compete at the new lower rates. In the long run, the winner will be CUC, who won\u2019t have to pay as much per kilowatt hour for the power, as well as the CNMI public, who won\u2019t have to pay such high electric bills.\u201d<\/p>\n
CUC denied Coldwell Solar\u2019s protest only a week after it was filed, concluding that it is \u201cnot compelled to change a procurement due to changes in the market, as markets change, up or down, constantly.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe realize there\u2019s a sense of urgency for Saipan but this isn\u2019t just an ordinary market fluctuation in pricing,\u201d said Hood. \u201cRather, this has been an extraordinary event the likes of which we may never see again in the solar energy industry. It\u2019s clearly a chance for truly significant public savings.\u201d Hood believes the drop in pricing was influenced by an exploding global solar market, advancement in technology and efficiency, as well as pressure from the Asian manufactures. <\/p>\n
Coldwell Solar has appealed the denial of the protest to the Office of the Public Auditor. (PR)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coldwell Solar, Inc., a solar energy company based in California with plans to expand operations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,260,49,50],"class_list":["post-42283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-commonwealth-utilities-corp","tag-cuc","tag-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}