A Rhode Island Public Housing Collective Becomes An Electricity Farm

A pair of workers install solar panels on the ground
Solar Panels on Grange farm photo by 10 10 is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Efficiently harvest electricity from sunlight energy, not only from one or many solar panels, but also from one or many scattered locations.

The earliest forms of energy conversion for human use were granular — many small conversions using wood or peat or coal in a fireplace for warmth or a stove for cooking — all repeated many hundreds and thousands of times across community and nation.

Since the late 19th century, harnessing electricity has resulted in more large-scale, monolithic forms of energy conversion — power dams, coal and gas plants, nuclear plants, etc. But other energy forms can be converted to electricity on a smaller, more scattered scale, and collected up and transmitted to where it is needed. We see this in new energy harvesting techniques, converting wind energy or solar energy to electricity, and feeding many such small sources into a big energy distribution grid. This is largely a one way street — small supplier — windmill — sends electricity to (but doesn’t receive from) the grid.

That allows a homeowner with solar panels on the roof to harvest energy, utilize what is needed, and sell the surplus to a local power company. And indeed, it’s happening everywhere today.

Let’s add another wrinkle: the homeowner is a landlord and owns two other houses across town. Does the landlord need to build a personal electricity grid to transport electricity to benefit his other houses?

If all three houses are on the same power company grid, the owner can both buy and sell electricity on behalf of all the houses, making whatever deal with the owners of the grid that satisfies both partners.

Which brings us to nine Public Housing Authorities in Rhode Island that have entered into an agreement with their power grid. They will no longer be just electricity consumers. The Public Housing Association of Rhode Island (PHARI) will also be an electricity farm supplying power to the grid from nine different sources.

The truly impressive upside that PHARI is looking for? The reduction of their own energy costs by some 40% over the next twenty years.

Power suppliers are looking to adopt green energy solutions. Local housing authorities may have roof or other spaces available. With “proof-of-concept” or other funding sources available, PHARI’s electricity production initiative might be a successful pioneer of considerable interest to any housing authorities looking to reduce their energy costs.

Read more at GOLOCAL Prov News: First-in-the-Country Agreement Will Save 9 RI Housing Authorities 40% of Their Energy Costs and/or pv magazine: Bundled solar projects to power Rhode Island public housing