EDMONDS — Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street activists, Carlo Voli took to a downtown Edmonds roof Dec. 9 to draw attention to the progress the city’s solar cooperative has made in the past year and what ground still needs to be covered.
Voli, an Edmonds resident and a member of the Edmonds Community Solar Cooperative, occupied the roof above the Fabric of Life boutique, 523 Main St., through Dec. 11
“Cooperative solar energy initiatives bring communities together,” Voli said. “They also stimulate the local economy since the solar panels are manufactured in Washington state.”
Voli lived in a tent and with the help of his solar-powered oven enjoyed a couple of hot meals.
He pointed out that solar projects, including the one in Edmonds, bypass traditional financial institutions and corporations that “profit from dirty fossil fuels that pollute the environment without any accountability.”
“We have to put our money where our conscience is,” he said.
The Edmonds cooperative formed late last year and has a 4.2-kW solar panel project in place atop the Frances Anderson Center. They plan to install a 60-kW system beginning in the summer of 2012.
Voli’s occupation was timed for that second phase of the project. The co-op is looking to raise $30,000 from investors before federal money is expected to disappear Dec. 31. So far the group has raised $12,000.
Each investor buys a SunSlice, a share of the co-op solar system, for $1,000. The shares are available through Tangerine Power, a Seattle-based firm that connects manufacturers, engineers and citizen groups to make solar systems a reality. SunSlice investors must be from Snohomish County and only 10 slices* can be owned by an investor.
Edmonds’ system is the first citizen-owned community solar project in the state. The co-op has 37 members. Project leaders expect the system to provide energy for the community center.
The rooftop idea was spurred by Carol Schillios, who operates the fair-trade Fabric of Life Boutique. In 2009 she took to the roof for more than three months to create awareness of global poverty.
“It’s time to occupy all the rooftops in our state with locally manufactured solar panels to create clean, renewable energy and jobs,” Schillios said.
*Correction, Dec. 15, 2011: This article originally said investors could only buy one SunSlice.
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