Willow Wisp Organic Farm Solar PV Project
What does 3000 square feet of solar panels look like? Let's find out!
May 24, 2018: HOLD the date! Sunday June 24th, 3-6pm for an open house, farm tour, fresh vegetarian meal, and project discussion at Willow Wisp Organic Farm (38 Hickory Lane, Damascus PA). This event is open to the public, but we will likely find a time toward the end for a private members-only discussion about our current Preferred Share offering, which is exclusively available to our PA-resident Co-op members.
May 18, 2018: We got some great news this week. The USDA has approved the Willow Wisp grant application and has reserved up to $12,105 toward the construction costs of this project (pending some additional paperwork). Yeah!! The Co-op board of directors met this week as well (after being delayed by the nearby tornado on Tuesday) and approved our fundraising plans. PA-resident members will be receiving an email shortly with those details. If you are not yet a Co-op member, and believe in clean sustainable energy for our region, then please join us! We have plans in development for more activities jointly with Willow Wisp that will be announced soon. Let's do this!
April 10, 2018: The Clean Energy Co-op is extra excited to announce our next and largest project to date - installing 50kWs of solar photovoltaic (PV) at Willow Wisp Organic Farm in Damascus Pennsylvania. Last week, the Co-op signed a MoU with Willow Wisp, to finance up to 168 panels to go on the barn roof pictured above. The planned PV system will provide the farm with all of its current electricity needs, with the excess sold to PPL Electric Utilities for distribution to its other customers. Our first step is submission of a grant application to the USDA's REAP program to hopefully provide about $12,000, with the farm and Co-op providing the remainder of the nearly $95,000 cost of the project. Similar to our Anthill Farm project last year, the Co-op will be raising the required funds from its membership via a private Preferred Share offering, so that it can then provide Willow Wisp with a long-term modest loan.
Willow Wisp Organic Farm was established in 2008 by Greg Swartz and Tannis Kowalchuk and produces over 45 varieties of certified organic vegetables, small fruit, culinary herbs, and cut flowers. After moving their operations to a larger stretch of fertile land alongside the Delaware River last year, the farm continues to make infrastructure investments, increase staff, production and its profitability. Greg says "Solar energy makes sense for us. As a farm, we harvest solar energy when growing our produce, and using solar-generated electricity to run our irrigation pumps, refrigeration, and other needs is just another step in improving the sustainability for our farm, our community and our world."
May 18, 2018: We got some great news this week. The USDA has approved the Willow Wisp grant application and has reserved up to $12,105 toward the construction costs of this project (pending some additional paperwork). Yeah!! The Co-op board of directors met this week as well (after being delayed by the nearby tornado on Tuesday) and approved our fundraising plans. PA-resident members will be receiving an email shortly with those details. If you are not yet a Co-op member, and believe in clean sustainable energy for our region, then please join us! We have plans in development for more activities jointly with Willow Wisp that will be announced soon. Let's do this!
April 10, 2018: The Clean Energy Co-op is extra excited to announce our next and largest project to date - installing 50kWs of solar photovoltaic (PV) at Willow Wisp Organic Farm in Damascus Pennsylvania. Last week, the Co-op signed a MoU with Willow Wisp, to finance up to 168 panels to go on the barn roof pictured above. The planned PV system will provide the farm with all of its current electricity needs, with the excess sold to PPL Electric Utilities for distribution to its other customers. Our first step is submission of a grant application to the USDA's REAP program to hopefully provide about $12,000, with the farm and Co-op providing the remainder of the nearly $95,000 cost of the project. Similar to our Anthill Farm project last year, the Co-op will be raising the required funds from its membership via a private Preferred Share offering, so that it can then provide Willow Wisp with a long-term modest loan.
Willow Wisp Organic Farm was established in 2008 by Greg Swartz and Tannis Kowalchuk and produces over 45 varieties of certified organic vegetables, small fruit, culinary herbs, and cut flowers. After moving their operations to a larger stretch of fertile land alongside the Delaware River last year, the farm continues to make infrastructure investments, increase staff, production and its profitability. Greg says "Solar energy makes sense for us. As a farm, we harvest solar energy when growing our produce, and using solar-generated electricity to run our irrigation pumps, refrigeration, and other needs is just another step in improving the sustainability for our farm, our community and our world."
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Page last updated: May 24, 2018
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Copyright 2018 Clean Energy Cooperative Inc.
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