Covington Electric Cooperative announced Thursday the completion of a 9.6 kW solar demonstration project at its headquarters facility in Sanford. The demonstration project will help CEC evaluate solar energy technology.

“Some of our members have expressed a strong desire for renewable energy to be a part of our energy mix,” Ed Short, CEC general manager and CEO, said. “This demonstration site allows us to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy and determine whether it is a good fit for our cooperative and our members.”

Short said the project is similar in size to a residential installation because another goal of the project is to help members learn how residential solar works before they invest in systems for their homes or businesses.

“This project is designed to show members an actual solar project, so they will have accurate information when making decisions about whether to purchase a solar installation,” he said.

The system will show daily output of a solar array for a home in the CEC service area with an average energy use of about 13,200 kWh per year. The power generated by this solar array will be put back on the CEC system. The system cost approximately $35,000 which includes installation. It is owned by CEC’s wholesale power provide, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, and the power it generates will be billed back to CEC by PowerSouth due to the All Power Requirements contract between CEC and PowerSouth.

CEC says it will track the system’s output and a link to that information is now available on the cooperative website at www.covington.coop. Members can click on the link to see daily production as well as history and how weather impacts the system’s output.

For more information about this project or to discuss CEC’s interconnection and metering policies, please contact CEC at 1-800-239-4121.