Colorado Highlands Ranch Homeowner’s Association Adds Solar

The Highlands Ranch Community Association (HRCA), a 22,000-acre, master-planned community of 93,477 located 12 miles south of Denver is in Douglas County, just got a little greener.

Solar arrays at two of its recreation centers, the Westridge Recreation Center and the Eastridge Recreation Center, got rooftop solar arrays; 15 kilowatts at Westridge and 10 kilowatts at Eastridge, according to HCRA Facilities Manager Ken Joseph.

Pointing out the HCRA’s goal, of being environmental stewards, Joseph also noted that the output from the systems will be available via LCD display in the lobby of each recreation center, providing real-time energy output data and an incentive to the 4,000 daily visitors to consider solar energy.

Between them, the solar arrays are expected to produce about 32,000 kilowatt-hours per year, which will save the association about 2 percent on its energy bill. Actual system costs, $138,000, were reduced to $51,609 thanks to rebates provided through regional utility Xcel Energy. That’s a 63-percent savings.

The systems, comprised of Suntech 175-watt panels, were installed by Houston, Texas-based Standard Renewable Energy (SRE), using special racking systems of conduit piping attached to rubber feet and weighted rails, which is designed to protect an existing roof warranty HCRA has with the roofing contractor. SRE also has nine locations nationwide, including one in Boulder.

The panels will reportedly offset about 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse gas most closely associated with climate change, and will also prevent 1.8 million gallons of water from being poisoned with mercury, as happens when coal-fired plants produce electricity.

From recycling to solar panels to generate clean, renewable energy, HRCA is beginning to look increasingly green. In fact, the size of the solar systems was a limitation applied by Xcel Energy’s rebate structure, and might otherwise have been bigger. As it stands, the panels are more for educating residents about the benefits of solar energy than for generating said energy, since the two percent is a drop in the bucket in energy costs.

What’s most remarkable about the systems is the fact that a homeowner’s association installed them with, presumably, the intent of encouraging HCRA homeowners to follow suit. This is a radical departure from most homeowner’s associations across the nation, which have had to be reigned in by law to prevent them opposing renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, which many deem a blight on the appearance of association-managed planned communities (the most recent revolt involving clotheslines).

If nothing else, HCRA’s solar panel arrays prove that solar energy has entered the mainstream as an esthetically acceptable, non-polluting and relatively efficient way to create electricity.