COOPERATIVE ENERGY FARMS

And

VIRTUAL NET METERING

A limiting factor of California’s’ Net Metering program is that the qualified PV system must be located at the ratepayer’s billing address.  But there are many practical factors that may prevent the ratepayer from being able to install a solar PV system.  Simple geographic location is one.  Condominium owners do not for instance have the opportunity to install PV systems on their buildings.   The property may be in an area that does not receive adequate sun exposure, like on a  north slope or valley, or it may have trees or other objects that provide shading or blockage, dramatically decreasing the amount of natural energy exposure.  An impediment to PV systems may be that the property is located in a region where there is significant weather related solar blockage, as with some coastal or other regularly cloudy or foggy areas.  Local building codes or other property restrictions or covenants may also play in the prevention of the ratepayer’s being able to construct an adequately sized or powerful PV system.

 Virtual Net Metering (VNM) and Cooperative Energy Farms (CEF) provides a system wherein a remote location is set aside and maintained for the express purpose of facilitating ratepayer owned or leased renewable energy generation.  These locations will be chosen for their year-round solar irradiation, the desert for example.  Ratepayer owned solar P.V. systems will deliver electric power to a shared power grid through a shared infrastructure.  The shared infrastructure will include large and efficient grid tie inverters, electric distribution cables, remote monitoring and reporting instruments.  The ratepayers will be credited for net kilowatt hours delivered to the power grid.  The kilowatt hour credits (in whole or portion) will be used to off-set the ratepayer’s electric energy usage.  The ratepayers will own or lease an un-divided fractional portion of the system, (real property, equipment and improvements) as tenants-in-common (or other legally appropriate fractional ownership). 

The primary purpose of this system is to allow all ratepayers an equal opportunity to participate in federal, state and local renewable energy programs (i.e. state, federal, and local rebates, tax credits, and the like).

Another objective is to stimulate and expand the use of renewable energy sources by ratepayers.  Another objective of VNM is to assist federal, state and local governments in achieving their renewable energy goals.

Another objective of VNM is to provide energy production that is in excess of the consumption of the ratepayer, into the shared power grid thereby reducing the total energy demand for fossil and other non-renewable sources of energy.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic of the Virtual Net Metering system.  Widely dispersed individual ratepayers draw electricity from a shared power grid.  These ratepayers may include residential or business renters, condominium owners, apartment dwellers or other home owners who do not have the option of installing renewable energy generation equipment “On-Site”.  Each of the depicted ratepayers purchases or leases a portion of a CEF (fractional ownership).  Title to said portions of the CEF would be held as Tenants-In-Common (or other legally appropriate form of title) of a specified fractional portion of the CEF.  Access to the CEF by the individual owners will be restricted to escorted appointed visits as specified in a separate covenant.  Ratepayers then contract with a qualified energy contractor to have solar P.V. panels installed on their owned portion of the CEF and connected to the common infrastructure.