HONESDALE, PA — Sustainable Energy Education and Development Support, or SEEDS, is a community-based organization in Northeastern Pennsylvania committed to developing local renewable energy infrastructure and promoting more sustainable living in our area. Out of SEEDS, the Clean Energy Co-operative was recently formed. Jack Barnett, the president of the co-op and a member of SEEDS, said one of the things they wanted to do was take what they are doing at SEEDS and increase its scale by expanding to commercial and bigger businesses. “We wanted to do it in a way that would benefit the community,” Barnett said, “especially all the non-profits and other community organizations that really make our place here in Northeast Pennsylvania what it is and why we love it.”

Many individuals and for-profit businesses can receive incentives, tax credits and grants to help fund the installation of a solar system. However, those kinds of benefits are not available for non-profit organizations. Also, the availability of incentives has recently decreased in Pennsylvania. So non-profits don’t have the range of options for financing that other types of businesses or residential users do. The Clean Energy Co-op is a way to help with that. “Our first set of things we want to do is finance, build and operate medium-scale solar systems on non-profits in our area,” Barnett said. They will do this by getting funds from members of the co-op. The member will be able to buy preferred shares in the co-op and that money will get a return on it. It will be used to finance the system, and the nonprofit owning the building the system is built on will pay Clean Energy Co-op for the energy produced, allowing the co-op to pay back the investors with a modest return.

“It’s a win and a win,” said board member Sue Currier, “because I’m going to get a return on my investment—it’s slow money so it’s not going to be like I’m investing in the stock exchange—but it is going to be something I really feel good about, because I’m investing in a green local business. I’m putting my money where my mouth is in a very local way.”

Recently, Clean Energy Co-operative held its first meeting. More than 30 people attended and signed on as members. They also elected a seven-member board of directors. Barnett is the president; Chuck Heyn is vice president; Mike Rollison is treasurer; and Michele Sands is secretary. The board is completed by Sue Currier, Dick Riseling and Mark Terwillinger. Barnett said they are “all local champions of doing things for our community.” The members pay a little capital up front to acquire their membership, which provides enough money to get started.

The co-op is governed by practices known as “slow money,” and one member equals one vote. The slow- money business model circulates the money locally and provides other benefits to the community. “The slow- money model is all about pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and aligning our wallets with our value system,” Barnett said. He explained that the concept is generally used with food-oriented businesses, but they took the same model and applied it to energy. “We say, let’s use our own wallets to do what we care about, which is seeing our community powered by clean energy,” he said. “It’s a wonderful self-empowering thing.”

Barnett said most people finance solar systems through a special-purpose entity, or limited liability corporation. “Those are owned by people who invest in them; and the rights to dictate, or manage, or direct that legal entity is corresponding to the amount of money the investor puts in. So, more dollars equals more votes,” Barnett said. In contrast, the one member, one vote concept ensures that “each of us gets one equal vote in directing how the co-op is managed and what projects we take on and things like that,” Barnett said.

The first project that Clean Energy Co-op will take on is installing solar panels on the roof of The Cooperage in Honesdale. So far they have a letter of intent, and are working on an engineering study. They still need to get quotes for installation costs and get building permits, and the owner of the building needs to replace the roof. The construction will start in the spring.

“We’re just getting started,” Barnett said. “We envision ourselves as being able to do projects both wider geographically than just Wayne and Pike counties, and we envision ourselves as doing more than just community solar-type projects.” Some of those projects could include a buying club for renewable energy, such as sustainably raised wood pellets, and water projects similar to the hydro-powered radio station WJFF.

“We envision not just what we’re doing in this first project, but doing that and a lot of other business activities that bring clean energy and a more sustainable environment to our community,” Barnett said.

[For more information and to become a member, visit www.cleanenergy.coop.]