Solar for All

OEC Solar Garden producing environmental benefits and solar power for all members

As we celebrate another groundbreaking solar facility becoming operational this month, we're looking back on how well the OEC Solar Garden performed in 2020, its third full year in operation.

"We are very satisfied with the energy being produced by our Solar Garden," said Nick Shumaker, OEC's Manager of System Engineering.

While it's a small scale facility, its impacts are anything but small.

In 2020, the Solar Garden produced enough electricity to power over 50 homes for the entire year. What may be more impressive than the power it generated was the amount of greenhouse gases it didn't.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the more than 420,000 kilowatt hours produced was the equivalent of 330,361 pounds of coal not being burned, or 743,971 miles not being driven by an average passenger vehicle.

"We also pride ourselves on making this renewable energy available to all 45,000 of our members," said Shumaker. "Some utilities offer access to solar power with subscriptions or the 'adoption' of panels, but we wanted to ensure all members could benefit from what the Solar Garden and our two solar farms produce."

We periodically offer tours of our Solar Garden. To see available tour dates and to learn more about how we are implementing a clean energy plan, visit www.okcoop.org/solar.