Seminole Electric Cooperative announced last week that its 2.2-megawatt Cooperative Solar facility, which is located south of Lakeland in Hardee County, was operational.

BOWLING GREEN, Fla. — The Cooperative Solar project, of which Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative is a member, is officially up and running.

Seminole Electric Cooperative announced last week that its 2.2-megawatt Cooperative Solar facility, which is located south of Lakeland in Hardee County, was operational.

“Many of our members have expressed an interest in supporting solar energy,” SVEC CEO Michael McWaters said. “Cooperative Solar makes it possible for them to do so without the need for a sizeable up-front investment or the headaches of installing and maintaining their own solar system.”

Seminole’s first Cooperative Solar facility was dedicated in December and had construction completed earlier this year as well as performance testing.

Seminole said the information gleaned from operating this initial solar facility will benefit them and their members as they look to continue adding new resources to their energy mix.

“I believe solar energy has a role in the future of our industry and the future of Seminole,” Seminole’s CEO and general manager Lisa Johnson said in a release. “With Cooperative Solar, Seminole is proud to provide our nine member electric cooperatives with the opportunity to harness the power of the sun.”

The solar initiative was first announced in March 2016.

The project features more than 8,000 single-axis tracking solar photovoltaic panels, which rotate to follow the movement of the sun throughout the day. Those rotating panels give around 20 percent more power output than fixed ones, according to Seminole.

The electricity generated at the facility is shared by each of Seminole’s nine distribution electric cooperatives, which includes SVEC as well as Central Florida Electric Co-op (Chiefland), Clay Electric Co-op (Keystone Heights), Glades Electric Co-op (Moore Haven), Peace River Electric Co-op (Wauchula), SECO Energy (Sumterville), Talquin Electric Co-op (Quincy), Tri-County Electric Co-op (Madison) and Withlacoochee River Electric Co-op (Dade City).

Those cooperatives were given the choice to add the power to their energy portfolio or sell individual units to their member consumers.

Last November, SVEC’s residential members were given the opportunity to reserve up to two blocks on a first-come first-served basis. All 144 blocks that were allotted to SVEC were spoken for only four hours into the sign-up period.

Beginning with their September bill, members who have subscribed to SVEC’s blocks will be charged a monthly fee and receive an offset to their electricity consumption equal to the amount of power generated by their blocks.