Cheryland Electric, a distribution cooperative in northern Michigan, is quickly selling shares in its new community solar garden project.

The cooperative started with an 80-panel solar array at its facility and allowed members to buy panels, or shares, for $470 each. All members receive a $75 rebate and some members qualified for a second $75 rebate. And they get credit on their bills for the power their panels generate even though the solar panels aren't located on their property.

The program, called the SolarUpNorth Alliance, has been popular, said Rachel Johnson, grass roots advocate for the cooperative. With room for about 220 panels, 120 are already reserved and the program just started in mid-April, she said.

The program started because customers wanted it, Johnson said.

“It’s pretty simple,” she said. “We’re a cooperative, which means our members are our owners. We’re constantly trying to do the things our owners want us to do and the community solar model made sense.”

In northern Michigan, rooftop solar at home doesn’t always work for members because there are so many trees and shading issues.

“Where we’re located, we’re out on the plains,” she said. “No trees to worry about.”

The cooperative didn’t start building the project until it had subscribers. The original plan was to build an 80-panel community solar garden once all the panels were reserved.

“We had 48 reservations, pretty much immediately,” Johnson said.

So the utility went ahead and ordered the remaining panels.

“I’m confident we will sell out before the middle of the summer,” she said.

But the program is also expandable. So, if demand remains high for the community solar garden program, then Cherryland can add more.

There were no state regulations or laws that enabled Cherryland to pursue the garden model. But Johnson said that Cherryland worked with its generation cooperative partner Wolverine Power’s for-profit arm to get the 30 percent federal tax credit on the panels so it could pass that cost-savings on to customers.

Cherryland serves five counties in northern Michigan. It buys some wind power from Wolverine – getting about 7.5 percent of its portfolio from wind generation. That investment is growing, however, Johnson said. And the cooperative gets a small percentage of its electricity from hydropower.

“But this is our first foray into solar,” she said.