We offer two programs, Community Solar and EnviroWatts, for members who want to participate in renewable energy without installing it at their home.


The Butler Rural Community Solar program allows cooperative members to purchase subscriptions to solar panels. Subscribers get the benefits of solar energy without upfront costs and without having solar panels located at their home. Generating energy with solar power creates no pollution or carbon dioxide emissions and is a clean, renewable, and sustainable alternative energy source.

Our first community solar array is located on the corner of Lanes Mill and Stillwell Beckett roads across from our office. Construction for the 228 panel array was completed in February 2017. Our second array was completed in July 2022 and is located in Findlay, Ohio. This larger array, built together with Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, has 662 panels for our members.


Benefits of Community Solar

  • No upfront costs
  • No maintenance costs
  • No installation barriers, such as trees, roof size, or house orientation/location
  • Economies of scale


Program Details

  • Members of Butler Rural Electric Cooperative can subscribe to up to ten solar panels, and the energy produced by those panels will be calculated into their monthly bill.
  • The average cost is approximately $1 per month, per panel with the solar credit applied. This cost is in addition to participating members’ current electric bills.
  • Each panel is expected to produce about 400 kilowatt–hours per year, but the output may be more or less in any given year, depending on weather conditions.


For more information, visit the Community Solar webpage.


EnviroWatts is an earth-friendly way to support the use of renewable energy and promote research and development of new renewable energy sources.

Here’s how it works: Members can purchase 100-kilowatt-hour “blocks” of energy, for $2 per block per month. The $2 fee supports the purchase and production of renewable energy sources, as well as research and development.


What renewable energy source is used to produce EnviroWatts?

The energy is produced with a variety of renewable sources, including hydropower and solar power. In Ohio, we also have several methane gas plants. At two landfills, the methane gas produced by decaying trash is harnessed—instead of being released into the atmosphere— and used to power turbines that generate electricity. At three farms, biodigesters capture the methane gas from animal waste and generate electricity.


How to Participate

You can participate in the EnviroWatts program for as little as $2 a month. By purchasing just one block of EnviroWatts each month for a year, you can have the same environmental impact as not driving your car for three months or not using two-and-a-half barrels of oil.


Contact us for more information.