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In 2018, a committee among Wilmore locals brought solar panels to the Pavilion at the Downtown Green– a park in Wilmore that often sees concerts and gatherings. 

The Rev. Dale Shunk, a retired United Methodist pastor and owner of solar panels, was on the committee that brought ten solar panels to the Downtown Green gazebo. The committee also brought solar panels to Drinklings, which used to be the Rice House, a local museum and rental space downtown owned by the city. Both of these projects were funded by donors. 

He’s now the citizen coordinator of the Solar Over Wilmore project and is asking the community to help raise funds to bring solar panels to the Wilmore Municipal Center. 

Before presenting the project to the City Commission, Shunk had the idea when thinking about the cost of electricity to run the municipal center, which is between $2,600 and $3,000 per month. 

In the old Providence School on 210 South Lexington Avenue is the Wilmore Municipal Center. It is home to the Wilmore Municipal Government, where the city council meets. It offers “volleyball…rooms for gatherings, and the kitchen can be rented out for community events. The Jessamine County Library has a couple [of] rooms there. The Sheriff’s Office in Jessamine County has people there three days a week. There’s a lot of things going on.” Shunk said. 

Community reading groups, festivals, and summer camps also take place at the municipal center. 

“It has a lot of property, a lot of room, it’s a great facility for the city. The [Dan Glass Pavilion] sits behind the building, it’s a big pavilion. [The panels] will be up off the ground and won’t take up any of their land. This has a lot of good points to it,” Shunk said.

After talking to Daniel Wier, owner of Commonwealth Solar LLC, Shunk decided to help the City of Wilmore pay less for its electricity and support Wier’s solar business. 

The two did calculations, finding that the pavilion roof behind the municipal center could fit 80 solar panels, making it a 40 Kilowatt system. Shunk said it would be “pretty hefty,” and that Wier could “run it into the building and underground through a conduit to hook it up to the [municipal center] to make it easier for everyone.” Shunk added, “Solar panels are generally very low in maintenance,” and should be operating at their maximum capacity for the next thirty years.

The two found exactly how much these solar panels could save the city by calculating the average amount of time the sun is out in Wilmore per day, including cloud coverage and weather. 

“Figuring all that in, we could save the city 17-20 percent a month. Twenty percent would be about $600 a month. That’s awesome, right? Substantial enough to consider,” Shunk said. 

So, Shunk proposed and presented this “long-term investment and benefit” to the City Council in mid-March. 

After a second presentation at a meeting a month later, Council member David Riel made an approved motion on April 1 to donate $8,000 towards the project, which, for $800 each, including panel installation, would pay for ten solar panels of the 80 planned.

In his proposal, Shunk told the council that he wanted this to be a grassroots project. Wier was already going to give the committee a reasonable cost. “He’s gonna pay his workers to put them up and all but the materials and labor is gonna be at its minimum. So that’s his give-back. He wants to do something good for the city; he lives here, and I think that’s wonderful. I want to support him, and I want to support the city,” Shunk said.

“If the citizens of the city and the surrounding Wilmore area like living here, maybe they would like to sponsor a solar panel at $800 each– then we could easily do it…that covers the total costs of that panel and its installation to the roof. The city accepted that proposal.” 

After the meeting, an anonymous citizen soon donated $10,000, which will pay for 12 or 13 more solar panels. 

“The Lions Club has sponsored a solar panel, several others are considering it, [and] Stockyard Bank is considering a grant for us. So, we’re doing what we can,” Shunk said. He added that the Solar Over Wilmore committee will create plaques for those who give $800 or more. 

The total cost of the 80 solar panels and installation is 64,000. With current donations, the project needs $45,200 more.

Even though the full cost of a panel is $800, Shunk encourages locals to give what they can for what he calls his “give back program” for the city. 

“There have been some people hesitant to give $800, but why not pay that over time? We’re not gonna put up the solar panels until we get all the money in. So it will be sometime in 2025. “If somebody wants to give $25 a month for six months, that’s great; if somebody wants to give $100 a month for 8 months to sponsor a solar panel, that’s good, you can do that. So I’m just encouraging people to do what they can. We’ll see where we’ll go from there. If there’s a foundation or a group that’s interested in supporting solar, get in touch with me,” Shunk said. 

Shunk’s email is dale.shunk@gmail.com, and his phone number is 814-599-1506. 

The Solar Over Wilmore Committee will also offer a free energy-saving session at the city hall for the citizens of Wilmore. “We’re giving tips and tricks on how to save energy. You don’t have to buy solar panels, you don’t have to buy windmills, there are other ways,” Shunk said. The free session will occur on Saturday, July 27, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Wilmore Municipal Center.

To sign up to make a donation, head to https://tinyurl.com/Solaroverwilmore and fill out and download the form or mail or deliver a cash or check donation.