Order Reprints

By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WEST MICHIGAN — Drivers along U.S. 131 near Kalamazoo will see a change coming.

While not the largest, or the most expensive alternative energy plant in the state, the installation of a 21-kilowatt solar array at Fluid Process Equipment Inc. represents one small business’ foray into greening its operations and its bottom line.

For Fluid Process Equipment owner Glyn Lake, it is a case where government incentives, corporate policies and technology have aligned to make alternative energy a viable choice. Using a combination of proceeds from 37.5-cent-per-kilowatt-hour feed-in tariffs from Consumers Energy, a 30-percent stimulus-funded tax credit and allowances for accelerated depreciation, Lake expects to have a return on his $200,000 investment in a little more than four years.

Mike Linsea, project manager and cofounder of Solar Winds Power Systems LLC, stands before a residential installation of solar panels in Battle Creek. PHOTO: NATHAN PECK

“The key is to get legal, financial and tax folks together to make sure that everyone knows what you are doing,” Lake said. “You have to have your ducks in a row. You have to make sure that you talk to the city or township first so that they understand what you are doing before you even put a spade in the ground.”

Lake had looked at wind power, but found that to run efficiently and at a speed that would generate enough power to sell to Consumers Energy, he would need a wind turbine on a tower 160 feet tall. Regulations on turbines require the tower have a clear path in all directions in case it falls, but the proximity of Fluid Process Equipment to U.S. 131 made wind impractical.

The life cycle of solar panels at 40 years or more with little maintenance appealed to Lake. Wind turbines require annual maintenance, and the turbines under consideration had a lifetime of 25 years. Lake expects to ease future fluctuations in electricity prices by offsetting approximately 20 percent of his power consumption with the panels.

“We had looked at wind, but the payback would have been 28 years, which wasn’t practical for us,” Lake said. “We are making our money back (much sooner).”

Which isn’t to say that there haven’t been snags. As Solar Winds Power Systems LLC began installing the first of the solar arrays along U.S. 131 in Western Michigan University’s Business and Technology Research Park, Lake found that mounted vertically on the top of 10-foot poles, the panels block the view of the business from the road. The solution was simple enough — change the orientation to horizontal.

Solar Winds Power Systems, the firm that installed Lake’s system, is targeting the small to mid-size business and individual homeowners for solar. While large projects may dominate headlines, small businesses can reap the benefits, said Solar Winds co-founder and project manager Mike Linsea.
“People wrote off solar decades ago, and we’re still fighting that notion that solar won’t work in Michigan,” Linsea told MiBiz. “Solar is one component. There is no one, silver-bullet solution to meet our power needs. Renewables will have a balancing effect against future power needs. We’re here to give people options.”

For Auburn Hills-based United Solar Ovonics, the company is looking to take innovations made at the lab bench and ramp them up for production. Plans are under way for producing flexible film solar panels that can compete with fixed crystal arrays in terms of efficiency in converting sunlight to electricity. The flexible film currently operates at around 8.2 percent efficiency; by 2014 they hope to bring that level to 20 percent. Company officials expect that bringing efficiency in line with fixed arrays will give them a competitive advantage, as the flexible films can more easily be installed on existing structures.

In a conference call outlining its technology and production strategy going forward, Mark Morelli, president and CEO of parent company Energy Conversion Devices, said the company had recently spent more than $15 million of a total of $42 million in retrofitting its Auburn Hills plant for production of the higher efficiency laminates. United Solar had received a $13.275 million tax credit as part of the stimulus package for the upgrades. Not mentioned in the production plans were any plans for production facilities in Greenville and Battle Creek.

“We believe that by 2014, in certain markets, our laminates will produce power at a level comparable with other technology,” Morelli said. “Areas like California and Italy will reach grid parity quicker than other areas in the U.S.”

  Order Reprints

TAGS:

• design build
• energy
• fluid process equipment
• kalamazoo
• solar array
• sustainable
• tbl
• western michigan