hayer said Ashley Arms is also earning money with its solar installation by selling credits through the state’s Solar Carve Out program. Under state law, utilities have to buy solar credits at auction. Those solar credits are created by photovoltaic setups like he the one at Ashley Arms. The only requirement is that the power is used on site or sold back to the grid.
080212 - West Springfield - Mary Thayer President of WIMTON Corp. stands with Ashley Arms Apartments behind her with some of the 520 solar panels they bought and installed to supply up to 25% of the electric needs of the complex.WEST SPRINGFIELD – The solar power installation at Ashley Arms Apartments can generate 25 percent of the power the community needs and can remove the same amount of carbon from the atmosphere as 179 trees.
But it doesn’t make economic sense without state and federal government programs, including a state renewable energy credit program and a federal rebate that covers 30 percent of the $700,000 cost, said Mary E. Thayer, owner of the complex and others in Ware, Southwick and Agawam.
Thayer estimates that it will take eight years for 80-unit Ashley Arms to break even on the project. But the panels and other equipment, all American made by the way, will last 25 to 30 years.
“Economically it makes sense,” Thayer said. “Everything was built in this country. We hired contractors from across the Pioneer Valley to put them in. It’s better than spending money to buy oil overseas.”
Ashley Arms will host an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 16 at 131 Ashley Ave., West Springfield, which is located near Riverdale Street. There will be a brief ceremony around 3:20 p.m.
The apartments are arranged in a horseshoe. The 520 panels are on the roof, facing south mostly. It is a 125,000 watt system and is projected to produce 144,600 kilowatt hours per year.
Power is fed down from the roof to an inverter housed in a closet-sized gray metal box near the parking lot. The inverter changes the direct current from the panels into alternating current used on the grid and in homes and businesses. Ashley Arms’ inverter was purchased from a Massachusetts company. Some hardware for the system was built in Vermont.
The panels themselves were built by Sharp Electronics Corp. in Tennessee.
Thayer said she believes that Ashley Arms is the first apartment community in Western Massachusetts to install a large photovoltaic system.
The state Department of Energy Resources didn’t know last week if Thayer was right about being the first apartment complex. The agency doesn’t keep track of projects in that manner.
Thayer said Ashley Arms is also earning money with its solar installation by selling credits through the state’s Solar Carve Out program. Under state law, utilities have to buy solar credits at auction. Those solar credits are created by photovoltaic setups like he the one at Ashley Arms. The only requirement is that the power is used on site or sold back to the grid.
Thayer said it’s unlikely that much of the power generated at Ashley Arms will find its way out onto the grid. Demand on-site is just too high. The apartments, which rent with utilities included, have electric heat and air conditioning. Only laundry dryers and the hot-water system run on gas.
Thayer’s company bought Ashley Arms in 1980. In recent years, she’s done a lot to make it more energy-efficient with better light fixtures and insulating windows.
“Electric heat is safe and clean and it was easy for them to install. The only downside is expenses,” Thayer said. “This solar project helps us control that expense which helps us control what he have to charge our residents.”
The solar array just won’t leave a lot of power left over after it meets the resident’s needs, Thayer said.
“The panels get more efficient in cooler weather. So maybe there will be a day in the spring or fall when you have a lot of sunshine and no heating or cooling,” she said.
Thayer also is associated with Northeast Treaters in Belchertown, a wood preservation company that spent $1.25 million on a solar system in 2011.
Thayer said she is considering installing photovoltaic systems at her other apartment complexes: Lakewood Village in Southwick, Colonial Village in Ware and Sutton Place in Agawam.