Ohio-based solar company to help reduce city electric bills
Bethany Hart Staff Writer
It's an idea that officials believe could shine brightly for the city of Washington Court House.
The solar power project proposed for the water treatment plant was approved at the Jan. 27 city council meeting. During the meeting, council members received a presentation from the company who will be taking care of the solar panels.
Thomas A. Van Cleef, Vice President of Solar Vision, LLC., was on hand to answer questions and give the council members more information about the company.
Company president Gregory Kuss founded the company with Van Cleef in 1984.
"We're a young company, because it was not possible to have this type of business in Ohio, solar was not possible or I would say we've been here 10 years. We haven't," said Van Cleef. "As a result of the new laws requiring utilities to generate a certain amount of renewable energy made it so there could be a market for solar."
Kuss and Van Cleef met when they were both working on a project for a school. As a result, the pair created Solar Vision.
"The genesis for Solar Vision was solar on schools. We worked for almost two years to figure out a way to put them on schools and not have them spend money doing so," said Van Cleef. "As a result that directly applies to municipalities. We found that one of the largest energy users is in water treatment and waste water treatment, and you have an ideal ready spot where land is not able to be used or is under used. As a result I think we were able to propose a project that made sense for the city."
Rather than buy the solar equipment, Solar Vision will put the equipment on the lot and the city will then purchase the energy generated by the equipment at a rate of 15 percent less than the DP&L rate.
Something which excited City Manager Joe Denen about the solar project was that Solar Vision is an Ohio-based company.
"One thing we are enormously proud of concerning the solar project is Solar Vision is a company from Westerville, Ohio," said City Manager Joe Denen. "The actual installation company, Dovetail, has some offices in several cities in the state, but it is based in Athens. We were enormously pleased we could provide sort of an all-Ohio auction for this project."
The equipment for the project isn't made in the state, but all parts of the equipment are made in the country.
"The panels are made by Sharp and are made in the United States. Everything related to this is made in the United States," said Van Cleef. "Even the racking is made north of Athens in Logan."
The project is expected to generate 257,000 kilowatt hours which equals 60 percent of the water plant's consumption of electricity. Annual savings are expected to total $6,500.
"In addition to, I think, the reasons to do it, I think there's money savings to be had, which of course is important to all of us," said Van Cleef "We expect that when it's all said and done it should do somewhere around 45-50 percent of the load, so it's going to generate significant electricity."
Dovetail, the company responsible for installing the solar equipment, is one of the oldest and largest installers in the state. They have installed over 200 solar and wind units. Dovetail is also responsible for the maintenence on the equipment.
Once the panels are installed, they will be at a 25 degree angle mounted to concrete. This protects the panels against heavy winds and ensures the panels can absorb the most sun.
It is hard to determine the longevity of the panels because they haven't been around all that long.
"The oldest solar Panels in the world are at NASA Lewis Research center," said Van Cleef. "They're over 50 years old and still generating power."
Van Cleef spoke favorably about his experience in working with Washington C.H. on the project.
"We've been all over the state and we've talked to schools and we've talked to towns and we've met with the city managers and we've been taken tours of every site imaginable. We just have not had they treatment we got here anywhere else," said Van Cleef. "Hopefully we'll be able to do long term business with you."
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