Valley Furniture goes green
|
The long row of solar panels behind Valley Furniture are gray, but they are a sure sign that the furniture store is going green.
“I think it will do a good job,” Valley Furniture owner Steve Junion said of the solar energy system recently installed.
The system — believed to be first in Graham County installed at a furniture store — consists of 12 poles that support 12 solar modules each — for a total of 144. Each of the modules — also called panels — generates 175 watts of electricity, said J. T. Lines of Mega Watts Alternative Energy.
Mega Watts designed the system with Sun Pumps, which also supplied the products and parts needed for the energy system.
“We use American-made panels,” Lines said, adding that the panels were made in Tennessee.
Lines said the system includes power inverters that recognize the electrical grid of the Graham County Electric Cooperative. The electricity produced by the Valley Furniture system is then synchronized with the GCEC grid.
This allows the solar energy system to pump electricity into the grid during the day — when the sun is shining — and use electricity from the system at night.
“It cuts down on peak-demand (costs),” Lines said.
In addition, homes and businesses that have a solar energy system are paid 4 cents per kilowatt hour when the systems overproduce electricity. This amount could go to 11 cents per kilowatt hour when “net metering” goes into effect, Lines said.
Net metering, when approved by the state, will require electric companies and cooperatives to pay owners of solar energy systems the same rate per kilowatt hour that the company charges customers.
Lines said the current fee structure will give solar power owners the return of their investment in three to four years. When net metering is approved, the return is expected to be reduced to two years.
The system Junion chose includes several features, including the following:
• It tracks and records how much electricity the system produces each day. The recorded production can be viewed online.
• It is maintenance free.
• When the power from the co-op’s electrical grid goes off, the solar energy system also shuts down. This is a safety feature that allows linemen to work on electric lines without fear of serious injuries.
Lines said the panels can be manually adjusted to different angles to receive optimum exposure to the sun. This is done seasonally to coincide with the position of the sun to the Earth. Because the sun shines in southeast Arizona about 330 days each year, system owners receive optimum benefits from solar energy.
Junion said he decided to buy the solar energy system because of tax credits offered by the state and federal government as incentives.
He also expects the system will “cancel out” the electric bill for the store. For more information call Lines at 965-6296, Jeremy Nash at 965-2928 or Sun Pumps at 348-9652.
