Greening The Backshop
Pickitt explains that aid for going to solar vary from state to state and electric provider to electric provider. For instance, in Louisiana – which Tejas also serves – the state government gives a 50-percent tax credit toward the purchase of any renewable-energy system. In Texas, the tax credit is only 30 percent.
At that time, the federal government also offered a cash rebate.
On top of that, Pickitt’s electric provider paid for the installation, although he’s quick to note he was the first commercial operation to go with solar in Longview.
Click photo to enlargeThe pole-installed solar panels for the showroom went up in June 2009, and Pickitt’s very pleased with their performance.
“It provides all the electricity for our showroom; it’s 100-percent efficient,” he says.
The other difficult part of the process: getting the financing to cover the rest of the cost.
“The bank was kind of slow at first, but once we presented the idea to them and they started doing a little research – backed up with information we were giving them – they became very excited,” he says. “Afterwards, one of the bankers put solar cells on his house.”
Financial incentives aside, going solar cost Pickitt money. He says it took about $18,000 to put a 3,000-watt panel package on the showroom; to bring the output up to 10,000 watts (which he did at the end of 2009) to help service the shop took an additional $25,000.
However, he does expect to see that paid back. Even during the coldest month this past winter, his electric bill was $155 to heat and light the shop. Much of the time, the capacity of the solar cells is enough to not only provide electricity for the operation, but generate extra power that can be sold back to the electric company.
As part of that, Premier now has a sophisticated electric meter.
“They put in a multi-function meter which lets them read the energy we’re producing versus what we’re using, and they do a trade-off,” he says. “One of the reasons they offered to help upgrade our system is they take energy that’s being produced during the daytime from our solar panels and redistribute it to the community.”
Pickitt says he’s also receiving another – unexpected – payback for his work. By being the first commercial operation in Longview to take the solar plunge, he’s generated a surprising amount of positive publicity.
“It’s created a real spark of interest,” he says. “Customers who come to our showroom are all intrigued by the system and there’s just a general excitement about it. It even makes the stone more exciting.”
If nothing else, he says the time he spent working with the bank on financing has resulted in three granite kitchens sold to bank employees.
“I invite people over to the shop to look at our new system,” he says. “We have a lot of builders in to look at it, and that helps with our granite sales, too. Excitement creates sales.”