Solar panels adorn the roof of Jay and Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux’s Art House Bed & Breakfast. The couple is the first in Grand Marais who will be able to generate solar power and (potentially) sell power back to the grid.
Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux and the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC) installed Grand Marais’s first solar electric system in November. Owners of Art House Bed and Breakfast, Arrowsmith DeCoux and his family— wife Rose and son Ennis— are very involved in the community and they view the installation as a community statement and basically the right thing to do.
The mayor worked with All Energy Solar, a Minneapolis based company that offers services from system design to financing, and handled all the paperwork and installation. The first step in a solar installation on an existing building is to determine historic usage. The annual average electric use at Art House that includes water heating, but not space heating is 13,000 kWh. (The average Grand Marais residence uses about 7200 kWh – 9000 kWh annually.) To meet this annual demand, a 9.3 kW system would be required. However, due to space limitations on the existing south facing roof, they chose to install a 5.94 kW system, estimated to produce between 7920 – 8600 kWh annually.
Above: Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux points to the monitor that displays how much power the solar panels generate.
This meets about 64 percent of the B&B’s historic annual electric use and Arrowsmith DeCoux plans other energy efficiency measures to further reduce consumption to get closer to the system production.
The 5.94 KW system is comprised of 22 panels by Sun Edison (made in the U.S.) rated at 270 watts each.
The whole system, including the panels, rack, micro inverters, wiring, disconnect, and monitoring systems cost $25,000. The Arrowsmith DeCouxs applied for and received an Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency (AEOA) business energy retrofit grant for 30 percent of the total cost. After a down payment of $3,500, the balance is financed with a 2.99 percent loan for 10 years. Federal tax credits may also be available.
The mayor was happy to give a tour, pointing out the various connections and the monitoring systems. Those interested in the solar electric system can visit: www.egauge.net. The Arrowsmith DeCoux device number is 23307.
A worker for the All Energy Solar Company carefully placed a panel onto the roof of the Art House B&B. It took the company about two days to install the panels.
The B&B is connected to the PUC electrical service—“ the grid”—through a bi-directional meter. The meter records how much electrical energy the building uses from the grid and how much electrical energy is sent back out to the grid. Depending on solar panel production and the building’s energy use, electrical energy can flow either way.
For example, at night when the panels do not produce electricity, the grid supplies all the power to the building. On a sunny day, the panels can produce more power than the home is using so the excess is sent back out onto the grid and used in another building.
An advantage of this system is the PUC buys the power put out onto the grid at the retail rate in the form of a credit on the utility bill. This is called net metering and is required by state law.
If 100 Kwh from the panels are not used and put out onto the grid during month, the Arrowsmith DeCoux utility bill will show a $9 credit ($0.09/ kWh x 100). This helps offset the upfront cost of installing a system and will eventually pay for the system.
This is the first system the Grand Marais PUC connected to their grid. According to the mayor, Electrical Director Mike Taylor researched the type of meter required and what was involved with the installation and the process went quite smoothly. By law, the connecting utility can only charge actual interconnection costs, which in this case came to $100 for the meter and installation time.
Arrowsmith DeCoux’s advice to those considering solar electric is to read Cook County Local Energy Project’s (CCLEP) booklet, Going Solar Electric – A Cook County Guide, available online at cookcountylocalenergy.org. A hard copy can also be purchased for $15 plus postage $3.54. Contact localenergy@boreal.org to order.
For more information see the Mayor’s blog about the solar system at grandmaraismayor.blogspot.com.
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