By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
HOWARD – The Howard Commons apartment complex will be including solar power.
The Howard village board voted Monday, Dec. 10, to approve the installation of solar panels on top of the three buildings planned for the development with the village participating in a lease arrangement.
Erik Goerke, CEO/owner of Alliance Management, which has an agreement with the village to manage and market Howard Commons, appeared before the board to present the plan for installing panels capable of generating 20 kilowatts per hour of electricity on top of each building for a total of 60 kilowatts per hour.
“We have an opportunity to decrease the energy that the common spaces use by 47 percent,” Goerke said of the capability the panels have to save on electrical costs for areas not in tenant spaces. “That’s pretty conservative. It may actually be more than that, because the percentages are calculated with incandescent light bulbs and other things that we’ve since removed and installed LEDs.”
Goerke noted in his report the purposes for installing solar panels on top of the Howard Commons apartments include energy efficiency, marketing the “green” element of the complex and “proofing” the buildings against future rate increases.
The three solar panel installations are expected to cost $131,400.
Goerke said that amount could be offset with the private investors in the project taking advantage of a tax credit for solar energy.
He said the solar panels would be installed on the two existing buildings this winter and on the third building while that structure would be under construction next year.
The panels will be attached to the roof of Building A and will have a 10-degree tilt when mounted on racking atop Building B and C to minimize the load on the structure from snow, etc.
Goerke noted the two existing buildings are already set up “to some extent” for being able to have solar panels, which have an expected life span of 20-25 years.
He said Alliance Management has been working with Eland Electric in the solar panel project, while Unirac would be providing the racking for the solar panels with part of the financing coming from the Denmark State Bank.