We spoke to Carter Auto' s owner Doug Carter about his decision to go solar:
"The proximity of my building and the size of the roof makes it a great location for solar. When I built the building in 2003 I looked into solar but it was cost prohibitive and too complicated to add to the other construction responsibilities. Flash forward 12 years later, and the economics on solar had improved by quite a bit. The experience with ReVision Energy was great, my salesperson (Nate) was very professional as he explained the array and the estimate, and set up a date for installation. They were there on time, the whole system was installed in a week, and I haven't had a problem since.
I keep tabs on the system by looking at the inverter, so far it is on track and producing the amount of electricity it is supposed to. The 120 solar panels are expected to produce about 38,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, the equivalent energy of 3,000 gallons worth of gasoline.
It has been a big hit with customers, and I still have customers walk in the office asking when I installed the system - they never noticed it before. I have had many conversations about the system explaining how it works. Most people think I have batteries, they didn't realize how sophisticated the system was."
Businesses are eligible to take advantage of a 26% federal tax credit (ITC) and MACRS depreciation on solar arrays they install. Businesses can also save on heating/cooling with heat pump installations, and benefit from a $500 (per unit) rebate from Efficiency Maine.
