It Wasn’t Easy, But Being Green Made Good Business Sense
In its quest to make its building more sustainable, Prince Lobel’s client wanted to retrofit its large industrial property just outside of Boston with energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. The client knew that there were many incentives and obstacles to navigate in its quest to “go green,” he just didn’t know how it would all work for his property.
The project management team at Prince Lobel Renewables quickly outlined the roadmap of federal and state regulations and the available incentives for this project. We realized that in addition to retrofitting his building with energy efficient lighting, a new rooftop membrane and HVAC upgrades, the property was ideally suited for a solar energy system. Although the client knew that generating electricity from solar power made good “green sense,” – he wanted to do its part to reduce global warming, air pollution and dependency on foreign oil – it was up to Prince Lobel to make sure the plan made good business sense as well. We identified all of the programs that would allow for our client to receive the available federal and state incentives for renewable energy projects, and made sure applications were submitted before the brief windows of opportunity were shut. We taught our client about the considerable tax benefits available to the project through an accelerated depreciation schedule. We explained net metering regulations under the Green Communities Act and the Commonwealth’s new Solar Renewable Energy Certificate market. We determined exactly how big the project needed to be, to not only qualify for state and federal incentives that would yield the desired return on the client’s investment, but to ensure that the project would generate enough power to support much of building’s electricity load. Finally, we worked with the tenants of the property to ensure that all of the power generated would effectively be consumed by them.
Once we successfully completed the often-circuitous journey in structuring the project, we turned our attention to managing the design and installation of the system. Now resting atop the newly-renovated commercial building, these photovoltaic modules are visible from air and land, a clear symbol of our client’s commitment to clean-technology, and an effective step in allowing our client to lower his energy bills and realize additional streams of revenue.
The Prince Lobel Renewables team recently completed a project involving a large solar energy installation atop a client’s commercial building in Chelsea, Mass. Click here to view real-time statistics showing the cumulative energy produced by the solar facility since the project went online.