John Krzeminski is a member of a family business in Massachusetts that owns a liquor store in Chicopee—and the store uses a lot of electricity to keep the products cold. Krzeminski chose solar power as a good long-term solution for the store’s energy use.
“A number of things attracted us to the concept of solar. Electricity is a commodity that will keep going up. Solar is a non-fossil fuel and not as bad for the environment. We also liked the idea of tax credits and savings on electricity,” said Krzeminski.
Krzeminski’s son was working at the local utility and he recommended a list of local companies. He selected All Energy Solar for a small solar installation at his home in Springfield. “My house was the trial balloon with 12 solar panels on the garage, and then I went with All Energy for the commercial application. We are very happy we did both, and the company was great.”
The installation at Flanagan’s Package Store was a bit unusual, since Chicopee has its own rules and policies for developing solar. All Energy had to make sure the building itself, utility and building department met regulations for the city. Once they knew the parameters, it went very quickly. “The requirement that the emergency shut off is outside the building is tricky, since chuckleheads walk by and turn it off. But we came up with a solution to stop that from happening,” said Krzeminski.
The payback for investing in solar has been swift for Flanagan’s. “The initial tax credit was a great thing to have. Between the electricity production and tax credits, we save around $800 a month on average,” Krzeminski noted.
Krzeminski pointed to the secondary benefits of upgrading to solar. “It worked out for us since my home and commercial building are both older. The solar project allowed us to redo the breaker panels and upgrade the electrical service. We have new meters, new boxes and solar transformers. It’s impressive. The building inspector was very happy with the changes we made, too.”
He thinks that if more businesses took a big picture view, they would pick solar. “We don’t talk about the beer being cold by solar, since it’s not a gimmick,” said Krzeminski. “It’s an important part of energy management in this country.”
