SunPeak, a local solar development company, finished the largest solar power system in Wisconsin history Wednesday.
It installed the solar power system on the roof of Central Storage and Warehouse Company, a multi-temperature Madison warehouse service for food manufacturers and retailing consumers. The system utilizes 232,000 square feet of the building’s roof to transfer power from the sun into usable energy.
According to SunPeak’s website, the system contains 2,904 solar panels and will be able to offset 16 percent of the warehouse’s total energy load. The system will save 1,955,000 gallons of gasoline throughout its lifetime and prevent 19,100 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. The energy savings is the equivalent of planting 445,500 trees.
In addition to the environmental impact, the company will save $90,000 in energy costs, Maitri Meyer, SunPeak director of operations, said.
Solar energy usage is limited by Public Service Commission regulations, Meyer said. While the warehouse could receive all of its energy from the sun, if it did, the local utility company could remove it from the grid, Meyer said.
“You can always put more [solar panels] on, but the thing is if you go to 100 percent solar then the utility company might not let you connect to the grid,” Meyer said.
Grid connection is necessary to ensure the company can still operate despite a cloudy day and to maintain energy at night, which is impossible without having energy stored, Meyer said. Meyer said some residential homes have gone “off the grid,” but businesses’ high energy needs discourages them from doing so.
Giri Venkataramanan, a University of Wisconsin professor who specializes in electric power applications, said the one drawback of solar energy is that it is only attainable when the sun is out so the amount stored up is variable.
“The problem is not having enough energy, but having … energy stored to have on hand in case a cloud passes over,” Venkataramanan said.
Venkataramanan said over the past couple of years the cost of solar energy has dropped significantly. Meyer said many people do not realize how affordable and practical solar energy could be for them. In order to utilize alternative energy like solar power, education on the benefits of solar energy systems needs to increase, Meyer said.
