By Steve Van Kooten
Never let it be said that Mother Nature doesn't have a sense of irony.
Despite a cloudy day and forecasted storms, the Guttenberg Golf Course held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their solar array installed this past year by Eagle Point Solar on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 11 a.m.
The array includes 96 panels, with 192 VSun modules and 48 Hoymiles micro-inverters. It was installed this past year. Summer said they "flipped the switch" in early October.
Stuart Summer, president of the Guttenberg Golf Club's board of directors, said the rising cost of electrical power and looking at "green" energy production appealed to them.
"We had looked into it approximately 6-7 years ago and didn't think it was feasible for us," he said. "Fast forward to a year and a half ago, and it started to make sense."
Eagle Point says the array produces more than 100 percent of the electricity the course needs for its operation. The projected first-year savings is estimated to be over $18,000. The cost savings is estimated to be nearly $930,000 over 25 years.
Summer said the electric cost for the golf course and its facilities had been $23,000 a year.
"Our membership has been firmly behind the project, and in about nine years when the solar loan is paid off, the club will definitely benefit, even though there is a cost savings already," he said. "So far, the panels have generated all of the electricity we need."
Summer said the course uses a substantial amount of electricity for its irrigation system and HVAC units in the buildings and coolers. Even during their off-season, the course could still generate an electric bill of more than $700. "There's something running here constantly."
A press release from Eagle Point Solar claims the golf course's array will offset nearly 2,200 tons of carbon dioxide. Eagle Point says this is the equivalent of planting more than 55,000 trees, reducing the use of nearly 250,000 gallons of gasoline, recycling 7,669 tons of waste, and burning more than two million fewer pounds of coal for fuel.
