HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — An old factory in Huntington has new life and a new life source. Officials with the Coalfield Development Corporation and Solar Holler flipped the switch Wednesday on the largest solar installation in West Virginia. The array of 294 solar panels sits atop the the West Edge Building, formerly the Corbin Factory, which is now the home of the Coalfield Development Corporation.
“All of the panels are sending power back into the building and providing 100 percent of the energy for sis different enterprises going on inside this old factory,” said Solar Holler Founder and CEO Dan Conant.
The project has been seven years in the making and took about a month of actual construction. According to Conant, it took some creative engineering to retrofit the building from the early 1900’s with 21st Century technology. It also took some complicated financial engineering to make it happen for a non-profit.
Typically non-profits are left out of the process of solar powering since the incentives are tax credits, but the non-profits already pay no taxes. Through some creative work and jumping through several hoops, Conant’s company was able to create a model to make it work.
“Solar Holler built the system, financed the system, and is selling the power to Coalfield for less than what AEP would have charged them and we’re able to take all of those tax credits behind the scenes,” he explained.
It’s a windfall for the Coalfield group and will save them an estimated $130,000 in power bills over the life of the installation.
“A lot of those savings over the lifetime of the installation can go back into a lot of what we do at Coalfield which is workforce redevelopment and social enterprise incubation,” said Jacob Hannah, Conservation Coordinator with Coalfield Development.
The project represents not only a major contribution to Coalfield Development, but also will serve as a model to enable other non-profit groups to take advantage of similar savings by entering into solar powered arrangements.
“This is really creating a model for churches, homeless shelters, and affordable housing groups and all of these other amazing community organizations,” Conant explained. “Last week AEP raised rates by nine percent on homes and 13 percent on churches. Coalfield doesn’t have to worry about that because their price of power is locked in.”
“That’s a huge deal for us, especially as a non-profit,” Hannah explained. “We don’t have to worry about that and the savings can go back into the work that we’re doing.”