An Aurora building that dates back to the late 1800s is now on the cutting edge of energy technology.

The old Aurora Main Public Library building at 1 E. Benton St. downtown, now the home of The Support Companies technology group, has installed solar panels all along its roof. The work was done by crews from Geneva-based Rethink Electric.

Building and co-owner of The Support Companies Melinda Kruder said the $158,000 project came together quickly following discussions she had earlier this year with Rebekah Axtell, creative director of the Greenlife Media Group.

“This was something we were looking at after we acquired the building in 2015, and Rebekah knew a lot of the right people and we were able to analyze very quickly if this was going to be a good deal,” Kruder said. “When we finally got serious, we only had about six to eight weeks left last year to get this done in order to get the energy tax credit, but the people involved at the city level with permitting and so forth really worked quickly and solved a bunch of problems to get this through the system.”

Axtell said her input came after traveling regularly to the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s energy fairs and getting to know some good contacts.

“This is the largest gathering of the solar industry and support companies and with the flat roof on the building, it was the perfect site,” Axtell said. “The system was designed by Michelle Knox, the owner of WindSolar USA in Springfield, who is also a great educator in terms of solar energy and how it can create jobs with renewable energy.”

Axtell also praised Knox “for being ethical and using American-made products.”

“People in foreign countries also make these systems, but using them doesn’t support our own economy,” she said.

Knox said the project presented “several unique challenges due to the historic building” where it was installed.

“This building was made in the late 1800s, and we had to have a structural engineer do a study to make sure the building could support the extra weight,” Knox said. “This is a non-penetration installation and the system is held in place with weighted blocks.”

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Knox said that despite local building and zoning staff not having a lot of experience with solar energy systems, “they worked well with us and gave us some good solutions.”

“The parapet around the building was not high enough to meet code, and they let us install hooks in order to make things safe, and the metering and interconnection to reflect the electric use was done quickly as well,” she said. “Crews were working 10-hour days to knock this out.”

Mike Nicolosi, owner of Rethink Electric, agreed the necessary permits, interconnection and final inspections were completed quickly and that construction concerns in terms of additional weight were minimal.

“The weight of the whole system is spread out evenly across the roof and produces in the end about five pounds of dead load per square foot,” he said. “This is the first installation of this type on a commercial building in Aurora, and hopefully is the first of many to come.”

According to Greenlife Media, “the new solar photovoltaic system is projected to reduce 58.72 tons of carbon emissions per year by generating 71,615 kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2018” resulting in an energy savings that will allow building owners to recoup their investment in under five years.

“We didn’t set out to do this in order to be the first, but then again, why not? ” Kruder said. “There are not real downsides. I’d tell other businesses in the end, it was not that hard and not to be scared.”

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-solar-power-st-0111-20180110-story.html

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