By John Patten Managing Editor
Belle Mead Co-op’s solar panels one step in firm’s plans to reduce total energy use
The latest improvement to the century-old barn at Belle Mead Co-op on Township Line Road made the structure more 21st century than 19th.
An array of 84 panels on the barn’s roof are churning out electrical power, helping to reduce the power consumed at the co-op for air conditioners, computers and lights.
”We’re all brainwashed on saving money that way,” Kevin Lyon, manager, said.
Mr. Lyon added the co-op has already trimmed its use of air conditioners, re-evaluated lighting systems and reduced the number of computers left on, all to save money on energy costs.
”If you can afford to do something like this, it’s just not right not to do it,” he said.
And that’s the rub the solar system installed at Belle Mead Co-op totaled about $150,000, but with an application for a federal grant that could return up to 30 percent of the cost, and tax credits of about $5,000 in the first year, the Belle Mead Co-op hopes the system will pay for itself within about five years.
After that, the cooperative will realize a 30 percent reduction in energy use, saving about $4,800 per year in today’s costs.
Mr. Lyon began working on the project nearly a year ago, preparing a study of what would be required and how it could work to present to the board of directors for Belle Mead Co-op. After gaining the board’s support in September 2007, the plan was presented to the co-operative’s 110 members at the annual meeting in February.
Installation of the system was undertaken on two of the hottest days of the summer, Andy Kozzi, of Somerset-based Solar Connections, said, which made the effort of placing the panels on the huge barn’s roof more challenging.
But after just a couple of days, the 84 solar panels were installed, wired through four circuits (one circuit for each 24 panels, plus a smaller 12-panel circuit), and placed in service. The electrical output of the panels are wired through a series of monitoring equipment and converters, where it gets fed back into the main electrical power supply for the co-op.
The equipment gives a tally of the rooftop power produced as well as the carbon dioxide emissions saved by not having to use power generated at a coal-fired plant. Friday’s sunny afternoon gave a reading of 10.84 kilowatt-hours produced that day on one of the four circuits, and a cumulative carbon “savings” of 484.2 lbs.
”Most of these things are approximations,” Mr. Kozzi said of the CO2 readings. “Some people seem to like to keep track of it.”
He said the co-op project was one of the largest his firm has done and definitely the oldest structure they’ve worked on. He said his customers like the panels to form a smooth, flat surface, which was a challenge on the old barn’s roof.
”It took us a while to get everything right,” he said.
But that extra work paid off Mr. Lyon noted his customers have approved of the high-tech look of the old barn.
”One customer said she thought it was ‘damn sexy,’” he said with a laugh. “I don’t know about that, but I like it.”

