After being approached by their neightbor, SunDay Solar, MS Events decided to add solar to their warehouse near Pantops. The warehouse’s large, flat roof gets plenty of sunlight during the day making it ideal for solar.
MS Events owner Steve Sudduth didn’t think with the new investment of buying and remodeling their own building, that solar would be within reach in 2017. After learning about the Commercial Clean Energy Loan Program, he realized it was affordable. “With the favorable loan terms and the federal and local tax credits we will realize positive cash flow right away – this was a no brainer for our company,” he said.
UVA Community Credit Union provided the financing. MS Events was able to take advantage of the federal solar tax credit, the City of Charlottesville’s solar tax credit, and LEAP’s program to pay the interest down to 0% APR.
The new 49kW photovoltaic system is one of the first PV system installations under the reinvigorated program. This system is expected to produce 65,500 kWh of electricity a year, enough to power seven average Charlottesville households and provide about 85% of MS Events’ total electrical needs. This is the equivalent of the carbon sequestration capability of 52 acres of forest or 48,000 pounds of coal unburned each year.
MS Events owner, Steve Sudduth saw the solar system as a natural fit to his business, “As an event rental company we already are environmentally friendly by providing wash and reuse products for special occasions, which keeps disposable plates and glasses out of our landfills. Now that we have added the solar panels we can use energy from the sun to run the equipment to wash and pack our products. We are proud to make such a positive impact on our environment!”
SunDay Solar owner Richard Crisler and his team loved the project for many reasons – the great view from atop the building, the convenience of working next door, and most of all, the satisfaction of helping their neighbor become another Charlottesville solar-powered business.
“By utilizing all the tools available to us, we were able to help MS Events realize their dreams and make clean solar energy generation a brilliant business decision. That is a great feeling,” said Richard.
