Marine General Store
Solar Electric System

By Kyle Weaver, Editor,
Reprinted with permission from the Country Messenger
March 8, 2011

Able Energy Company co-owner Kevin Nyenhuis holds up a solar panel while atop the roof of the Marine General Store. Nyenhuis's firm installed 48 of the panels on the store, which will receive around 7 percent of its energy from the system henceforth. (Photo by Kyle Weaver)

As he stood outside the Marine General Store while the first of 48 solar panels were being attached to the grocery's roof Tuesday, owner Andy Kramer marveled at the deeper meaning, and possible consequences, of what was happening.

The historic building, an icon of downtown Marine on St. Croix and the inspiration for Garrison Keillor's "Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery Store" was outfitted with an 11-kilowatt photovoltaic system that should provide the store with 6 to 7 percent of its electricity needs.

For Kramer, making an investment in green energy is something he hopes puts him in a leadership role, encouraging others to make a similar investment. Still, Kramer worries that some Marine residents and historians will think they've somehow tragically altered the more than 140-year-old building, which served as the company store to a booming lumber business in the 1870s.

"I hope everyone thinks it's good. I'm hoping it will encourage people [to do the same]," Kramer said. "I'm worried there might be a little backlash, though. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with repurposing." Early indications from passers-by as the project began Tuesday were largely positive. "They haven't seen fully what it looks like yet," Kramer said as one person passed and gave a thumbs up. "But I don't think (it will be) unattractive."

The solar project isn't the first investment Kramer and his wife Karen have made in the store since purchasing it in 2005. They've remodeled and expanded the store's deli, replaced flooring and revamped the loading dock.

The solar project may be the first to receive outside investment support though. Kramer said roughly one third of the $60,000 costs of the project will be covered by a rebate from Xcel Energy. Another third will likely come from a rebate through the federal government's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus package. The system will pay for itself in energy savings in eight or nine years.

The Kramers worked with Able Energy Company http://www.m8electric.com, which is co-owned by Mike Harvey and Marine resident Kevin Nyenhuis to install the system. "That's reassuring... to work with people you know," Kramer said.

Nyenhuis, who usually handles the sales and marketing aspects of the business while Harvey and others do the installations, said he jumped at the chance to work with the Kramers in his hometown.

Most of the company's projects are on private property or otherwise out of sight. The company's most prominent photovoltaic system is on top of the Piragis Northwoods Co. store in Ely, Minn. Harvey expects that the company will install 35 to 40 new solar energy projects when business ramps up this summer.

The General Store project, however, is something Nyenhuis knows he'll be able to see nearly every day. "I'm supposed to be out selling now," Nyenhuis said. "But this one is close to my heart." Harvey has an equal amount of enthusiasm for the project and for solar energy in general. "I believe in it heavily," Harvey said.

Since going into business with Nyenhuis a little more than a year ago, Harvey has been thrilled to be doing the work. He enjoys the technical aspects of the job, and the creativity it sometimes takes to design and install the systems. Plus, Harvey said, the store's roof is in an excellent spot for solar panels.

At the General Store, Harvey had to install a set of scabs underneath the roofing in order to better support the tracks that hold the solar panels. That's typical, Kramer said. Kramer said they haven't done a remodeling project yet where there haven't been surprises, challenges and additional, hidden costs. "That's just how it is with an old building," he said.

The project benefitted from the federal grant program. Marine General Store owners Andy and Karen Kramer received roughly one-third of the cost of their solar power project's $60,000 cost from an Xcel Energy rebate. Another third of the project will be paid for through an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (economic stimulus) grant. Kramer said the grant program is offered through the U.S. Department of the Treasury. "We could not have afforded to do this without the federal grant," Andy Kramer said.

The 1603 Program, according to the Treasury's Web site, offers grant assistance to qualifying energy projects that are placed in service before the end of 2011. The deadline for application to the grant program is Oct. 1, 2012. More information on the grant program can be found at: http://www.grants.gov.