Solar power to the people

Oct 24 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bill Kirk Andover Townsman, Mass.

To say Anil Navkal is passionate about solar power would be an understatement.

He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. every day, logs onto his computer and goes to work. By 8:30 at night, he's just wrapping up.

A systems engineer with Motorola in Lowell for the last six years, Navkal, 59, lost his job last summer. Tapping into some retirement funds, he decided to take a year off from paid work and instead volunteer to spread the gospel of solar to his fellow Andoverites.

Already, his zeal has been rewarded. Three of his neighbors have plopped solar panels on their roofs, and the number of solar installations in town has gone from 35 to 50 in one year.

And if Navkal has his way, by 2014 more than 100 homes and businesses will be getting their electricity and/or hot water from the sun.

Even before losing his job, Navkal, the owner of his own solar panel array at his Rock O'Dundee Road home, began work on bringing solar to the rest of the town through a state-sponsored program called Solarize Mass, which is run by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a division of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.

The Clean Energy Center has already designated 29 communities around the state as Solarize Mass communities. This week, Navkal, with the help of two high school interns and members of a growing team of solar enthusiasts, submitted an application to the state for Andover to become another Solarize community.

According to the center's website, the Solarize Mass program looks to increase the adoption of small-scale solar electricity systems through a grassroots educational campaign, driven mainly by local volunteers. Communities chosen under the program then choose a single solar panel installer that will then be able to offer discounted rates to customers.

The state says the program allows installers to offer a tiered pricing structure that increases the savings for everyone as more home and business owners in a community sign up.

Home and business owners who want to participate can either purchase the solar electricity systems directly or enter into a lease or power-purchase agreement with the installer. Under a lease or power-purchase agreement, the installer will own, operate and maintain the system, while the home or business owner agrees to purchase the power generated by the system at an agreed-upon rate.

The 2011 and 2012 Solarize Mass program resulted in more than 6,000 individuals expressing interest in pursuing solar electricity, and more than 900 residents and business owners in 21 communities signing contracts to install 5.6-plus megawatts worth of solar electricity. In addition, the number of small-scale solar electricity projects in almost every community doubled as a direct result of the program.

The first phase of the 2013 program has designated eight more communities as Solarize Mass communities. Navkal is hoping Andover will be included in the second phase of the program. The state is reviewing the town's application and a number of others and will choose eight more communities to accept.

Navkal became interested in solar power as he and his wife, Naomi, were putting an addition on their home in 2009. At first, he said, they were going to add onto the back of their house, but then he realized that if he angled the addition in a certain way, the garage roof could be used as a platform for panels to maximize the sun's rays.

He then went through a lengthy process to decide if solar power made sense financially using a spreadsheet financial analysis that he created. He got bids from a handful of companies and ended up hiring Brightstar Solar of Marlborough to do the work.

Currently, all of the home's electricity needs are serviced using the panels, in part because of a number of energy-saving measures the couple took with their new addition, including putting in energy-efficient light fixtures, a new gas boiler and radiant heating, to name a few details.

In fact, it's worked so well that every year, they accumulate about 800 kilowatts of unused power and are now up to 1,500. Those can be credited to their account so that over time, they save even more money.

After seeing how successful his project was, Navkal joined the Andover Green Advisory Board and then began literally knocking on the doors of homes that had solar panels.

He found a receptive audience.

Part of the document he presented to the state includes information about the team that would conduct community outreach if Andover is designated a Solarize Mass Community.

Girish Rao of Highland Road was one of the first people in town to have solar panels. Don Michelinie of South Main Street, a member of the Green Advisory Board, has a 6kW array on his roof. Chad Stern, who works for a solar panel installer, has a 7.85 kW solar power system on his roof on Highland Avenue.

Other people working on the project include Carolyn Dann, who works for the DEP and is involved at South Church in Andover, which recently installed a 52kW photovoltaic system on its roof.

Local businessman Mark Spencer, ex-president of the Andover Rotary Club; Greg Sebasky, senior vice president at Philips Healthcare and chairman of the Green Advisory Board; Selectman Paul Salafia and sustainability advocate Steve Fink are also on board.

Town Planner Paul Materazzo is the town liaison to the group, which has received support from Town Manager Reginald "Buzz" Stapczynski.

Navkal, working with Andover High School teacher Melanie Cutler, has conscripted the help of two interns -- seniors Kevin Zhao and Chelsea Hu, both 17, who are also doing outreach and working on the group's website, which has an interactive map of the 50 properties in Andover currently equipped with solar panels.

http://www.andovertownsman.com/ 

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=30421108&