Winkelman Building Corporation
Winkelman’s Sunny Solution – Solar Panels Save Energy
It doesn’t take long to realize Winkelman building Corp. is saving energy. Natural light pours into the reception area of the company’s new headquarters. Glass-block dividing walls let light into hallways. But behind a glass-block wall is proof of a less obvious, high tech energy saver.
A digital display reports the energy-producing activity of 32 solar panels on the building’s south roof. Unlike solar panels of decades past, they are too slim to be seen form nearby U.S. Highway 10.
The panels are the crown jewel of energy-saving steps Winkelman implemented while remodeling and expanding an Easy ST. Cloud building. The design-build contractor wants to showcase techniques that might interest clients at a time of rising energy costs and incentives for distributive power generation.
“We had an optimal situation here,” President Duane Schultz said.
An ideal roof angle and open surrounding area made solar panels possible. Schultz believes his company is the first Minnesota Building contractor to use solar energy in its own building.
The company worked with a Brainerd alternative energy business called The WATER Foundation owned by David Winkelman. He is the son of the contracting company’s founder, Don Winkelman.
Providing Lights
In the first month, the solar panels produced nearly 390 kilowatt/hours of power-at the rate of 9 to 12 kilowatts/hours per day.
That’s roughly the equivalent of the power used for lights throughout the 7,400 square-foot building, Schultz said.
From an indoor power inverter, the current feeds into the building’s power supply and the power grid under an arrangement with Xcel Energy Inc., the company’s supplier. Winkelman Building Corp. has been licensed as a power generator.
Schultz expects the company’s electricity bill to be reduced by about $300 a year, at current prices. Maintenance costs are minimal, and the products are under warranty for 20 years. The 64-watt photovoltaic panels are an eighth of an inch thick and attach directly to the metal roof with an adhesive. There are no batteries or moving parts.
The company invested $18,000 in equipment and installation but got a $4,000 rebate from state program encouraging solar electric production.
Other Ways To Save
Schultz expects to know the combined savings from energy improvements after the first year, but in the meantime he’d guessing at a 30 percent reduction in total operating costs. Other conservation efforts include:
- Relative white rubber roofing. The Canadian-made material reflects sunlight to reduce summer heat. Winkelman received a $1,500 Xcel Energy rebate for using the material, located in an unseen central portion of the roof.
“We’re gathering (sunlight) in the solar panels but throwing it away in the roof,” Schultz said.
- Blown-in insulation. The energy rating of R44 is close to the highest available,
- Four skylights totaling 720 square feet.
- Lights with electronic blasts use less energy and produce less heat. Those also were eligible for an Ecel rebate.
- Motion detectors that turn lights off in unused offices
Not Alone
Minnesota’s Conservation Improvement Program encourages home and business energy savings by requiring regulated utility companies to provide rebates. Four electric utilities and six natural gas utilities invest a portion of revenues in rebates. At businesses, high-efficiency motors are eligible, along with certain lighting, cooling and heating practices.
Xcel, Minnesota’s largest electric utility, paid businesses an average of $22.8 million per year the past three years in electric and natural gas rebates. Electricity-related rebates accounted for the majority an average of $21.8 million per year.
Xcel rebates for business and residential customers combined exceeded $35 million per year for each of the past three years. Business rebates outweigh residential amounts at a rate of about two to one.
On July 21, 2003 The WATER Foundation announced the installation of the first-ever building-integrated solar electric roof on a commercial construction contractor office building in the state of Minnesota. The innovative solar system is part of the beautiful new office complex designed and built by and for Winkelman Building Corporation (WBC), a leading commercial/industrial, and design/build firm located in St. Cloud, MN. The photovoltaic (PV) panels attach directly to the metal roof via a permanent adhesive, rather than traditional metal structures such as frames, supports, or tracking mechanisms. This building-integrated technology is state of the art for the solar industry and is designed to allow solar generators to be efficiently and economically installed on virtually any commercial, industrial or residential buildings.
WBC has been a leading commercial and industrial general contracting firm in the Mid-west since 1969. Since then the company has built on this area of expertise to offer construction management and customized design/build services in the private and public sectors. Their slogan, Building Solutions for Changing Times, is reflected in their adoption of this new energy source. One of the reasons for this innovation is to make the WBC office building a functional display for other building owners or contractors to get “hands-on” experience with the latest technologies. With rapidly increasing energy prices, utility deregulation and continuing power outages, this type of building-integrated electrical generator certainly is a solution for the coming times. Although there are other residential installations of similar technologies, the WBC installation is the first field-applied PV roof ever installed by and for a commercial contractor in the state of Minnesota.
Duane Schultz, President of WBC, commented on the firm’s interest in photovoltaics. “The opportunity to take advantage of the value of solar energy and incorporate it into the design of our new office building created a unique win-win-win situation. Not only does our company enjoy the benefits of this green energy source but we can also more effectively illustrate its inherent benefits to those customers who may be considering photovoltaics in their own projects. By working with Innovative Power Systems and The WATER Foundation, WBC is also contributing to efforts to increase awareness of the flexibility and unique applications of this new technology in the commercial and industrial sectors in Minnesota.”
The WATER Foundation designed and helped install this state of the art technology as part of their Conservation Technologies Construction services. Innovative Power Systems of Minneapolis, a certified installer for Uni-Solar products, was hired by the Foundation for the installation. Smolnik Electric Inc. of St. Cloud and Granite City Roofing Inc. participated in varying stages of the installation. The photovoltaics (PV array) consists of 32 each sixty-four watt solar panels which are unobtrusively adhered to the roof between the standing seams of a standard metal roof. At the top of each solar panel, under the metal roof flashing, junction boxes connect the panels into electrical lines which run to a Sunny Boy 2500U inverter, which connects to the buildings power supply from Xcel Energy.
There are no batteries needed for this system, there are no moving parts to wear out and it has a 20 year guarantee on the solar panels and electrical components. There is little maintenance required other than keeping the roof clean. Since the south facing roof has a 4-12 pitch, it has a good sun angle year round. In the reception area of WBCs offices, a display illuminates the amount of electricity being generated so that any curious visitor can readily see the production. The system generates a maximum of 2000 watts per hour and in Minnesota, we have an average of 4.5 hours of full sun per day, year round. An LED display in the reception area shows the wattage of the solar electricity produced currently and to date.
Xcel Energy, through the Minnesota Department of Commerce, supplies incentives for projects like this, equal to $2,000 per kilowatt of rated power (up to 4 KW). There are other incentives that are available, such as accelerated depreciation, a hefty income tax credit and a federal production incentive are available, in addition to the rebate supplied. By utilizing all of these incentives, nearly 50% of the cost can be recaptured within the first few years. Then, of course, the electricity generated by the solar panels will pay for the rest of the system within ten to fifteen years, depending on power prices. In the mean time, the solar panels help to decrease the WBC electric bill or spin their meter backwards, supplying power back to Xcel Energy when the WBC roof is generating more than is being used in the building. Another nice feature of this system is that the size of the PV array can be easily increased in capacity if the owner decides to expand the building.
For more information – info@winkelmansolar.com
