The Easy Button for Funding Your Solar Project

Transcript: The Easy Button for Funding Your Solar Project – feat. Kurt Reinhold & Peter Fiala of Legacy Solar Coop

Heather Rizzo: [00:00:00] On this episode of Uplevel University, we’ll be discussing finding easy funding solutions for solar projects. Joining me is the President and Vice President of Legacy Solar Co-op, Kurt Reinhold and Peter Fiala. Welcome, Kurt and Peter. Thank you for joining me. 

Kurt Reinhold: Thanks for having us. 

Heather Rizzo: We’re here today to help listeners understand the various funding options available for solar projects and how to make the process simple. Tell us a little bit about Legacy Solar Co-op. How did you get started? 

Kurt Reinhold: Well, in 2012, I was asked by a friend, how could we help our neighborhood community center put solar on their roof and still use the 30 percent tax credit? Because, you know, community centers and neighborhood institutions like churches, libraries, and schools, they don’t pay taxes, so they can’t access the tax credit.

So that really started me investigating, what are the barriers to a community supported solar project that could make use of available incentives and bring the highest quality, lowest cost solar. To those same community institutions.

Heather Rizzo: What areas do you serve and what is your mission when it comes to solar energy and sustainability? 

Kurt Reinhold: Well the areas that we serve basically all over Wisconsin, we help churches, libraries, schools. , we worked with a VFW, we’ve worked with multiple humane societies, we’ve worked with community centers, municipalities, and also farms, or even any business that owns a roof or a piece of land where we could plant a solar array. 

Heather Rizzo: What are the benefits of going solar, such as environmental, financial, and energy independence?

Kurt Reinhold: All three of those, really. I mean, there are financial benefits, and there are environmental benefits. The financial benefits usually focus around reducing. A building’s electrical bills. And so In the summer, you’re going to have more reduction in those electrical bills because the sun is out more during the day.

In the winter, you can still get a fair amount of savings. Overall, it’s a long term hedge on your utility bills that will help your Organizations save tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next two to three decades. That’s the financial side. Environmentally, oh don’t get me started.

Tons and tons of coal avoided. Coal use avoided natural methane, natural gas use you know, to run turbines that produce electricity. If we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, that is a major environmental benefit. And solar panels have a pretty small carbon footprint. It just takes between one and a half and three years of putting a solar panel into use to offset the carbon that went into making that solar panel. And then the solar panels have a 25 year warranty. So, we’re talking thousands of percent of benefit environmentally. 

Heather Rizzo: That’s fantastic. Can you tell me a little bit about how you would fund a solar project?

Kurt Reinhold: Certainly especially more recently now in 2022, there was the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law and that is allowing us to resume the 30 percent investment tax credit for the next 10 years, but it also has additional added provisions for low income census tracts. And also for made in America type provisions as well as for energy communities, which are census tracts where coal or other fossil fuel electric generators have been retired. And the economic effect of that retired power plant on that community is felt. So the Inflation Reduction Act awards an additional 10 percent reduction, in cost for, developing solar and other clean energy technologies. 

Heather Rizzo: For listeners who might be new to solar energy, what are the key financial incentives and tax credits that are available to them? And is there a way that Legacy Solar Co-op can assist in maximizing these benefits? 

[00:05:00] Kurt Reinhold: Absolutely. I mentioned the Inflation Reduction Act. We just call that IRA for short and that provides between 30 and 50 percent of a tax credit or a reduction. Now it used to be that that tax credit was only available to tax paying firms, like I mentioned earlier.

Well now, nonprofits, municipalities, Churches, libraries, schools, they can actually get an elective payment form of that 30 percent tax credit. So it’s, really taking down some of the barriers that have existed over the last decade or longer.

In addition to the 30 percent tax credit, there’s also focus on energy in the state of Wisconsin for both residential and for commercial customers. And then there are other grants that are available for larger projects on commercial buildings. One is called the Office of Energy Innovation Grant. USDA has a rural electric grant, for rural businesses, like farms.

So those are some benefits that also, besides nonprofits, you also for profits, can get. A leg up, especially in rural communities. 

Heather Rizzo: That’s fantastic. It’s exciting to hear about those incentives that are showing up and the interest that’s increasing. What are some of the main challenges that individuals and organizations typically face when considering a solar project, especially in terms of funding?

Kurt Reinhold: Absolutely. Well, I’ll just simplify that answer and say that there’s usually a lot of red tape involved with a lot of these incentives and grants. But Legacy Solar Co-op can help make it a lot easier and cut through some of that red tape and provide you assistance in, you know, direct assistance, but also some financial assistance and I can go over that in a minute here. But really those are the main challenges there’s a lot of details to keep track of maybe a thousand different details when you’re dealing with a solar project, but we can help simplify that for you. 

Heather Rizzo: So how can Legacy assist individuals and organizations in those right funding solutions for their solar projects? And how do you simplify that funding process?

Kurt Reinhold: Well, it really starts with, getting in touch with us and give us your address and your electric bills and we can analyze your specific situation for your building and for your electrical use. We can break it down for you and then get back to you and show you options A, B, or C that we think would be the best value for your renewable energy dollar.

[00:08:00] Heather Rizzo: And what type of projects does Legacy typically support? Are there specific criteria for eligibility? 

Kurt Reinhold: In general, our history is that we’ve worked with, like I said, churches, libraries, schools, community institutions, and a lot of times those projects are larger than, let’s say, 20 kilowatts, and I’ll give you a sense for what that means. 20 kilowatts is about 50 solar panels. You know, 2000 square feet. So if you have a larger roof, we can help you break it down and make it more affordable. If you also are more like a 200 square foot space on your roof, then you’re looking at more of a residential size system and Peter can help you with that.

Peter does a lot of residential consulting as well. But our main thrust and from our beginning is working with community institutions, larger solar projects. 

Heather Rizzo: Could you walk us through the process of how someone would get started with a solar project through Legacy from the initial inquiry to project completion?

[00:09:00] Kurt Reinhold: Absolutely, Heather. Thank you. So, first of all, emailing us, I’ll say it now and then we’ll probably repeat it later, but emailing us at info at LegacySolarCoop, all one word, dot org. That’s LegacySolarCoop. There’s really no hyphen in co op and email address. So, legacysolarcoop.org. And that email address goes to both Peter and myself.

So, one of us will get back to you. If you email us your address and electric bills we can meet over Zoom with you, discuss your situation, get you one, two, or three separate proposals, and then show you an apples to apples comparison. Of those proposals help with incentives, apply for loans, or find a tax sponsor that can help you pay for it upfront.

[00:10:00] Heather Rizzo: That is amazing. It sounds like Legacy and your team really helps to lower that barrier to get people started and providing a lot of information on how to bring solar into their life. Could you share some examples of successful solar projects that Legacy has been involved with and the positive impact they’ve had on communities or organizations?

Kurt Reinhold: Sure, sure. I’ll just go over a quick list and then turn it over to Peter who can give us an example or two. In Wisconsin we’ve worked with a couple of dairy farms up north. We’ve worked with a handful of schools, public and also private schools. We’ve worked with over a dozen churches in Wisconsin, one VFW, two food banks.

Currently, we’re working with a homeless sanctuary in inner city Milwaukee. And with those, we can help save the community institutions tens of thousands of dollars on their electric bills over time and reduce their reliance on coal and methane natural gas to the tune of hundreds of tons of coal and carbon dioxide.

So, Peter, do you have one or two specific examples you’d like to share? 

Peter Fiala: Yes, be happy to. So we are a membership organization and consisting of almost 300 members now. More than half of them are actually individuals. Half of them have solar already, but the other half are either, for whatever reason, are Weighing the options and at some point, one of them will contact us, or someone who’s not a member and ask us, well, what does solar look on my house?

And so, just like Kurt explained, we start with electric bills, we start with the Google Earth map aerial imagery of their, their roof. And we help them from the beginning stages just to let them know of a cost range that they might fall in for their system and size to gathering and analyzing quotes and doing that apples to apples comparison.

So one member had sort of an older house and he had been thinking of solar for probably more than a decade. Came to us worked with us through our residential solar advising program. We had some snags. We had to figure out , is it gonna go on his shed? Is it on the flat part of his roof? Is it on the steep pitch of his roof?

So, there’s a lot of back and forth, but we, fitted him with one of our member installers, and now he has more than 75 percent of his electricity from solar. A quick example of an institution, a non profit we helped. Pine Valley Community Village in Richland Center. They already had geothermal powering part of their facility, but they were looking into a solar solution.

They didn’t know where to turn, didn’t know how to fund it, so they came to us to do that, an RFP process, a request for proposal process. We helped compare quotes, find funding solutions, and now have 336 panels across the street from their facility, powering 17 percent of their facility actually, and saving them about $17,000 a year.

Heather Rizzo: That’s amazing. So we’ve already talked about how people can start their solar project journey by reaching out to you through email. Aside from financial support, are there educational resources that Legacy provides to help clients make informed decisions about their projects? 

Peter Fiala: Well, Legacy Solar Co-op itself and our people here are a resource educational resource that people can contact just to get a sense, to start the conversation. To see where they fall and help them on their way to their solar journey. 

Heather Rizzo: How can listeners take the first step towards exploring solar energy solutions and get a free solar assessment through Legacy?

Peter Fiala: Homeowners, if you go to legacysolarcoop.org and look for the Residential Solar Advising tab there’s a form there you can fill out that allows you to submit your bills and tell us a little bit about your house. For nonprofits and business owners, it’s probably easier to just email us at info at legacysolarcoop.org and we can get the conversation started that way.

Heather Rizzo: Great. Are there any upcoming initiatives, projects, or development at Legacy Solar Co-op that you’d like to share with our audience?

Peter Fiala: Well, we are always growing, always innovating responding to utility policies, responding to different grant opportunities out there different types of institutions. We may help more municipalities one year. We may help more schools the next year. Really we’re shifting to the need of solar in Wisconsin.

So to stay up to date on this a good thing to do is to join our newsletter. Again, by visiting legacysolarcoop.org, there’s a way to stay in touch with us. 

Heather Rizzo: Finally, what advice would you offer to individuals or organizations who are considering making the switch to solar energy, but might be hesitant due to financial or logistical concerns?

Kurt Reinhold: Thanks, Heather. Yeah, I would say, I would just reiterate that if you get in touch with us, no matter whether you are thinking about solar for your home, for your business, for your local church, for your municipality, any of the above, just get in touch with us and we’ll have a conversation with you about, where you’re at in the process, If you’re starting from scratch, or you might be part of a, local initiative in your community, or in your church. You might be on a A committee for a solar project, we can help pick up where you get stuck and help you get unstuck and move forward with either the planning. The financing or the execution of your solar project.

So just get in touch with us and we’ll help take it from there. 

Heather Rizzo: Great. It sounds like there are many benefits to going solar and Legacy Solar Co-op really, provides information and a way to make a process which could be complicated. Very, very simple. Any final thoughts that you’d like to share with our listeners? 

Kurt Reinhold: We’re here to help hit the easy button and, get you on the road toward your solar dreams. So we’re looking forward to helping any and all of you. And thank you, Heather, for this opportunity.

Peter Fiala: I’ll add one more thing. I think it’s worth just giving it a shot. You may, think your solar array may eventually cost much more than it actually will. So it’s worth looking into it and seeing how much it’ll actually cost and where it’ll actually go, So that’s what we help with we do that every day. 

Kurt Reinhold: Just yesterday we were on with a Guy who had a quote for his home that was $65,000 and he thought okay I really want to do good, but that sounds like a lot. When we looked at it, we showed him how it was a lot more expensive than it needed to be. In fact, we gave him an estimate closer to $15,000 or $20,000 that after incentives would end up, you know, paying for itself within five or ten years.

As opposed to this much more bloated proposal that he received from one of the national solar chains. So, stay local, contact us, we’ll connect you with the right provider. 

[00:18:00] Heather Rizzo: And again, an easy way to connect with Legacy Solar Co-op is at their website, legacysolarcoop.org, where you can find that free solar assessment.

Where else can our listeners find you? 

Peter Fiala: We’re on Facebook Legacy Solar Co-op we’re on Instagram and on LinkedIn. 

Heather Rizzo: Thank you again for the amazing opportunities that you’re providing to our community. Thank you for your time today and for sharing more about how to make it easy to bring solar energy into your life.

Kurt Reinhold: Thank you, Heather. 

Peter Fiala: Thank you.