Special to The Dorchester Banner/Amy Steward Pictured left are Kenton Yoder, Project Manager; Peter Woicke, Solar Lane investor; Jason Beiler, Paradise Energy Solutions, Salisbury; Scott Kane, president, Solar Lane in Easton; Steve Clineburg, Solar Lane investor; William Beall, mayor of Federalsburg; Dave Morean, project manager, Federalsburg Volunteer Fire Company; Richard Colburn, town manager, Federalsburg; and Mike Robinson, president of the Federalsburg Volunteer Fire Company, joined by “Solar Santa” – powered by the sun.[/caption]

FEDERALSBURG — The Federalsburg Volunteer Fire Company, Paradise Energy Solutions and Solar Lane recently threw the switch and turned on a new 85-Kilowatt solar electric generating facility in Federalsburg. The site is served by Delmarva Power. Solar Lane contracted with Paradise Energy Solutions of Salisbury, to build and maintain the Solar Generating Facility.

Electrical output of the solar generating facility is estimated to be 110,000 Kilowatt hours per year and is comprised of 285 Solar panels, each of which produces 300 watts of electricity in full sunlight. Output and operation of the Solar Generating Facility will be continually monitored and performance reported through the Internet. Now that the switch is on, the sun is supplying all of the electricity for the Federalsburg VFC.

Solar Lane was founded to build and invest in solar electric facilities for businesses and nonprofits on the Eastern Shore. The Lights-On event provided a “show and tell” for all of the attendees to see the benefits of solar electricity for themselves. Highlights included several presentations.

Scott Kane, president of Solar Lane, who has over 40 years of solar and energy experience, commented, “We started Solar Lane this year in Easton, to invest in the Eastern Shore – creating jobs and improving our local economy by lowering electric costs; the solar generating facilities we build provide businesses and nonprofits in Maryland with lower-cost electricity at a guaranteed low monthly payment – providing them significant costs savings. An additional benefit is that Delmarva Power is now allowed to interconnect with us and use the excess solar energy we produce on sunny days to supply solar-generated electricity to their customers. This is a win-win-win for everyone involved.”

Jason Beiler, manager of Paradise Energy Solutions, spoke and described how the solar panels produce electricity for the fire company and he provided a live demonstration of the real-time monitoring and reporting from the system over the Internet showing the exact amount of electricity the solar facility produces for the Federalsburg Volunteer Fire Company.

According to David Morean, project manager for the Federalsburg Volunteer Fire Company, “We were trying to find different ways to save energy. Solar Lane and Paradise Energy have the expertise and experience to install a system that was affordable for us. The installation is going very smoothly and we expect to save over $250,000 over the next 25 years with our energy savings. With this savings we can buy a needed new fire truck.”