By Stephen Smoot
Great Is the sun, and wide he goes/Through empty heaven without repose/And in the blue and glowing days/More thick than rain he showers his rays
Great is the sun and also, potentially, great will be the cost savings on electricity for three Hardy County businesses that earned energy efficiency grants from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America program.
They were among a group of 24 small businesses around the state to receive a part of $4.5 million in grant and loan packages to install solar panel energy systems.
“These investments will allow these businesses to make their operations more efficient and realize millions of dollars in energy savings,” stated Ryan Thorne, who serves as the USDA Rural Development West Virginia State Director.
“I got panels on my poultry farm 10 years ago,” said Ward Malcolm. He added that in 2023, he and his wife put solar panels on their business, C&P Carpets. The next year, his daughter installed them on her business, Rebecca’s House of Flowers.
“I’ve been doing solar stuff for quite a while. It’s a good thing,” he said.
Malcolm, who also serves as president of the West Virginia Poultry Association, received a $27,175 grant, as a USDA release states “to purchase and install a 17 kilowatt (kW) solar array.” It went on to say “This project will replace $1,980 and generate 18,023 kilowatt hours annually, which is enough electricity to power two homes.”
He explained how use of the panels saves his farm money. On warm and sunny days “I make more power than I need and I put it on the grid.” On those days, the power meter actually runs in reverse, then goes forward again at night, on days with little sunlight, or in the colder and shorter days of winter. Then, Malcolm states “the excess rolls over to next month.”
While many have concerns about the use of batteries adjacent to solar panels, Malcolm explains that these are not a necessary part of the system. For him, “the grid becomes my battery” when solar energy production falls short.
Scott Sherman of Hardy Telecommunications explained that they also have searched for ways to slice energy costs. He said that often the general public overlooks the power needs of a company such as Hardy Telecommunications that provides telephone and internet service. “We have lots of electric bills,” he said.
“We had been looking at alternative energy” due to higher levels of energy use and had been “looking for an opportunity to do something.”
Hardy Telecommunications will use the grant for “purchase and installation of a 263.8 kW solar array” that “will replace $34,135 and generate 310,491 kWh annually, which is enough electricity to power 31 homes.”
Malcolm, who received a grant 10 years ago for the same purpose, said that the grant has grown easier in some ways, but more stringent in others. He stated that a decade ago, the application process was difficult, but “now it’s pretty simple.”
On the other hand, “in ‘14 the grant match was 25 percent,” by 2023 it rose to 40 percent, and “the most recent was 50 percent.”
The “match” represents how much the organization or individual receiving the grant must pay. A 50 percent match requires that the recipient pay for half of the project out of the business’s own pocket.
Additionally, only a business or a non profit can apply. Individual property owners, however, have access to tax breaks.
Those whose skillset includes operating a profitable and efficient farm or business more than filing paperwork can find help, should they wish to apply for the grant. Sherman said “Solar Holler (a West Virginia based solar energy company) and others have made quite a push.”
Malcolm explained that Solar Holler helped his company with the grant process, a win-win for all concerned. He also shared that the USDA Rural Development office’s officials had also provided considerable help.
Both men stated that they had been inspired to apply by the successful use of solar panels by the new poultry operation in Old Fields.
Some have expressed concerns about taking up farmland for use of solar farms. Malcolm shared that in Western states, engineers have worked on creating solar farms with panels high off the ground and staggered so that sunlight and rain can grow pasture grass for cattle to graze under the panels. Also, cattle can find respite from the hot summer sun in their shadows.
That said, Sherman stated that his preference was to mount the panels on company buildings to preserve green space.
The third business in the county to receive a grant award is South Branch Inn. Their 107 kilowatt array “will generate 370,160 kilowatt hours annually, which is enough electricity to power 37 homes.”
