It’s official: Roof Tech is now a player in the commercial solar market and the loyalty of one dedicated customer made it happen. Here’s how it happened.
Luke Niemiec, founder and owner of the Massachusetts-based Acushnet Alternative Heating, which provides full-spectrum solar design, installation and maintenance, along with more traditional home heating solutions such as fireplaces and wood stoves. Founded in 2005, the company serves residential and commercial customers as well as municipalities in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Niemiec has used E Mount AIR on more than 100 residential installations since first discovering the product in early 2015. In October 2015, Niemiec finalized a major commercial contract for a 700-plus panel, 170,000 kW project in New Bedford, Mass., at the site of the largest Portuguese Feast in the world. Established in 1915, the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament is expected to draw well over 100,000 visitors from all over the world at its 102nd annual event in August 2016.
The organization that hosts the event – Club Madeirense S.S. Sacramento, Inc. – had wanted to convert the feast site to solar for more than two years, but the complexities of the project made it difficult. The site is in the midst of a residential neighborhood and the three-month period required for set-up and teardown before and after the event places heavy demands on local power supplies each year. Niemiec explained that the contract approval process itself took more than three months.
“The Club has more than 200 board members and three different boards, so we had to go through numerous presentations before the contract was finalized,” explained Niemiec. “But we submitted a detailed plan design and kept at it, and ultimately landed the job.”