The Sandwich Glass Museum Goes Solar
Over this past year, E2 Solar has had the pleasure of working with the Sandwich Glass Museum to design and install a solar system on the building located at 129 Main Street in Sandwich. The Sandwich Glass Museum presents the history, artistry, and fun of glassmaking through exhibits, demonstrations, and a gift shop open to the public.
If you can imagine, the art of glass blowing is a very energy-intensive process. The high heat required to melt and mold the glass means high energy bills. Jay Weber, Vice President of the museum, is dedicated to finding solutions that make financial sense. “As a small museum,” he says, “we’re very aware of the importance of keeping operating costs down, and that includes our electric bill.” Investing in solar was a big decision for the museum. A combination of the right installation partner and the right products was key, especially considering the complicated roof layout. E2 Solar was undeterred, and our design team got to work right away to propose a system that not only maximized efficiency, but honored the historic integrity of the 19th-century building. This meant keeping the solar panels out of view from the street as much as possible.
Why Enphase
E2 Solar was able to partner with Enphase Energy to design a solution using their 3-phase commercial microinverters. This allowed us to fit 28kW of solar amongst 6 irregular rooflines, and Jay is thrilled with the outcome. “As a result of working with the fine folks at E2 Solar, our electric bills will be reduced by 22%. Also, as our building sits beside a tidal creek, we are well aware of the need to do our small part to avoid the looming dangers of climate change; rising seas being of particular concern to our fragile Cape.” The museum will reap the benefits of the nearly 30,000 kWh’s of electricity produced each year, while offsetting over 42,000 pounds of C02. Additionally, over the guaranteed 25-year lifetime of the system, the museum will see a savings of more than $230,000. With Enphase, they will have panel level monitoring to confirm production results for years to come.