Lakeshore Die Cast, Solar, Michigan
Adam Schaller lives in Michigan and uses solar to power his company Lakeshore Die Cast.
Why did you decide to utilize clean energy? It was really about saving money. After I did the first project, I ended up doing a second one and the second one I just took advantage of the tax incentive. As we had been getting bigger our electricity bill had been getting bigger. We went from not making a whole lot of money to making some money and then having to pay some taxes. And then one year, we had a really good year and we had a big tax expense. With businesses typically you try to estimate what your tax burden is, but if you end up making more than you thought, you have to buy equipment to drop tax liability. I have been looking for something to solve my ever increasing power bill and offset tax liability. And that's how I ended up coming across solar.
What was the transition to clean energy like for you? Did anything surprise you, or were there challenges you had to overcome? The first array went fairly easily because it was within the size for the distributed generation program. Back when I installed it in 2020, 150 kilowatts was as much as you could get in the distributed generation, but that wasn't enough to cover shop usage. The trickiest thing with the second installation was figuring out what sort of tariff it would fall under and working with the utility and the state to figure out what they were supposed to give me because there wasn't anybody else who had done it yet. That took kind of about a year and it was the biggest struggle point — working with utility to get new procedures and classifications approved at the state level.
What advice do you have for people considering taking the leap to clean energy? Just find someone from your area who's done it and talk with them about the steps to take. Before I did my first solar project, I looked around for installers and then I called and asked them what sort of references they could give me for people who had systems of a similar size. I ended up talking with a winery near Traverse City who had worked with the company that I went with, and they said they were pretty happy with it. Between them and the installer is what gave me the path to do it. If you have a small business and you've been operating for a while you kind of understand general pitfalls when buying and financing things. The only thing you might need to know is the zoning and regulatory aspect or the utility interconnection. Anyone who's gone through it with an experience installer can guide you so you don't fall in any traps.
Is there anything else you’d like to share? My family has had a business in the town for a long time. We didn't have any problems with any zoning because generally the village council is pretty pro development, and companies can advantage of whatever they can to bring more jobs to Baroda. So I didn't get a lot of pushback from the community at all about it, which sometimes happens in rural areas. But I'm not a developer, I've been working in the community for a while now.
We connected with Adam through Solar United Neighbors, a national nonprofit that helps people go solar, join together, and fight for their energy rights. If Adam’s story has inspired you to go solar, then check out Solar United Neighbors. Their Solar Help Desk provides free, unbiased support for folks like you.
