To the editor:
Contrary to a recent forum article written by John Popa, my wife and I have relied on our solar arrays for several years no with satisfying results. With three separate installations we rarely have a net loss in our monthly bills. Our initial cost per kilowatt has been $2,000/ kilowatt or less not counting available tax credits and rebates.
Our oldest array of 6kw has fully paid for itself while our largest array of 42.5kw, in seven years has returned approximately 70% of its cost. Our third array of 15.5kw, less than a year old, produced 2,100kw last month. These paybacks are far less than Mr. Popa’s estimated 31 years.
The facts point to the success of solar in Leelanau County and are further evidenced by large investments by some of our fruit growers and by the longterm commitments by Wolverine Power, DTE, and Traverse City Light and Power. With the limited supply of fossil fuels we face, coupled with the dire consequence of climate change caused by manmade waste of such fuels, we need to make the transition to renewable energy sooner rather than later.
John and Kim Todd Northport
