Solar installation + Amish shed builder = a whole new value proposition

By Amy Paradysz

“We’re frugal and very green people,” said Violet Eastman, who bought a farmhouse in Brunswick with her husband, Peter Eastman, in 2014. “We knew we wanted to make it not only healthy and safe but energy efficient, so we wanted to do solar collection on the south side of our house.”

Two big old trees were so close to the house they were practically lying on the roof. But, even after the Eastmans had some limbs trimmed back, there wasn’t enough sun exposure for solar.

“So many animals, creatures and birds were supported by that butternut tree that I didn’t want to take it down,” Eastman said, explaining why she started looking into ground-mounted arrays. “We got a guesstimate on a freestanding structure, but they couldn’t be absolute because if they started blasting through rock and encountered ledge that would cost more.”

Meanwhile, solar installation technicians at Insource Renewables had been trying to find a way to make solar arrays more accessible. Several of their potential customers had roofs pointing in the wrong direction or with too many dormers or didn’t want an industrial-looking ground mount outside their New England farmhouse.

“The thought of building steel and concrete only for the purpose of putting up solar didn’t sit right,” said engineer Vaughan Woodruff, who owns Insource Renewables, based in Pittsfield. “We tend to be tight-wad Yankees and think there should be more to it. But, putting solar on sheds, that was Matt’s idea.”

Operations Manager Matt Wagner, who had been installing solar panels since 2004, had grown up in a passive solar house, earned a degree in environmental studies from Unity College and lived off-grid for a decade. Suffice to say, he’d put a lot of thought into reasonable and more easily deployable ground-mounted systems. And then one day in March 2017, Wagner introduced himself to Joas Hochstetler, who manages Backyard Buildings, a team of six Amish carpenters in Unity.

“It was something I had thought about,” said Hochstetler, who had previously done solar installation work. “I was going to research local solar companies to see who to collaborate with, and I hadn’t even gotten started, when one day Matt drove in and we talked for two hours.”

These two off-the-grid-type guys had an idea: Could sheds be designed for optimal solar exposure?

They pitched their idea to Woodruff, who speculated that if they could sell five sheds in the first year it would be worth the design investment. Two years later, 12 times that many of these solar sheds are soaking up renewable power from Bridgton to Topsham and from Swann’s Island to Stowe, Vt. With Insource Renewables and Backyard Buildings working together, the collaborative business, called Maine Solar Structures, is already taking nominal deposits on pre-orders for sheds to be installed in spring of 2020.

“I had no idea how much people love sheds,” Vaughan laughed. “If I sent you two quotes right now, one with a ground mount and one with a shed, the one with the shed would be cheaper, sometimes sizably so. And there are some places where this system is more cost effective, even, than putting solar on a roof, depending on where you are and what sort of roof you have.”

The solar sheds are purpose-built with a larger south-facing roof to catch the most rays. Labor costs are kept down because, as Woodruff explained, “No matter where the shed goes, we’re building it 15 minutes down the road from our warehouse. We have a three-person crew to put the solar on at Backyard Buildings, then the whole system rolls on a trailer and gets installed on site. It’s been a fun engineering proposition, because the limits are often what can be driven down the road within reason without police escorts.”

Sheds range from 12 feet by 24 feet, collecting 4.5 kw, all the way up to 14 feet by 32 feet, which is almost a 10kW capacity with thirty 60-cell photovoltaic (PV) modules on it, generating about 12,000 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year.

“People buy these with less consideration of the economics, even though the economics are strong,” Woodruff said. “A lot of these people want solar, and they’re buying into it for that reason. But they also want the biggest bang for their buck. This product flips the value proposition on its head.”

In other words – Would you like a shed with your renewable power?

For the Eastmans — who heard about Maine Solar Structures at an energy expo — a 12-foot by 32-foot solar shed capable of collecting about 5.8 kWhs turned out to be more affordable than a self-standing solar array.

“I can fit everything I need for my lawn, gardening and landscaping as well as my husband’s workshop for his tools,” Violet said, talking about how the six-foot-wide doors with a ramp make it easy to get a snowblower, leaf blower or riding lawn mower in and out. “It’s an enormous shed.”

Half a year after the Eastmans had their solar shed delivered, hurricane force winds blew through the area and those two big old trees needed to come down. With all that shade out of the way, the Eastmans had Insource Renewables install solar on their roof as well. Over 20 months, the Eastmans have generated almost 18,000 kWh of electricity, which would cost about $3,000. They have a four-story home, and with their youngest grandson and his girlfriend living there with them, that’s four adults using kitchen appliances, showering, washing clothes and powering televisions, computers and a gaming system.

“All that,” she said, “and our current electricity bill is the minimum fee of $12.16.”

Customers can typically recoup the financial investment of a solar shed in about a decade, Woodruff said, although that’s monetizing just the electricity, not space for a couple of snowmobiles, or a potting shed or a hypnotherapy studio.

“We build to order,” Hochstetler said. “When customers see the possibilities, they start dreaming of what they can use the space for, and it’s almost limitless.”

Shed sizes range from 12 feet by 20 feet to 14 feet by 32 feet with array sizes ranging from installed capacities of about 4kw to 10kw. Prices range from $14,500 to $24,000 (before a 30 percent federal tax credit), although most customers add custom features such as cedar shingles, additional windows or doors, outlets, lights and workbenches.

“We see more people making this transition to solar, and for many of them it’s something they have wanted to do for a long time,” Woodruff said. “Now, eight times out of ten the customer says, ‘Oh, I’ve been wanting a shed.’”

About the Author: Amy Paradysz is a freelance writer from Scarborough who envisions a solar shed as a writing studio.

This article first appeared in the Fall 2019/Winter 2020 edition of Green & Healthy Maine HOMES. Subscribe today!