Solar power heats up in Town of Menasha

From an article by Michael King in the Appleton Post-Crescent:

TOWN OF MENASHA — The largest solar installation in the Fox Cities is about to start converting sunshine to electricity.

Four large solar arrays recently installed on the west side of the town's municipal complex at 2000 Municipal Drive are expected to harness the sunshine and generate 28-kilowatts of power.

"It's the largest (solar display) in the Fox Cities and probably one of the largest north of Milwaukee," said Jim Funk of Energize LLC, Winneconne, the firm awarded the low bid of $240,453 for the project. He estimated the payback at 14 to 15 years.

"It's money you're going to send to the utility anyway," said Funk. "It's like you're buying 15 to 20 years of electrical energy upfront."

The town's net cost was projected to be $95,588 after grants are figured in. Funk said the town is taking advantage of financial incentives from Focus on Energy, We Energies' solar incentive and We Energies' direct incentive grant for nonprofits and local governments. The life expectancy of the modules, according to Focus on Energy, is 30 to 50 years.