Electrical Distributors Do Green
Atlantic Electric Supply—now
has a 7.4kW photovoltaic system on the roof of its warehouse in Washington,
D.C., it said in a Dec. 23 release, consisting of 39 BP 190W modules. Ridgeway
& Ernest Electric (Silver Spring, Md.) supplied “electrical contracting
and consulting services” for the work. AES will get a portion of its electricity
from the system, saving an estimated $1,800/year. It says it is the first electrical
distributor in the D.C. metro area to get some power from the sun.
Also: The company said the system would double
as “a hands-on educational aid for electrical contractors and others” seeking
to learn solar PV skills. AES said it “has been working closely with the Independent
Electrical Contractors—Chesapeake Chapter in the development of PV training
courses.”
Background: Derek Coen is a partner in and vice president
of AES, which has operated in the D.C. area since 1927. Coen, according to info
supplied, “is a NABCEP-certified PV installer and serves as the renewable energy
committee chair for IEC Chesapeake.”
City Electric Supply—the
Wilmington, Del., Blue Rocks, a minor league (Class A) baseball team—affiliated
with the Kansas City Royals of the American League—“announced their partnership
with City Electric Supply” in a Jan. 4 release. Frawley Stadium (18 years old)
will undergo a retrofit with the T5 Retrofit Kit, which comes from The Green
Savings Company.
From Al Subach, CES
sales manager: “The T5 Retrofit Kit seemed like the perfect solution for the
energy-saving project the organization was looking for.” The 250 T5 retrofit
kits, which qualify for an incentive from Energize Delaware’s Efficiency Plus
Business program, reportedly will save Frawley 68% annually on its lighting
costs.
See the Green Savings’
release here; there’s a link below it to the initial
announcement on the CES decision to carry the T5 Retrofit Kit.
GEXPRO—according to a Dec.18 item on WiscNews.com,
this distributor’s Milwaukee location was the low bidder (at $259,557) for supply
of LED street lights to the city of Columbus. GEXPRO was described as “the lowest
bidder [of six] to follow the specifications.” This is only phase one of the
city’s plan to convert (“ultimately”) to 100% LED street lights.
Separately, a release
on NewStreetLights.com said the items supplied by GEXPRO would be LEDway lights
from BetaLED, a division of Ruud Lighting, which is based in Wisconsin. According
to this item, the first phase will see replacement of 500 of the city’s 642
existing streetlights.
Ideal Supply—this
Ontario, Canada-based distributor said it has selected the SUNENERGY inverter
“as its core solar inverter for the fast-growing Ontario micro-FIT and FIT projects
under 150kW.” Sustainable Energy Technologies, which has stock listed on the
Toronto Stock Exchange, supplies the item. Release.
From Tim Veal, green
energy specialist for the distributor: “Ideal selected the SUNENERGY inverter
for multiple factors, including: Its unique outdoor rating; low-voltage safety
factors; and its ability to deliver higher yields at a lower cost-per-watt than
micro-inverters. [It] allows Ideal to market a unique solar product offering.”
Details: Founded in 1926, Ideal distributes material
out of a warehouse in Listowel to 26 locations “serving central and southwestern
Ontario.”
Note: FIT =
feed-in tariff. See this site to learn more about Ontario’s FIT and micro-FIT
programs.
Munro Distributing/I—an
item in New England Real Estate Journal said that Solar Installation
is adding a 58.8kW solar PV system to “Spectrum Lighting’s massive 120,000-square-foot
manufacturing and showroom facility” in Fall River, Mass. The facility, a former
mill apparently built in 1872, now includes 299 Solectria solar modules. According
to the article, “Munro Distributing provided all the solar components.”
Additionally, according to the article, Spectrum wants
to add “another solar array and an addressable LED lamp retrofit coupled with
a daylight harvesting system.” As well, the company said it is “looking into
leasing six to10 Chevy Volt cars,” with charging stations to be located at the
facility as well.
Munro Distributing/II—this
company, based in Raynham, Mass., describes itself as a supplier “of electrical
supplies, renewable energy components, commercial lighting, and energy-efficient
lighting,” with locations in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York,
and Rhode Island. In a Jan. 6 release, it said it was now offering “commercial
solar hot water systems via SunTrac’s solar thermal panels” along with solar
PV, racking systems, modules, and inverters.
Schaedler Yesco Distribution
(SYD)—a report from
The Valley News-Dispatch (Dec.26) of Tarentum, Pa., talked about how
the town of Arnold is studying an energy-saving light fixture retrofit and that
“Energy consultants” from SYD were working with the town; the report named Gary
Meanor and Kevin McGahey of the company, without giving their titles. The SYD
representatives talked about the outdated ceiling lighting now in place in Arnold’s
city hall, how much it would cost to replace, how much it would save ($1,200/year)
on electricity bills, and rebates available from the local utility.
Seattle Lighting—this
is the electrical distributor in the Pacific Northwest that the manufacturer
VU1 did not name in previous releases. Now, it was named in a Jan. 13 release that noted that Seattle Lighting received
the “first batch” of ESL R30 bulbs from VU1. Included in the brief item were
details about the distributor: (1) it’s “a DBA of Dolan NW;” (2) it operates
in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington; (3) it “direct imports products under…[the]
trade name of Design Classics;” and (4) there is an online presence at www.destinationlighting.com.
Warshauer Energy Solutions—it’s
a unit of New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Warshauer Electric Supply. Recently,
customer Electrical Power Solutions (Vernon, N.J.) used Unirac ACECLAMP JR on
the 100kW Vernon PAL job, according to WES—“the first solar installation using
the product.” Completed last September, the Vernon PAL job makes use of solar
panels from Mitsubishi, also supplied by WES.
Additionally, WES said it now carries Kyocera solar panels.
Electrical/Datacom
Turtle & Hughes—a
company release (Jan. 12) noted that it is No. 1 on the NJ BIZ list
of the 2010 Top Women-Owned Businesses in New Jersey. There were 150 other companies
ranked. From the release:
The company has also been among the top 50 women-owned businesses
of any kind nationwide for more than a decade, with a long history of management
by women. Co-founded by her grandfather in 1923, third-generation owner Suzanne
Millard currently serves as Turtle & Hughes’ chairperson. In 2010, she turned
the day-to-day operations over to her daughter, CEO Jayne Millard, whojoined Turtle & Hughes in 1991 as vice president of marketing and has
served as its president since 2009.
Additionally, the company—with
$400 million in annual sales and 500-plus employees—ranks as the 27th
largest private company in New Jersey.
Volland expands—Volland
Electric Equipment, Cheektowaga, N.Y., says on its website that, since its 1943
founding as a motor repair shop, it has “diversified” into power transmission
products, electrical controls, sale/service of items such as cranes, pumps,
and switchgear; and distribution of “related repair parts lines.”
Now, according to the
Jan. 7 issue of Buffalo Business First, the company has opened an office
in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. “after acquiring the product lines of Empire Industrial
Sales.” Three employees shift with the acquisition; price was face down. Volland,
which had 2010 revenue of $13 million, expects an increase of $2 million to
$3 million as a result of the acquisition.
Previously, Volland
“had bought panels from Empire, an electrical and electronic component distributor,
to build electrical control panels,” according to the newspaper, attributing
this info to Christopher Graham, Volland’s president. From Graham: “We have
become more of a systems integrator, where we can call on a lot of the same
accounts and increase Volland’s sales through different products.”
Volland has now made
five acquisitions in the past 10 years, BBF said.
Werner Electric Supply—the
Jan. 9 issue of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted that the company
had recently joined the Pewaukee Chamber of Commerce.
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