On The Mark: Bright power bill days ahead

After thinking about it for months, my husband, Rod, and I decided to install solar power at our home. Rod researched the options. We chose to go with a small company, Wolf Track Energy of Duluth, recommended by Jeff Corey of One Roof Community Housing. We decided against putting the panels on our roof, concerned about potential damage. We opted instead to install them in the yard south of our home.

More than a decade ago, we installed ground source heating and cooling, using an extensive system of pipes laid some 9 feet underground, shuttling water to and from a heat exchanger in the basement. To me it seemed a bit of magic to be able to extract several degrees of heat from underground water at 40 degrees and send it back out a few degrees colder in winter. And to extract cooling degrees in the summer.

Rod worked with Wolf Track to design the system. Rod and his first wife, Barb, had designed the house in the 1970s and built it themselves with help from Rod's brothers. Almost 20 years ago, we added a western addition with a cathedral ceiling. We'd purchased a used backhoe for that job, and it has done plenty of work for us since.

We arranged with Wolf Track to do some of the installation work ourselves, saving us about $5,000. Rod used the backhoe to dig two huge cylindrical post holes, into which we placed the post holders and then 19-foot metal posts, filling them in with concrete.

Lake Country Power installed two new meters: one for the solar power we generate, using and returning power to the power company, and one for the dual fuel LCP function. All of Rod's work and that of Wolf Track was been inspected by experts and approved.

A solar system is expensive. Ours cost something like $35,000, some of which will be refunded to us through federal energy-saving tax rebates. It would have been more if Rod hadn't done so much of the groundwork. We wanted to switch from electricity generated principally by large coal-fired plants to the west of us to an environmentally benign system. Now we will be able to sell excess electricity back to Lake Country Power.

Our panels – approximately 8 feet wide and 24 feet long – are now mounted and working. They can be adjusted for the height of the sun throughout the seasons. Currently, they are tilted almost straight up to take advantage of the sun's position high in the sky. In the winter, they will be angled to face a sun low in the south. We are looking forward to our next power bill.

Columnist Ann Markusen is an economist and professor emerita at University of Minnesota. She lives in Red Clover Township north of Cromwell with her husband, Rod Walli. Columnist Pete Radosevich is on vacation.