Posts by Rachel Raniszewski
Battery Backup for Northern Michigan Cabins & Cottages
If your Northern Michigan cabin, cottage, or hunting camp sits empty for weeks at a time, a battery backup system has to do a different job than the one in a full-time home. The system doesn’t just store power for use later that night; it holds up on its own while nobody’s watching. We break…
Read MoreWhat Is a Meter Collar? How Some Northern Michigan Homes Can Go Solar Without a Panel Upgrade
If you’ve ever gotten far enough into going solar to get a quote, only to be told your electrical panel needs upgrading first, you know how fast the math changes. A lot of homes across the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan, especially older farmhouses, camps, and homes built before the 1990s, still run on 100-amp…
Read MoreCommercial Demand Charges: What They Are and How Battery Storage Can Lower Yours
Most commercial businesses focus on one number on their electric bill: total kilowatt-hours used. But for many Michigan businesses, the bigger cost driver isn’t how much power they use; it’s how fast they pull it. That’s the demand charge, and if you’ve never looked for it on your bill, it may be costing you more…
Read MoreMichigan Solar Property Tax Exemption: What Homeowners Need to Know
Michigan’s effective property tax rate of 1.25% — above the national average — can make many Northern Michigan homeowners pause when considering solar, but Michigan’s solar property tax exemption is a built-in protection for exactly that concern. How Michigan’s Solar Property Tax Exemption Works In 2019, Governor Whitmer reinstated the Michigan renewable energy property tax…
Read MoreBattery Backup vs. Grid-Tied Solar in Northern Michigan
If you’re new to solar, going through the different options for your project may feel like you’re being fully immersed in a different language. So let’s break down two options: Battery backup is a system that captures the excess energy your solar panels produce during the day and stores it for later use. How it…
Read MoreYour Panels are Protected From Summertime In Northern Michigan
If you’re a Northern Michigan resident contemplating going solar, you may be wondering whether going solar will mean dealing with a cracked or detached panel after every summer thunderstorm due to damaging winds and abnormally large hail. Luckily, our unpredictable weather won’t ruin your investment. Let’s walk through exactly how the panels we install at…
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