The Official U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac 2016 2016 | Page 16

ABOVE: Tom
Gadhue of
Lincoln, Vt. in
his dream sugarhouse, Solar
Sweet Maple.
Gadhue powers his entire
operation
through solar,
and generates enough
wattage to sell
back power
into the state
power grid.
RIGHT: Karl
Wiles’ bank of
solar panels at
his sugarhouse
in Central New
York.

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and $2,000 annually for the
sugar house.
Of course, Wiles had to pony
up some of the $123,000 upfront cost for the panels and
their installation. New York State
Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
paid one-third of that cost.
“If you’re doing solar for a
farm, there’s no limit what
NYSERDA will subsidize,”
Wiles said.
A federal tax credit kicked
in to reimburse 20% of Wiles’
expense and a New York State
tax credit provided $5,000 more.
In his tax filing, Wiles writes off
the depreciation on the business use of his solar equipment.
State law says that a property’s
tax assessment cannot increase
because of the installation of

solar panels.
Wiles purchased insurance on
the panels in case they become
damaged. It costs $600 annually.
Wiles funded the project from
savings, since he felt the investment would provide a better
return than stocks and bonds.
The solar equipment is guaranteed to last 20 years. He esti-

mates that within eight to nine
years, it should pay for itself.
“If you’re 40 years old, and you
want to expand, it might be hard
to come up with the money,”
Wiles said. “I did this in my 50s
and I wasn’t trying to expand the
business.”
At first, he had a little trouble
with his town zoning board,
since he had installed some of
the panels on his house. Moving them to a farm lot solved
the problem since Cedarvale is
working farm.
Wiles hosts tours on his 2,700tap operation. Instead of the
sleek, modern panels detracting
from what many view as a folksy,
old-fashioned endeavor, “a lot of
people actually give us a ‘Way to
go,’” Wiles said. “They like the
fact that we use solar.”
Though solar powers the
reverse osmosis equipment, the
farm still uses wood for the final
evaporation.
“With fuel costs, the solar really helps us stay competitive with
larger operations,” Wiles said.
Using solar power doesn’t
mean that Wiles has power when
the electricity goes out, since
that trips breakers on the panels
to protect workers repairing the
lines.
Central New York receives
plenty of snowfall, but Wiles
purchased tower-based panels
instead of roof-based panels,
which make the snow slide right
off once the sun warms them.
Installing solar panels on a
farm thickly populated by trees
U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac

2016