KIRKLAND — Legacy Fiberoptics, Inc., a small business that manufactures and repairs fiber-optic test equipment, is banking on solar power to reduce its energy costs. Legacy Fiberoptics, headquartered in a 7,500-square-foot building at 7930 Limberblost Road in the town of Kirkland, recently had a solar-panel system installed that it expects to provide all its electricity. […]
KIRKLAND — Legacy Fiberoptics, Inc., a small business that manufactures and repairs fiber-optic test equipment, is banking on solar power to reduce its energy costs.
Legacy Fiberoptics, headquartered in a 7,500-square-foot building at 7930 Limberblost Road in the town of Kirkland, recently had a solar-panel system installed that it expects to provide all its electricity.
Paradise Energy Solutions — a Pennsylvania–based firm with an office in Himrod, on the west shore of Seneca Lake — installed its 31 kW Ground Mount Solar system in a field outside Legacy’s facility.
Ken Stewart sole owner and president of Legacy Fiberoptics, which employs nine, says he decided to go solar after considering other alternative-energy options.
“I looked at wind energy. To be honest with you, there are very few locations in which to put in wind. We don’t have quite enough wind here. The tower would have to be real high,” says Stewart. “And for hydro power we would have to be next to a non-navigable river.”
The attractive combination of state grants and federal and state tax incentives for solar, including accelerated depreciation, led Stewart to seek out a photovoltaic-power system.
The system cost Legacy more than $100,000, but the business received a grant from NYSERDA for about $45,000. Stewart declined to disclose how he financed the rest of the costs.
With the energy-bill savings and tax incentives, the solar system should pay for itself in less than 6 ½ years, Paradise Energy estimates.
Paradise Energy has guaranteed Legacy Fiberoptics that the solar-panel array will generate a minimum of 35,000 kWh of power.
And if it doesn’t, “they will provide me with a check,” Stewart says. “They’re guaranteeing me a minimum power outage.”
As of press time, Stewart had still not received his first utility bill since going solar, but he says he expects the part of the bill for electricity usage to be zero, while still having to pay the usual energy service fees and taxes.
“My expectation is to never pay for another watt of power,” he says.
About Legacy Fiberoptics
Stewart founded his business in 2008, when he acquired the rights to service the discontinued NetTest, Laser Precision, and Corning optical product lines that had previously been manufactured at a plant in Utica that closed in 2006.
Legacy Fiberoptics consists of a group of former employees of Laser Precision, GN NetTest, and Anritsu (the last company to own the plant before it closed) who have more than 85 years of combined experience in the fiber-optics industry.
Legacy generated double-digit revenue growth in 2012, a year in which it boosted its employee count from seven to nine, Stewart says. He’s hoping for similar revenue growth this year and is looking to add an additional three or more employees.
The company has thousands of customers, ranging from one-person fiber-optic cable installation firms up to and including AT&T, Centurylink Qwest, Comcast, Cablevision, colleges and universities, and federal, state, and local government agencies, according to Stewart. The firm has customers all around the world, including Australia, Europe, Asia, and South America, he adds.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com
