The First Ever Photovoltiac Solar Installation on Anna Maria Island!

In 2009, we put up just under 5kW of solar power on the roof of Beach Bus at 427 Pine Avenue to see how effective it was at generating electricity for the store. It was a bit of test to see how the costs and rebates etc worked out for a small roof before we 'took the plunge' on the far bigger roof on the warehouse next door at 425 Pine Avenue. We invested just over $40,000.

The installers, Solar Direct inc of Bradenton, believe this to be the first ever commercial photovoltiac solar installation on Anna Maria Island.

To help explain, it might be useful to compare this to what you might do at home. Generally speaking, a 5kW solar array will cover about 16' x 26' of a roof, and provide enough electricity for 40% of the average house needs. Usually, when people install solar panels, they also re-do their insulation and put in solar hot water, helping them to get up to 75% of their energy from the sun. Our panels are expected to last for the next 3 decades.

The Beach Bums experiment went really well. We are pleased with the performance and the impact it has on our bills, and recently (as promised about 18 months later), we got a rebate from the State of Florida for $19,000. We are seeing a good energy saving - some days our electricity meter goes backwards! And, it has helped us to concentrate on saving energy in other ways too. We think the customers who use Beach Bums really appreciate the effort made to save our environment. We have installed a computer monitor so that everyone can see how much energy our roof is producing and how we are reducing the generation of greenhouse gases.

Beach Bum's roof from the air, and alongside Gingerfish, our warehouse next door: