From Horse Barn to Wellness Center, Part 8: Overcoming Solar Power Barriers

Reader Contribution by Adam D. Bearup and Hybrid Homes
Published on July 15, 2020
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Photos by Adam D. Bearup

Following the journey to remodel a horse barn into a commercial wellness center on a Midwestern property zoned for agriculture. This multi-part series recounts the considerations, pitfalls and ultimate successes of a green-building project with an ambitious scope to bring a defunct farm building new life as a natural health destination.

The horse barn was steadily taking shape to become the owners’ vision. However, we needed to overcome the bump in the road for installing solar power (detailed in the previous installment). This meant working with the Zoning Administrator on ground-mounted solar options.

Exploring Solar Tax Credit

Thankfully for us, there was another project in the Township whose developer had requested a ground-mounted solar array, and those people had already gone through the multiple meetings required to get the zoning changed to allow ground-mounted solar arrays. Our meeting was a few months away — after the first of the year when a 30-percent federal tax credit for solar was set to begin. We needed to make a decision whether we were going to pre-order everything for the solar installation.

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