Cecil and Norm finished construction on their family cabin, pictured, in 2002 and installed the solar array in 2004.
The problem sounded like the beginning to a bad horror film: A dark cabin in the woods powered by nothing but a small generator. But solar power brightened the plot line.
When Cecil and Norm Harrison, co-founders of Progressive Power Solutions (No. 211 on the Solar Power World 2014 Top 400 Solar Contractors list), sought an alternative to the noisy, unreliable, fuming generator powering the family cabin in the picturesque mountains of Central Utah, they considered grid-tied electric. When they discovered running utility wires would require some road construction and cost about $100,000, quickly they turned to solar.
“Plus, no one wanted power lines to ruin the view,” Cecil says.
In 2004, the Harrisons purchased three 75-W panels, a 1,500-W inverter, six golf cart batteries and a small charge controller. The initial installation produced 1 kW per day and had 3 kW of storage, enough for a two or three-day stay. But when a microwave and refrigerator were added, the system needed an upgrade.
After a year of research and permitting, the brothers took a weekend to install eight Trojan T-105 batteries supplying 8 kW of storage and two panels totaling 300W, which produced 1.5 kW per day. They also changed the inverter to a Magnum Energy 3-kW pure sine wave. According to Cecil, the complete system cost $6,000.
Cecil and Norm founded Progressive Power Solutions in 2006 after neighbors saw the success of their solar array and began asking “how to” questions.
“We realized most people did not have the expertise to do it themselves and we had already been through the process,” says Norm. “We started out in the cabin and off-grid market, and have worked the company up to where it is today.”