The members of the American Legion Post 58 voted to install a 96-panel solar system over their outdoor patio. The project is set to be completed in June 2023 with the goal of reducing the Legion’s current electricity bill which is estimated to increase nearly by 10% by next year.

When completed, it will be the first American Legion in Arizona to go completely solar.

After a solar presentation from Gary Millas, a member of the Sons of the American Legion, the solar project was put to a vote by American Legion members and passed. The estimated cost of the solar project is $250,000 which includes permitting, installing the solar panels, erecting a prefabricated metal structure and other associated costs.

The solar panels are planned to sit atop the prefabricated steel building that will span across the upper and lower Legion’s outdoor patio, 80 ft. in length and 59 ft. wide. The new steel structure will serve as a shade canopy while the two blue canopies that cover Post 58’s upper patio will be donated to the Town.

Alan Roberts, Phil Yin, Greg Johnson and Gary Millas are the four solar committee members who, after courting several requests for proposals, settled on the Chandler-based solar company Sun Valley Solar (SVS), citing their preferred solar supplier with Salt River Project and were contracted to install solar panels at the SRP headquarters in Tempe.

The committee was also drawn to SVS because of their early adoption of commercial load management, or simply load management, which allows solar users to stagger the demand for electricity across non-peak hours, offering them greater cost savings in the long run.

According to the SVS savings analysis of a 30-year system life, the cost payback of the Photovoltaic solar panels and supporting electrical equipment will be realized in year 9 after installation, and the supporting structure payback will be attained in year 18. After 25 years of service, the solar system will generate $317,122 of electricity and by year 30, the estimated cumulative energy generation will total $406,167. Of that total amount, the American Legion will realize approximately $198,000 savings above and beyond the project cost. The project is expected to begin June 1, 2023, and be completed in a matter of four weeks.

The load management software will offer additional savings for Post 58, which Inergy Systems, an energy equipment and solutions company in Tempe have graciously offered to install for free.

The vision for the project came from Alan Roberts, who after getting elected as the Legion’s financial officer, saw how much the club was paying for electricity.

“[Alan] started looking at the Electric bills we were paying, and he’s going, ‘This is crazy. We need to start looking at solar,’” Millas said.

After two rounds of solar panel proposals that did not sufficiently cover Post 58’s electricity consumption or cause major disruption to Post 58’s daily operations, the project seemed like it a dud.

“It would’ve knocked us out of the business here for three months,” Millas said of one proposal. “That’s when we kind of started to give up on the project.”

Finally, in August of this year, the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, allowing nonprofits like the American Legion a 30% cost reduction for solar equipment and associated expenses.

“It was like a gift from above,” Millas said.

With the Inflation Reduction Act in place, Post 58 can significantly reduce the costs for installing a solar system. A final proposal was presented to members of the legion in September which included a 25-year warranty and a system size of 46 kW (DC) or 36 kW (AC), supporting up to 85% of the Legion’s annual electrical consumption.

“The ultimate goal is to reduce electric bills by 85%,” Millas said, which according to the cash flow analysis, the project will eventually pay for itself.

For Millas, this is a labor of love for generations to come. And despite the time and money being put into the project, he knows it’s all well worth the effort.

“We need to keep the Legion going,” he said. “Eventually it’s going to be sons and any future veterans that will benefit.”

As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the American Legion Post 58 is requesting donations from the community to help cover the cost of construction/installation. Send tax-deductible donations to American Legion Post 58, 16837 E Parkview Ave. Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.