Woodstock Business Installs Electric Vehicle Charging Station for Employee Use
Tucked away off the entrance road to Olde Rope Mill Park in Woodstock is one of Cherokee County’s largest industrial employers, Kirk-Rudy, which is investing its resources into a solar-paneled carport and electric car charging station.
The renewable technology is expected to supply all electricity needs for the 100,000-square-foot building that houses 95 employees.
“It’s definitely a feel-good project for us,” Marshall said.
The $500,000 project is expected to be completed by late March or early April. Marshall said the idea came after the company was exploring other cost-cutting measures. He said he attended a Georgia Power conference last spring, but at the time wasn’t sold on the idea of using renewable energy.
“But I dove a little deeper into it and realized that there are lots of credits and grants out there and started running the numbers and it made more sense,” he said. “So, we contacted some suppliers of these panels and got quotes and now we’re off and running.”
Russell Seifert, owner and CEO of Woodstock-based Creative Solar USA, is responsible for the solar car canopy, which runs on a 100-kilowatt system comprised of 432 panels.
Marshall said the canopy, which will have 50 parking spaces, works better than rooftop panels because installing them on a roof would require penetrating the surface and opening it up to leakage issues, and panels need to be cleaned periodically, which would be easier to do with them located closer to the
ground.