Cheney Insurance partners with Revision Energy on solar electricity generation system

Fri, 01/19/2018 - 7:00am

Over its seventy-five-year history, Cheney Insurance of Damariscotta, Maine has earned a reputation for providing insurance products and peace-of-mind at reasonable costs. The professional agents at the company gather information from each new client in order to evaluate their risk and exposures, and then conduct additional research before recommending insurance policies to protect against those risks. Owner and company president Dennis Hilton adopted a similar investigative approach when he decided to learn more about how a solar installation might help his business.

Mostly due to the large flat roof area of his office building, Dennis had been considering solar for several years. “We had plans in 2017 to update the roof, install a generator, and repair an area where our power enters the structure,” explained Hilton. “So, it seemed like the right time to get ReVision Energy involved.”

In 2017, ReVision worked closely with Dennis to design a 40.8kW solar energy generation system that would meet the average demand for his whole building, which would make Cheney Insurance effectively 100 percent energy independent, a big step in support of their overall efforts to Go Green.

In December, ReVision Energy installed 136 solar panels atop Cheney Insurance’s flat roof, which are now producing clean electricity from the sun. Hilton has been very pleased with the experience and especially the end result. “I am always concerned with how neat everything at our facilities appears,” Dennis commented, “so – even though it is all on our roof – I was really happy to see how carefully the racks, panels, and conduits were arranged and installed.”

“Not only are we supplying our own electricity needs,” adds Hilton, “we are doing it for no additional cost over what we had been paying, when you compare our previous electric bills against our current solar panels debt service. That debt will be retired within nine years, so it really made good economic sense to do this.”

Prior to the installation of his panels, Dennis had noticed other ReVision projects in the Damariscotta area – including the array installed for Mexicali Blues in Newcastle – and after reviewing the idea with his accountants, he contacted the branch office in Liberty to request a site visit. “Choosing ReVision for this project was an easy decision,” Dennis added. “They were visible in our community, their name was top-of-mind, and everything I had heard from others was positive.”

The solar array atop the Cheney Insurance office space is warrantied for 25 years, and backed by ReVision Energy’s customer service team. ReVision Energy is Maine’s largest and most experienced solar installation company. Cheney Insurance is a Trusted Choice independent insurance agency providing insurance solutions for Maine residents and businesses.